Teva Announces New Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Strategy and Goals in 2020 Report

TEL AVIV, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) today published its 2020 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Progress Report detailing the company’s efforts to advance health and equity, minimize its impact on the planet and dedicate itself to quality, ethics and transparency.

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The report highlights new ambitious goals, including launching eight programs to increase access to medicines globally by 2025 and reducing Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 33% by 2030. These goals are being integrated into Teva’s corporate strategy, with some directly linked to executive compensation.

For the first time, the company’s ESG Progress Report aligns with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). It also includes external verification of additional environmental and employee data.

“Teva’s latest ESG Progress Report reflects the importance of health and the healthcare industry,” said Kåre Schultz, President & CEO of Teva. “Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Teva ensured the uninterrupted supply of our medicines to patients, while protecting our employees, partnering with governments and healthcare organizations, providing potential treatments and helping to distribute vaccines and tests. With our collective progress, new goals and enhanced reporting, 2020 cemented ESG as integral to our company’s long-term sustainability and resilience.”

In collaboration with partners, patients, communities and governments, Teva’s ESG achievements in 2020 included:

  • Donating $571 million worth of medicines to patients in need, more than double its 2019 donations
  • Safeguarding employee health and well-being, with its best employee safety performance to date
  • Reducing Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 25% from 2017
  • Strengthening inclusion and diversity (I&D) across its workforce, with 82% of employees reporting Teva’s culture promotes I&D
  • Fostering a culture of compliance and ethics, publishing seven policies and positions and training more than 20,000 employees on key ethical behavior topics

This progress reflects Teva’s improved ESG performance, which was recognized in key indices last year. S&P Global ranked Teva in the top 30% of pharmaceutical companies—a 15% increase from 2019—and Sustainalytics ranked Teva in the top 10% of pharmaceutical companies. The company’s CDP climate change score improved from B to A- as a result of its greenhouse gas emissions reduction initiatives, and Teva was the second ranked generics company in the Access to Medicine Foundation’s Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark.

“ESG is everyone's business at Teva, and this report reflects our employees’ cumulative contributions,” says Mark Sabag, EVP, HR, GCB at Teva. “Our renewed ESG strategy authentically represents our commitments to the communities in which we live and the patients we serve.”

In its 120th year, Teva remains dedicated to supporting the needs of communities, employees and patients—maintaining an ESG mindset as it delivers quality medicines to nearly 200 million people every day. Read more about Teva’s 2020 ESG Progress Report here.

About Teva

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) has been developing and producing medicines to improve people’s lives for more than a century. We are a global leader in generic and specialty medicines with a portfolio consisting of over 3,500 products in nearly every therapeutic area. Around 200 million people around the world take a Teva medicine every day, and are served by one of the largest and most complex supply chains in the pharmaceutical industry. Along with our established presence in generics, we have significant innovative research and operations supporting our growing portfolio of specialty and biopharmaceutical products. Learn more at www.tevapharm.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This 2020 Environmental, Social and Governance Progress Report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are based on management’s current beliefs and expectations and are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from that expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to:

  • our ability to successfully compete in the marketplace, including: that we are substantially dependent on our generic products; consolidation of our customer base and commercial alliances among our customers; delays in launches of new generic products; the increase in the number of competitors targeting generic opportunities and seeking U.S. market exclusivity for generic versions of significant products; our ability to develop and commercialize biopharmaceutical products; competition for our specialty products, including AUSTEDO®, AJOVY® and COPAXONE®; our ability to achieve expected results from investments in our product pipeline; our ability to develop and commercialize additional pharmaceutical products; and the effectiveness of our patents and other measures to protect our intellectual property rights;
  • our substantial indebtedness, which may limit our ability to incur additional indebtedness, engage in additional transactions or make new investments, may result in a further downgrade of our credit ratings; and our inability to raise debt or borrow funds in amounts or on terms that are favorable to us;
  • our business and operations in general, including: uncertainty regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our business, financial condition, operations, cash flows, and liquidity and on the economy in general; our ability to successfully execute and maintain the activities and efforts related to the measures we have taken or may take in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated costs therewith; effectiveness of our optimization efforts; our ability to attract, hire and retain highly skilled personnel; manufacturing or quality control problems; interruptions in our supply chain; disruptions of information technology systems; breaches of our data security; variations in intellectual property laws; challenges associated with conducting business globally, including political or economic instability, major hostilities or terrorism; costs and delays resulting from the extensive pharmaceutical regulation to which we are subject or delays in governmental processing time due to travel and work restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic;
  • the effects of reforms in healthcare regulation and reductions in pharmaceutical pricing, reimbursement and coverage; significant sales to a limited number of customers; our ability to successfully bid for suitable acquisition targets or licensing opportunities, or to consummate and integrate acquisitions; and our prospects and opportunities for growth if we sell assets;
  • compliance, regulatory and litigation matters, including: failure to comply with complex legal and regulatory environments; increased legal and regulatory action in connection with public concern over the abuse of opioid medications and our ability to reach a final resolution of the remaining opioid-related litigation; scrutiny from competition and pricing authorities around the world, including our ability to successfully defend against the U.S. Department of Justice criminal charges of Sherman Act violations; potential liability for patent infringement; product liability claims; failure to comply with complex Medicare and Medicaid reporting and payment obligations; compliance with anti-corruption sanctions and trade control laws; and environmental risks;
  • other financial and economic risks, including: our exposure to currency fluctuations and restrictions as well as credit risks; potential impairments of our intangible assets; potential significant increases in tax liabilities (including as a result of potential tax reform in the United States); and the effect on our overall effective tax rate of the termination or expiration of governmental programs or tax benefits, or of a change in our business;

and other factors discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and subsequent SEC filings, including in the sections captioned "Risk Factors” and “Forward Looking Statements.” Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or other information contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

IR
United States
Kevin C. Mannix (215) 591-8912
Israel
Yael Ashman 972 (3) 914-8262

PR
United States
Kelley Dougherty (973) 658-0237
Israel
Yonatan Beker 972 (54) 888 5898

Source: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited