In collaboration with an external ESG advisory firm, in 2023 we refreshed our assessment of ESG material topics. In addition to guiding the content for this report, the effort is a foundation for alignment with emerging ESG reporting requirements across the globe.
Through desktop research, stakeholder interviews and value chain mapping, we identified and/or re-affirmed the most significant ESG impacts, risks and opportunities for Elanco and its stakeholders. In preparation for upcoming ESG disclosure regulations in the EU and other jurisdictions, in 2024 we seek to complete a double materiality analysis of these topics to consider relevant financial risks and opportunities for our business.
For this analysis, our definitions of impacts, risks and opportunities align with the GRI Standards, IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS):
The below table summarizes impacts, risks, opportunities and managerial approaches by strategic focus area and Elanco Healthy Purpose pillar.
Through 2024 and beyond, we remain focused on deepening the alignment of our process with emerging regulatory requirements for ESG reporting across the globe. Key activities include:
Strategic Focus | Descriptions of Impacts, Ricks and/or Opportunities | Elanco's Approach | Additional Resources |
Animal welfare — companion and farm animals |
| Elanco has maintained a rich pipeline of innovation for over 70 years, currently comprised of more than 150 active programs across species and development phases. Elanco provides support and resources to farmers and veterinarians to help ensure optimal farm and companion animal welfare — including online and in-person trainings, welfare evaluations and consultations. |
Innovation and Intellectual Property Issue Brief Veterinary Livelihoods Issue Brief Animal welfare, 2023 ESG Report |
Animal welfare — research animals |
| Elanco’s animal welfare standards meet or exceed local, national and international laws and regulations. Elanco’s global animal welfare team is tasked with the implementation and oversight of our animal welfare program, which includes regular animal welfare audits of company-owned and contract research organizations’ facilities. |
Animal welfare, 2023 ESG Report |
Strategic Focus | Descriptions of Impacts, Ricks and/or Opportunities | Elanco's Approach | Additional Resources |
Anti-microbial stewardship |
| For more than two decades, Elanco has worked with global leaders — including farmers, veterinarians, scientists and healthcare industry leaders — to develop long-term, responsible approaches for addressing antimicrobial resistance. Elanco’s business aligns with a tiered approach to antibiotic stewardship, prioritizing animal-only antimicrobials as the first choice, followed by a tiered approach based on WHO ranking of antimicrobials. | Antimicrobial Stewardship Issue Brief Antimicrobial stewardship section of the 2023 ESG Report |
Farmers, producers and food systems |
| Elanco supports farmers, producers and resilient food systems with products, services and initiatives that promote animal health, welfare and productivity. Our products and services can help customers reduce feed inputs per animal, increase yield from the same number of animals and operate more sustainably with reduced overall emissions. We offer tools that help our customers measure their greenhouse gas emissions, establish baselines and demonstrate improvement — opening the door for potential new revenue streams related to their sustainability efforts. Our Managing Animal Health and Acaricides for a Better Africa (MAHABA) initiative supports small-scale producers, farmers, and customers. Our Elanco Knowledge Solution (EKS) team supports customers through training, data systems and technical advice. | Farmer and Producer Livelihoods Issue Brief Farmers, producers and food systems section of the 2023 ESG Report |
Strategic Focus | Descriptions of Impacts, Ricks and/or Opportunities | Elanco's Approach | Additional Resources |
Energy and emissions |
| We’ve expanded our GHG emissions reporting boundary to reflect our full operational control and enhanced disclosure transparency. We continue to pursue conservation and efficiency measures to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions, and we continue to advance toward our 2030 renewable electricity goal. | Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Energy Use Issue Brief Energy and emissions section of the 2023 ESG Report |
Operational waste |
| Elanco’s HSE organization maintains standard operating procedures detailing appropriate processes for disposal of both non-hazardous and hazardous waste. Elanco is advancing multiple initiatives to reduce our waste footprint by increasing recycling and reuse, where practicable and appropriate. | |
Water and biodiversity |
| Elanco seeks to reduce adverse impact on the health of ecosystems where we operate. We’re continually working to enhance our operational water efficiency and ensure the appropriate treatment and release of wastewater — abiding by all local, regional and national water quality standards. We also ensure alignment with our internal Elanco Aquatic Exposure Guidelines. A significant percentage of active pharmaceutical ingredients are derived from molecules found in natural products. Elanco assesses how our manufacturing processes could impact biomes and we’re working externally with organizations focused on restoring natural landscapes and helping mitigate and/or prevent biodiversity loss. | Water Management and Biodiversity Issue Brief Water and biodiversity section of the 2023 ESG Report |
Sustainable packaging |
| Elanco is committed to packaging that ensures the integrity, quality and safety of the contents for the end user. We’re working to increase the use of more environmentally friendly packaging materials and we’re optimizing packaging, transportation and logistics operations to remove elements that create unnecessary waste, emissions or spending. |
Sustainable packaging section of the 2023 ESG Report |
Reduced customer emissions |
| Elanco’s holistic approach to sustainability includes support for our customers as they seek to maximize productivity, reduce their environmental footprint and identify new revenue streams. Our products and services can help customers reduce feed inputs per animal, increase beef and dairy yield from the same size herd and operate more sustainably with reduced overall methane or ammonia emissions. Elanco data and management platforms can help customers better understand their baseline emissions and key drivers of their operation’s carbon footprint, and quantify reduction of GHG emissions from use of Elanco products. Elanco’s third-party partnerships can also help customers monetize realized emissions reductions through the sale of verified carbon credits. | Farmer and Producer Livelihoods Issue Brief Supporting producer emissions reduction section of the 2023 ESG Report |
Strategic Focus | Descriptions of Impacts, Ricks and/or Opportunities | Elanco's Approach | Additional Resources |
Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility |
| Elanco relies on our employees to effectively execute our business model. We operate across a diverse range of communities and countries around the globe. Our employee-led and leadership-supported Global IDEA Council serves as an internal business consultant and champion to build IDEA-related programs and partnerships across the company. Our comprehensive IDEA strategy includes recruitment efforts focused on attracting high quality talent from diverse sources, as well as learning, mentoring and development opportunities for all employees. We also acknowledge the continued needs of our diverse workforce through the evolution of our benefits, including paid time off and parental leave. | Human Capital Management and IDEA Issue Brief Inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility section of the 2023 ESG Report |
Employee training and development |
| Creating specialized animal care products and services requires a highly skilled workforce to develop, test, manufacture and sell such products. Employee development is a key part of Elanco’s global talent management strategy. Elanco employees start each year by outlining goals and expectations with their supervisor, which are reviewed during the year. In addition, Elanco provides role- and location-specific training, opportunities for special projects, as well as internal and external development groups and learning resources. | Human Capital Management and DEI Issue Brief Employee training and development section of the 2023 ESG Report |
Employee health, safety and well-being |
| Elanco believes promoting a healthy environment, maintaining a safe workplace and operating in a responsible and environmentally sound manner are linked to the success of our business. Elanco’s global HSE organization oversees all facets of employee health and safety, including maintaining our HSE Management System — which aligns with internationally recognized standards such as ISO45001, ISO 14001, the Chemistry Council Responsible Care Management System and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration Voluntary Protection Program. Elanco is dedicated to enhancing global employee health, safety and well-being by integrating benefits and talent management. We promote well-being awareness through robust communication campaigns across internal platforms and have expanded our Mental Health First Aid program to all employees. Our Employee Assistance Program offers support in over 30 languages, aligning well-being efforts with business objectives and promoting a culture of self-care. | Employee Health, Safety and Well-being Issue Brief Employee health, safety and well-being section of the 2023 ESG Report |
Strategic Focus | Descriptions of Impacts, Ricks and/or Opportunities | Elanco's Approach | Additional Resources |
Employee engagement volunteerism and giving |
| Colleagues around the globe provide employee engagement feedback through regular surveys and supervisor interactions. In addition, Elanco empowers employees to support organizations of personal interest through generous paid time off volunteerism policies, opportunities to financially support charitable or community organizations, as well as matching fund programs for both employee giving and volunteerism. | Human Capital Management and DEI Issue Brief Employee engagement and Employee volunteerism and giving sections of the 2023 ESG Report |
Human rights |
| Elanco is a participant in the UN Global Compact and maintains a Business Partner Code of Conduct (Code) that provides suppliers and third parties working on Elanco’s behalf with expectations for conducting Elanco-related business. Compliance with the Code and applicable laws is the minimum standard of conduct. Elanco has also established a formal human rights program, including a global human rights policy, an executive oversight committee and a core program team comprised of representatives from organizations such as ESG and sustainability, legal, ethics and compliance, HSE, human resources, procurement and supply chain. | Human Rights and Responsible Supply Chain Issue Brief |
Physical climate risk |
| In 2023, Elanco completed a comprehensive climate risk and opportunities assessment and scenario analysis aligned with Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures guidelines — reviewing physical impacts to owned and operated facilities, as well as strategic third-party manufacturing sites. On an ongoing basis, Elanco is working to identify and prioritize risk management strategies that align with our leading climate-related physical and transitional risks — including risk avoidance, transfer and mitigation, as well as the pursuit of climate-related opportunities for our products and services. |
ESG and sustainability governance section of the 2023 ESG Report |
Ethical conduct |
| The perception of Elanco’s ethical standards and the expectation that we operate in an ethical way is critical to our success as an organization. Elanco’s operations are governed by a robust Code of Conduct and other operational policies that guide our actions. We commit to acting legally and ethically while following all applicable laws and regulatory requirements. Any individual, internal or external to Elanco, can raise a concern through IntegrityLine. The service is available 24/7 for anonymous reporting, where allowed by law. | Human Rights and Responsible Supply Chain Issue Brief Elanco 2024 Proxy Statement, pgs. 30, 39-40 |
Intel-lectual property (IP) pro-tection, information security and data privacy |
| Elanco seeks patent protection for our product portfolio and currently holds more than 6,500 patents and applications filed in over 90 countries. We maintain confidentiality agreements for employees, consultants, advisors and business partners. Elanco adheres to all privacy laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU, as well as other global data protection laws ensuring that personal data is processed lawfully and transparently. Additionally, Elanco's IT information security and privacy efforts are focused on safeguarding the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of personal and sensitive information across our digital infrastructure. We employ a comprehensive set of security measures that include advanced encryption, access controls, network security protocols, and regular security assessments to mitigate risks and prevent unauthorized data access. | Innovation and Intellectual Property Issue Brief Information Security and Privacy Issue Brief Elanco 2024 Proxy Statement, pg. 30 Elanco 2023 Annual Report, pgs. 26, 36 |
Product quality and safety |
| Elanco’s customers require reliable and safe products to effectively treat animals. As such, product quality and safety are imperative to Elanco’s business model and reputation as an animal pharmaceutical manufacturer. Our rigorous quality assurance process includes prioritizing quality and safety throughout our manufacturing and quality organization, regular audits from our Global Quality Assurance team, maintaining and governing robust quality standards with Elanco’s Quality Management system and constantly monitoring data for safety signals related to products on the market through our pharmacovigilance organization. Elanco’s quality assurance process mandates root cause analysis and evaluation for all incidents — ensuring appropriate mitigating, corrective and preventative actions are implemented accordingly. In addition, we collaborate with government entities, law enforcement agencies, trade associations and other global cross-industry to fight counterfeiting and help ensure consumers receive only genuine Elanco products. | Product Quality and Safety Issue Brief |
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