Company Continues Progress on Reducing Carbon Footprint
LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Walgreens Boots Alliance (Nasdaq: WBA) today announced the publication of its 2019 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report, which details the company’s global sustainability initiatives, including efforts to improve access to quality healthcare, deliver support programs for people living with cancer and reduce its carbon footprint.
“Our purpose at WBA is to help people live healthier and happier lives,” said Ornella Barra, WBA’s co-chief operating officer and the chairman of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Committee. “Everyone deserves the opportunity to fulfill his or her potential, regardless of where one lives. That’s why we mobilize our incredible employees and invest resources in issues that impact our patients, customers and society. We believe in our ability to effect positive change in communities around the world.”
WBA is a leading global pharmacy retailer and wholesaler, present in 25 countries, including equity method investments. The company includes Boots UK, Boots Ireland, Alliance Healthcare and Walgreens and reaches millions of customers and patients through its retail pharmacy businesses every day.
Highlights from this year’s report include:
Expansion of In-Store Support for People Living with Cancer
For the past 20 years, Walgreens Boots Alliance and its businesses has sought to create innovative and meaningful support for cancer patients and their loved ones.
For more than 10 years, Boots UK and Macmillan Cancer Support, one of the largest British charities, have worked together to train beauty consultants and pharmacists to deliver in-store advice to patients and customers on managing physical and emotional side effects of cancer and cancer treatments.
Following the UK in-store model, in March 2019, Walgreens launched Feel More Like You™ which also positions trained beauty consultants and pharmacists to advise and support people with cancer at more than 3,000 U.S. locations.
“The experience of cancer can be incredibly lonely,” said Jonathan, a cancer survivor. “Being able to talk with a Boots pharmacist who understood what I was going through and could give me advice on how to manage my physical and emotional side effects helped me feel less lonely and gave me the confidence to tackle my diagnosis head on.”
Life-Changing Vitamins to More Than 200 Million Women and Children
In addition to addressing cancer, WBA has also dedicated efforts to improving healthcare in communities around the world.
Six years ago, Walgreens and nonprofit Vitamin Angels teamed up to improve maternal and child health around the world. To date, the partners have provided vitamins to more than 200 million women and children around the world.
The charitable partnership works in two ways: For every customer purchase of vitamins from select suppliers, Walgreens donates one percent of sales to Vitamin Angels’ outreach efforts across the U.S. and globally. Additionally, for the past two years, Walgreens ‘Quarter Drive’ customer donation campaign in January has raised more than $3 million for the Vitamin Angels’ mission.
“You cannot underestimate the impact of Walgreens partnership with Vitamin Angels,” said Dr. Nikhil Harikrishnan, MPH, Vitamin Angels program manager in Asia. “I have seen first-hand what a small intervention like a prenatal vitamin or vitamin A can do. We are literally changing lives, and that’s why the 200 million women and children impacted by our partnership is so incredible.”
Waste Reduction and First-of-its-Kind Sustainable Shopping Experience
The new CSR report also details efforts across WBA businesses to reduce energy consumption, cut the amount of waste that goes to landfill and empower employees and customers to adopt environmentally friendly actions.
In July 2019, Boots UK launched its flagship Covent Garden store, a first-of-its-kind retail environment. The store features a water station where customers can refill their reusable water bottles and a refilling station for products such as shampoo. All Boots UK stores are also eliminating single-use plastic bags in favor of unbleached paper bags, a continuation of Boots journey to reduce plastic use across its business.
“In building the Covent Garden store, we wanted to design the Boots retail experience of the future, one built with sustainability front of mind,” said Sebastian James, managing director of Boots UK and Republic of Ireland. “As a global business, we view sustainability holistically, from our supply chain to the in-store experience we deliver for customers. It’s all connected to our desire to operate as a responsible and best-in-class company.”
The WBA 2019 CSR Report was prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards: Core option, which are the world’s most widely used set of sustainability reporting standards.
You can read more about WBA’s Corporate Social Responsibility efforts here.
About Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA)
Walgreens Boots Alliance (Nasdaq: WBA) is a global leader in retail and wholesale pharmacy, touching millions of lives every day through dispensing and distributing medicines, its convenient retail locations, digital platforms and health and beauty products. The company has more than 100 years of trusted health care heritage and innovation in community pharmacy and pharmaceutical wholesaling.
Including equity method investments, WBA has a presence in more than 25 countries, employs more than 440,000 people and has more than 18,750 stores.
WBA’s purpose is to help people across the world lead healthier and happier lives. The company is proud of its contributions to healthy communities, a healthy planet, an inclusive workplace and a sustainable marketplace. The company’s businesses have been recognized for their Corporate Social Responsibility. Walgreens was named to FORTUNE* magazine’s 2019 Companies that Change the World list and Boots UK was recognized as Responsible Business of the Year 2019-2020 by Business in the Community. WBA is included in FORTUNE’s 2020 list of the World’s Most Admired Companies. This is the 27th consecutive year that WBA or its predecessor company, Walgreen Co., has been named to the list.
More company information is available at www.walgreensbootsalliance.com.
*© 2019, Fortune Media IP Limited. Used under license.
(WBA-GEN)
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: All statements in this release and related CSR report that are not historical, including program goals, the expected execution and effect of our Corporate Social Responsibility strategies and initiatives and the amounts and timing of their expected impact, are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, assumptions and uncertainties, known or unknown, including those described in Item 1A (Risk Factors) of Walgreens Boots Alliance’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year that ended August 31, 2019 and in other documents that Walgreens Boots Alliance files or furnishes with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Except to the extent required by law, Walgreens Boots Alliance does not undertake, and expressly disclaims, any duty or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement after the date of this release, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise.
Contacts
Media Relations
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pamela.morris@walgreens.com
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Gerald Gradwell and Jay Spitzer
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