Company details community, environmental and social efforts

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) today released its annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report for fiscal 2016, highlighting the company’s ongoing support for people in its communities and workplaces, and overall progress toward its environmental and social goals.

WBA strives to be a global leader in caring for communities and the environment, reflecting its purpose to help people around the world lead healthier and happier lives. The report, covering the fiscal year that ended August 31, will be launched at an event tonight at the Knight Conference Center in the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

WBA made significant strides in CSR accountability in 2016, reporting metrics that will serve as the baseline for evaluating future progress. For the first time since it was created in December 2014, the company collected data across all of its businesses, on charitable contributions, carbon emissions, energy usage, waste disposal, employee retention and employee gender.

“Our company is full of inspiring stories of social and environmental responsibility,” said Ornella Barra, co-chief operating officer and CSR leader. “I feel immensely proud of these initiatives, which show how much our people care and which are embedded in the work we do every day. We have set ourselves 12 challenging goals connected with our business activities and are excited to report on our progress.”

In the 2016 report, the company maps its CSR goals against the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. WBA’s commitment to those targets was recognized last year when the UN Foundation honored the company with its Global Leadership Award. The award highlighted, in part, the accomplishments of Walgreens’ highly impactful “Get a Shot. Give a Shot” initiative, which provides lifesaving vaccines to children in developing countries through the foundation’s Shot@Life campaign.

WBA has built on the strong CSR tradition of its legacy companies, leveraging its global scale to make a difference in programs to reduce environmental impact and champion health and well-being around the world. The company has identified 12 strategic goals connected to its business and to its four key CSR areas: community, environment, marketplace and workplace.

WBA’s senior leaders are committed to CSR, an essential part of building trust in the company’s brands. Stefano Pessina, executive vice chairman and chief executive officer, commented: “We truly embrace our corporate and social responsibility, and we embed it in how we operate our company as a sustainable and profitable enterprise. As a health care champion, for us there is a strong commercial as much as moral imperative to be a good corporate citizen. Assessment, measurement and monitoring of social and environmental impact are built into our operating initiatives, procedures and our consideration of new contracts or corporate opportunities. Delivery against these policies is implemented in our daily work, in our businesses around the globe.”