Sustainability
We believe in creating the greatest good for society.
Why is sustainability important?
As a portfolio medical technology company, Smith+Nephew’s purpose is to restore and promote health and wellbeing.
We believe that this applies not just to the benefits our products deliver to patients, but also to the wider health of the planet and society.
Our sustainability strategy
Our sustainability strategy is built on our purpose – Life Unlimited, our business strategy and our culture pillars of Care, Collaboration and Courage.
Our sustainability strategy, which was developed by our Sustainability Council and approved by the Board, was inspired by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is directed by our business strategy that forms the basis of our value creation plan for the medium term. It is designed to help us grow together; not just as a Company, but as a global team, and to do so in an efficient and effective way.
Our sustainability strategy reflects the social, environmental and economic aspects of sustainable development. As a profit-seeking enterprise, our challenge is to focus our efforts on meeting our economic objectives while at the same time optimising the social impact and reducing the environmental impact of our work.
Supplying products which are safe and effective is fundamental to our business. Regulatory authorities across the world enforce laws and regulations that govern the design, development, approval, manufacture, labelling, marketing and sale of healthcare products.
Our internal processes and procedures are designed to achieve product safety across the full life cycle of our products and services, and we operate a robust quality management programme.
Smith+Nephew manufacturing sites maintain appropriate establishment registrations with the USFDA and maintain ISO 13485 certifications for medical device manufacturing and ISO 9001 certifications for worldwide distribution facilities, as well as CE Mark and 510(K) certifications supported by in-house and precautionary product testing.
As part of maintaining these certifications, we ensure that personnel are aware of the importance of their activities and the impact to quality. All employees with roles that can impact product quality are trained upon hire and annually to current Good Manufacturing Processes.
Net zero transition plan
We have developed an overview of our net zero transition plan based on the UK Transition Plan Taskforce Disclosure Framework issued in October 2023. Our transition planning will be updated periodically as we progress against our milestones and as best practice emerges.
Our targets
Objectives:
- Inclusion and belong – Empower and promote the inclusion of all.
- Volunteering – We are committed to living our culture in our communities by providing eight hours of paid volunteer time to all employees and enabling at least 50 impactful community/charity engagements across our sites each year from 2023 to 2030.
- Giving – Improve patients’ lives through product donations to underserved communities.
- Health, safety and wellbeing – Support our health, safety and wellbeing ambition by maintaining an annual Total Incident Rate (TIR) of less than 0.5 and Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) of less than 0.1.
Our progress in 2024:
- 4500+ supporters across our seven global Employee Inclusion Groups and sub-groups.
- 150+ impactful employee engagements supporting inclusion and belonging.
- 68 volunteering events across our sites.
- 380,000+ patients supported through product donations.1
- TIR = 0.12
- LTIFR = 0.05
Notes
- Following approval and release by Smith+Nephew’s Auditors and Board of our 2024 Annual Report and Accounts and our Sustainability Report, we were informed by our donation partner, Integrated Health Partners (IHP), of inaccuracies in certain 2024 data values provided to Smith+Nephew by IHP in connection with product donations received by IHP.
The below table sets out the revisions to the relevant data values by way of update to our published Annual Report and Sustainability Report:
| Revised 2024 data | Originally reported 2024 data | Report pages affected |
| Total patients treated with donated products is approximately 195,000+ | Total patients treated with donated products is approximately 380,000+ | Annual Report: pages. 16, 19, 66, 99 Sustainability Report: pages. 4, 11, 14, 20 |
| More than 325,000 patients helped over course of Smith+Nephew’s longstanding relationship with IHP | More than 500,000 patients helped over course of Smith+Nephew’s longstanding relationship with IHP | Annual Report: page. 66 Sustainability Report: page. 14 |
| Approximately $5.5 million in product donations in 2024 | Approximately $6.9 million in product donations in 2024 | Annual Report: Sustainability Report: page 20 |
| Giving activities totalled approximately $5.6 million, comprised of $5.5 million in product donations and matched giving at $105,000 | Giving activities totalled approximately $7 million, comprised of $6.9 million in product donations and matched giving at $105,000 | Annual Report: page. 99 Sustainability Report: page. 20 |
Objectives:
- Climate change - Achieve net zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHGs by 2040 and Scope 3 GHGs by 2045, beginning by achieving a 70% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHGs by 2025.
- Waste - Achieve zero waste to landfill2 at our facilities in Memphis, US, and Malaysia by 2025 and at all of our strategic manufacturing facilities by 2030.
- Water - Conserve water throughout our business processes.
Our progress in 2024:
- Scopes 1 and 2 (total) CO2e emitted (market-based). 63% reduction from 2019 baseline1.
- Scope 3 GHG emissions. 59% reduction from 2021 baseline.
- 95% of total manufacturing waste diverted from landfill.
- 670,000m3 water used vs 672,000m3 during in 2023.
Notes
- Data independently assured by ERM CVS. The full assurance report is included in the full report on pages 46–47.
- We define zero waste to landfill as a landfill diversion rate of 90% or greater.
Objectives:
- Product design - Include a sustainability review in New Product Development (NPD) for all new products and product acquisitions.
- Sustainable packaging - We are committed to reducing our packaging, and designing with reusable, recyclable and/or renewable resources that are sustainably sourced.
- Supplier engagement - Complete a focused Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) risk-based due diligence of our Tier 1 suppliers annually, including risk-based analysis of sub-tier suppliers, to assure compliance with our sustainability requirements.
Our progress in 2024:
- PICO Negative Pressure Wound Therapy product component recyclability information available globally.
- 78% of in-scope packaging systems incorporate at least one recyclable component.
- 100% of due diligence and assessments of Tier 1 suppliers according to our risk-based procedure have been completed. We have continued our on-site audit programme for suppliers identified through risk-based analysis.
External recognition
We are proud to have maintained our listing on a number of high profile and prestigious socially responsible investor and sustainability indices.
S+N Pulse
Stories from the heart of Smith+Nephew.
Read about some the ways that we're working to deliver on our Sustainability targets.