Pfizer Inc. is a New York-headquartered global biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and delivering medicines and vaccines across oncology, immunology, rare diseases, infectious diseases, and internal medicine, reaching more than 414 million patients in 2024 with its medicines and vaccines. The company operates with a purpose of “Breakthroughs that change patients’ lives,” which formally anchors its sustainability priorities across climate, responsible supply chains, and global health access. The primary sources for this analysis are the 2024 Impact Report, the 2024 Key Performance Indicators Table (published June 2025), and the Responsible Business Performance Data document, all carrying independent assurance from an external assurance provider.
Pfizer is committed to achieving the voluntary Net-Zero Standard by 2040, a decade ahead of the standard’s general expectation, with SBTi-approved near-term targets governing its path to that goal. The company ranked 4th in the 2024 Access to Medicine Index, up from 6th in 2023, and was named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere for the fourth consecutive year in 2024.
Source
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/2024_KPI_Table_Final_062625.pdf
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/Pfizer_2024_Impact_Report-Performance_Data_02JUN2025.pdf
https://www.pfizer.com/about/responsibility/environmental-sustainability
https://www.pfizer.com/news/announcements/pfizers-2024-impact-report-highlights-accomplishments-sustainability
Sustainability Strategy and Goals
Pfizer’s ESG governance structure includes board-level oversight of sustainability priorities, with environmental responsibilities delegated through board committees and management-level accountability embedded in annual performance processes. The company’s Climate Change Position Statement (December 2024) formalizes its long-term net zero ambition, SBTi-aligned near-term targets, and reporting commitments. Pfizer reports under the GHG Protocol, TCFD, GRI Standards, and the UN SDGs, with independent assurance applied to Scope 1+2 data at reasonable assurance level for 2021–2024 and limited assurance for the 2019 baseline and select Scope 3 categories.
Pfizer’s responsible business framework covers four domains: Principles (ethics, quality, safety), Planet (climate, water, waste), People (colleagues, communities, access), and Partnerships (supply chain, policy advocacy). The company integrates its SBTi commitments into its publicly disclosed KPI tables and tracks performance annually with third-party independent verification, providing one of the more audited ESG data sets among large-cap pharmaceutical companies.
Net Zero and Carbon Emissions
Pfizer targets a 46% absolute reduction in Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2030 from a 2019 baseline and aims to achieve net zero by 2040 across all scopes under the SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard. The 2019 baseline for Scope 1+2 is 1,266,345 MT CO2e, and the 2030 target is 683,826 MT CO2e. As of 2024, a 15% reduction from the 2019 baseline has been achieved, placing the company significantly behind the pace required to reach 46% by 2030.
- Scope 1 emissions: 695,112 MT CO2e (2019 baseline) → 644,565 MT CO2e (2022) → 617,404 MT CO2e (2023) → 613,218 MT CO2e (2024); a 12% reduction from baseline
- Scope 2 (market-based): 571,233 MT CO2e (2019 baseline) → 483,281 MT CO2e (2022) → 490,632 MT CO2e (2023) → 465,128 MT CO2e (2024); a 19% reduction from baseline
- Scope 2 (location-based): 558,958 MT CO2e (2019 baseline) → 498,822 MT CO2e (2022) → 461,084 MT CO2e (2023) → 450,093 MT CO2e (2024); a 20% reduction from baseline
- Total Scope 1+2 (market-based): 1,266,345 MT CO2e (2019 baseline) → 1,127,846 MT CO2e (2022) → 1,108,036 MT CO2e (2023) → 1,078,346 MT CO2e (2024); a 15% reduction from baseline, against a 46% target by 2030
- GHG intensity (Scope 1+2 per million USD revenue): 31.0 MT CO2e (2019) → 11.2 MT CO2e (2022) → 18.6 MT CO2e (2023) → 16.9 MT CO2e (2024); a 45% reduction from 2019, though the 2022 intensity reflects the high-revenue COVID product period
- Total energy consumed: 4,787,389 MWh (2019) → 4,558,232 MWh (2022) → 4,466,375 MWh (2023) → 4,437,907 MWh (2024); a 7% reduction from 2019
Water Stewardship
Pfizer does not publish a company-wide absolute water withdrawal reduction target with a defined baseline year for the enterprise as a whole, though its Water Stewardship position statement governs water management with a particular focus on water-stressed areas. Water consumption increased 14% year-over-year from 2023 to 2024, driven by a more water-intensive manufacturing schedule, and 44% of water use occurs in high or extremely high water-stressed areas.
- Water withdrawal (including non-contact cooling water, million m³): 28.7 (2022) → 31.9 (2023) → 30.9 (2024); a 3% decrease year-over-year
- Water withdrawal (excluding non-contact cooling water, million m³): 12.3 (2022) → 12.3 (2023) → 12.1 (2024); a 2% decrease year-over-year
- Water consumption (million m³): 2.9 (2022) → 2.9 (2023) → 3.3 (2024); a 14% year-over-year increase
- Water discharged (million m³): 25.8 (2022) → 29.0 (2023) → 27.7 (2024); a 5% year-over-year decrease
- 44% of Pfizer’s water withdrawal occurs in areas classified as high or extremely high water stress
- No company-wide absolute water reduction target with a baseline and deadline is published in the 2024 Impact Report or KPI Table
Regenerative Agriculture
Regenerative agriculture is not part of Pfizer’s direct operations. Upstream supplier engagement for Scope 3 Category 1 (purchased goods and services) uses US EPA Supply Chain Greenhouse Gas Emission Factors, with 65% of suppliers of goods and services by spend committed to science-based emission reduction targets as of 2024. No agricultural sourcing commitments appear in the 2024 Impact Report or KPI disclosures.
Deforestation and Biodiversity
No formal deforestation or biodiversity targets are published in Pfizer’s 2024 Impact Report or KPI Table. The company’s Sustainable Medicines program, which addresses pharmaceuticals in the environment (PiE) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), is the closest analog to a nature-based impact program, covering environmental risk of active pharmaceutical ingredients entering waterways and ecosystems.
- Pfizer’s Clear packaging tool: deployed to redesign packaging configurations, reduce materials, and improve transport density, with the goal of reducing packaging-associated environmental impact
- Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (PiE): Pfizer applies Predicted Environmental Concentration to Predicted No Effect Concentration (PEC/PNEC) analysis to new compounds and has conducted environmental risk assessments on its marketed medicines portfolio
- No time-bound deforestation, biodiversity, or nature-based targets are published in available 2024 disclosures
Packaging and Circular Economy
Pfizer’s circular economy impact centers on its waste hierarchy of avoid, reduce, reuse, recycle, and dispose, with each site holding individual waste targets benchmarked against industry peers. Overall waste sent to landfill accounted for approximately 6% of total waste generated in 2024, and the company’s site-level Zero Waste to Landfill program is a key component of its circular waste strategy.
- Total hazardous waste generated: 76.5 thousand MT (2022) → 80.4 thousand MT (2023) → 79.9 thousand MT (2024); essentially flat over two years
- Hazardous waste diverted from disposal: 7.5 thousand MT (2022) → 10.4 thousand MT (2023) → 12.6 thousand MT (2024); a 68% increase over two years
- Hazardous waste diverted from disposal rate: 10% (2022) → 13% (2023) → 16% (2024)
- Hazardous waste disposed: 69.1 thousand MT (2022) → 70.0 thousand MT (2023) → 67.3 thousand MT (2024)
- Non-hazardous waste generated: 34.7 thousand MT (2022) → 36.2 thousand MT (2023) → 35.1 thousand MT (2024)
- Non-hazardous waste diverted from disposal: 18.4 thousand MT (2022) → 19.2 thousand MT (2023) → 19.7 thousand MT (2024); a 7% increase over two years
- Non-hazardous waste diverted rate: 53% (2022) → 53% (2023) → 56% (2024)
- Non-hazardous waste landfilled: 10.4 thousand MT (2022) → 10.1 thousand MT (2023) → 6.7 thousand MT (2024); a 34% year-over-year decrease
- Total landfill share of waste generated: approximately 6% in 2024
- Volatile organic air emissions: 440.4 thousand kg (2022) → 512.4 thousand kg (2023) → 283.6 thousand kg (2024); a 45% year-over-year decrease
Human Rights and Responsible Sourcing
Pfizer screens 100% of new suppliers for negative environmental impacts in accordance with its Supplier Conduct Principles. Supplier EHS assessments were conducted on 90 suppliers in 2024, down from 116 in 2022 and 109 in 2023, a downward trend that warrants monitoring. The company’s Responsible Supply Chain program embeds human rights, labor standards, product quality, and environmental criteria across its Tier 1 supplier base.
- Supplier science-based targets (% of suppliers by spend): 29% (2022) → 51% (2023) → 65% (2024); 2025 target: 64% (already achieved in 2024)
- Supplier EHS assessments conducted: 116 (2022) → 109 (2023) → 90 (2024); a 22% decline over two years
- New supplier environmental screening: 100% of new suppliers screened per Supplier Conduct Principles
- EHS non-compliance penalties paid: $15,500 (2022) → $111,600 (2023) → $18,600 (2024)
Nutrition and Health
Patients reached with Pfizer medicines and vaccines reached more than 414 million in 2024, including 415 million when Comirnaty and Paxlovid are included. The Accord for a Healthier World program, Pfizer’s flagship equitable access initiative, operates across 45 countries for 1.2 billion people, offering over 23 products at not-for-profit prices. U.S. average net price change for the Pfizer portfolio was -2% in 2024, compared to +6% in 2022 and +5% in 2023, marking the first year of net price decline in the three-year window.
- Patients reached (excluding Comirnaty and Paxlovid): 304 million (2022) → 316 million (2023) → 307 million (2024)
- Patients reached (including Comirnaty and Paxlovid): 1.3 billion (2022) → 619 million (2023) → 415 million (2024)
- Access to Medicine Index ranking: 6th (2022) → 6th (2023) → 4th (2024)
- U.S. portfolio average net price change: +6% (2022) → +5% (2023) → -2% (2024)
- Accord for a Healthier World: 23+ products, 45 countries, covering 1.2 billion people at not-for-profit prices
- R&D pipeline: 115 programs in development (Phase 1 through registration) as of February 2025
- FDA and EMA approvals: 14 received in 2024
- Phase 1 to approval success rate: 18% (2022) → 17% (2023) → 21% (2024)
Community and Social Impact
Pfizer’s colleagues logged 38,000+ volunteer hours in 2024, the company’s 175th anniversary year. Employee engagement and purpose scores declined in 2024, with the composite engagement score falling from 85% in 2023 to 76% in 2024, reflecting the company’s significant workforce restructuring following the COVID-era revenue normalization.
- Colleague volunteer hours: 38,000+ in 2024
- Employee engagement (composite favorable %): 88% (2022) → 85% (2023) → 76% (2024)
- Employee purpose score (favorable %): 93% (2022) → 89% (2023) → 85% (2024)
- Voluntary turnover: 7.3% (2022) → 5.8% (2023) → 6.2% (2024)
- Involuntary turnover: 7.0% (2022) → 6.4% (2023) → 8.6% (2024), reflecting the restructuring cycle
- Work-related fatalities: 0 (2022) → 0 (2023) → 2 (2024); both 2024 cases related to motor vehicle collisions
Governance and Transparency
Pfizer’s Board of Directors maintains sustainability oversight through board committees and charters, with governance, compensation, and audit committees all holding specific ESG-related responsibilities. The company applies GRI Standards, TCFD recommendations, and SASB, and evaluates IFRS S1 and S2 as emerging standards for future disclosure. Scope 1+2 data for 2021–2024 carries independent reasonable assurance, one of the stronger assurance levels among peers.
- Board oversight: Board of Directors with sustainability responsibilities distributed across multiple committees
- Assurance level: Scope 1+2 GHG data (2021–2024) independently verified to reasonable assurance; 2019 baseline and Scope 3 (select categories) to limited assurance
- Reporting frameworks: GRI Standards, TCFD, SASB, GHG Protocol, UN SDGs
- Women on Board of Directors: 4 of 12 (2022) → 4 of 12 (2023) → 3 of 13 (2024, as of April 24, 2025)
- Female adjusted pay gap (global): 99.5% (female pay as share of male pay, 2024)
- Minority adjusted pay gap (U.S. only): 100% (2024)
Technology and Innovation
Pfizer’s operational decarbonization strategy focuses on renewable energy sourcing, electrification, supply chain emissions reduction, and fleet transition. The company’s primary near-term lever for Scope 2 reduction is renewable electricity, targeting 80% by 2025 and 100% by 2030, but only 14% of electricity was sourced from renewables in 2024, representing the most critical execution gap in the environmental program. Travel-related Scope 3 emissions were reduced 55% below the 2019 baseline by 2024, exceeding the 25% target set for 2025.
- Renewable electricity (%): 9.5% (2019) → 6.9% (2022) → 9.9% (2023) → 14.4% (2024); against an 80% target by 2025 and 100% by 2030
- Energy consumed: 4,787,389 MWh (2019) → 4,558,232 MWh (2022) → 4,437,907 MWh (2024); a 7% reduction from 2019
- Energy intensity (MWh/million USD revenue): 117.0 (2019) → 45.1 (2022) → 69.8 (2024); a 40% reduction from 2019
- Pfizer Clear packaging tool: Deployed across packaging design to minimize materials, reduce transport density impact, and improve recyclability
- AI and digital key projects in R&D, manufacturing, and patient engagement: 38 (2022) → 47 (2023) → 42 (2024)
- Low-emission fuel certificates: Deployed by logistics suppliers to reduce upstream transportation emissions, contributing to a 23% Scope 3 Category 4 reduction from the 2019 baseline
- Mode shift strategy: Active program shifting product shipments from air to ocean freight to reduce logistics-related Scope 3 emissions
Global Partnerships and Advocacy
Pfizer is a member of the UN Global Compact and actively participates in environmental policy and regulatory engagement. The company works with its logistics providers on low-emission fuels and vehicle electrification, and embedded supplier SBTi engagement as a formal climate target with 64% coverage by spend as the 2025 deadline. Pfizer’s Accord for a Healthier World is the company’s primary multilateral access partnership, engaging governments, NGOs, and health ministries across 45 countries.
- Supplier SBTi engagement: 65% of suppliers by spend committed to science-based targets in 2024, exceeding the 64% by 2025 target one year early
- Accord for a Healthier World: 45 countries, 23+ products, 1.2 billion people; active government and NGO partnerships for health system capacity building
- Logistics provider partnerships: Low-emission fuel certificates from carriers; mode shift from air to ocean freight; electrification of logistics vehicles where available
- Climate Change Position Statement (December 2024): Publicly affirms net zero by 2040 commitment, SBTi alignment, and stakeholder engagement approach on climate policy
Source
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/2024_KPI_Table_Final_062625.pdf
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/Pfizer_2024_Impact_Report-Performance_Data_02JUN2025.pdf
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/about/Climate_Change_Position_Statement_December_2024.pdf
https://www.pfizer.com/about/responsibility/environmental-sustainability
Progress vs. Target Tracker
Source
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/2024_KPI_Table_Final_062625.pdf
https://tracenable.com/company/pfizer/climate-targets
Key Sustainability Innovations and Technologies
Pfizer’s most operationally advanced sustainability innovation is the mode shift strategy for logistics, transitioning freight from air to ocean to reduce Scope 3 Category 4 emissions, combined with low-emission fuel certificates provided by logistics partners. Upstream transportation and distribution emissions fell 23% below the 2019 baseline in 2024, exceeding the 10% target set for 2025 and demonstrating that supply chain logistics decarbonization is the company’s fastest-delivering lever in the Scope 3 portfolio. Business travel emissions at 55% below the 2019 baseline in 2024 also reflect a structural shift to virtual engagement that has persisted post-pandemic.
On the materials and packaging side, the Pfizer Clear packaging tool is deployed across product packaging design to minimize material use, reduce transport density, and improve end-of-life recyclability. Waste management performance has shown meaningful improvement in hazardous waste diversion, with 12.6 thousand MT diverted from disposal in 2024, a 68% increase from the 7.5 thousand MT diverted in 2022, driven by site-level zero landfill programs and incineration-with-energy-recovery transitions.
- Logistics mode shift and low-emission fuel certificates: Scope 3 Category 4 (upstream transportation) down 23% from 2019 baseline in 2024
- Business travel decarbonization: -55% from 2019 baseline in 2024; 188,309 MT CO2e vs. 421,399 MT CO2e baseline
- Hazardous waste diversion from disposal: 7.5 thousand MT (2022) → 10.4 thousand MT (2023) → 12.6 thousand MT (2024); 68% increase over two years
- Non-hazardous landfill reduction: 10.4 thousand MT (2022) → 6.7 thousand MT (2024); a 34% year-over-year reduction, driving the 6% total landfill rate
- Volatile organic emissions reduction: 512.4 thousand kg (2023) → 283.6 thousand kg (2024); a 45% year-over-year decrease
- Supplier SBTi engagement: 65% of suppliers by spend holding science-based targets (2024), exceeded the 64% target one year ahead of deadline
- Pfizer Clear packaging tool: Systematic packaging minimization across the product portfolio
- AI projects across R&D, manufacturing, and patient engagement: 42 active key digital projects in 2024
Source
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/2024_KPI_Table_Final_062625.pdf
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/Pfizer_2024_Impact_Report-Performance_Data_02JUN2025.pdf
https://www.pfizer.com/about/responsibility/green-journey/packaging
https://www.pfizer.com/news/announcements/pfizers-2024-impact-report-highlights-accomplishments-sustainability
Measurable Impacts
Pfizer’s 2024 environmental performance shows steady but slow Scope 1+2 reductions of 15% from the 2019 baseline, with Scope 2 market-based emissions improving faster (19% below baseline) than Scope 1 (12% below baseline). Scope 3 total emissions stand at 3,555,207 MT CO2e in 2024, which is 14% above the 2019 baseline of 3,117,262 MT CO2e, driven primarily by the inclusion of Seagen’s supply chain in 2024 reporting and revised methodologies for purchased goods and services. The total carbon footprint (Scope 1+2+3) decreased 17% year-over-year from 2023 to 2024, though this largely reflects methodology changes in Scope 3 Category 1 rather than structural emissions reduction.
- Scope 1: 695,112 MT CO2e (2019) → 644,565 MT CO2e (2022) → 617,404 MT CO2e (2023) → 613,218 MT CO2e (2024); -12% from baseline
- Scope 2 (market-based): 571,233 MT CO2e (2019) → 483,281 MT CO2e (2022) → 490,632 MT CO2e (2023) → 465,128 MT CO2e (2024); -19% from baseline
- Total Scope 1+2: 1,266,345 MT CO2e (2019) → 1,127,846 MT CO2e (2022) → 1,108,036 MT CO2e (2023) → 1,078,346 MT CO2e (2024); -15% from baseline; 2030 target: -46%
- Total Scope 3: 3,117,262 MT CO2e (2019) → 9,377,729 MT CO2e (2022) → 4,303,654 MT CO2e (2023) → 3,555,207 MT CO2e (2024); +14% vs. 2019 baseline
- Renewable electricity (%): 9.5% (2019) → 6.9% (2022) → 9.9% (2023) → 14.4% (2024); 2025 target: 80%
- Energy consumed (MWh): 4,787,389 (2019) → 4,558,232 (2022) → 4,466,375 (2023) → 4,437,907 (2024); -7% from 2019
- Water withdrawal (total, million m³): 28.7 (2022) → 31.9 (2023) → 30.9 (2024)
- Water consumption (million m³): 2.9 (2022) → 2.9 (2023) → 3.3 (2024); +14% year-over-year
- Hazardous waste generated: 76.5 thousand MT (2022) → 80.4 thousand MT (2023) → 79.9 thousand MT (2024); essentially flat
- Non-hazardous landfill: 10.4 thousand MT (2022) → 10.1 thousand MT (2023) → 6.7 thousand MT (2024); -34% year-over-year
- Supplier SBTi coverage: 29% (2022) → 51% (2023) → 65% (2024); 2025 target of 64% exceeded
- Patients reached (excl. Comirnaty and Paxlovid): 304 million (2022) → 316 million (2023) → 307 million (2024)
- Total injury rate: 0.30 (2022) → 0.30 (2023) → 0.31 (2024)
Source
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/2024_KPI_Table_Final_062625.pdf
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/Pfizer_2024_Impact_Report-Performance_Data_02JUN2025.pdf
https://tracenable.com/company/pfizer/ghg-emissions
Challenges and Areas for Improvement
The most critical gap in Pfizer’s sustainability program is the renewable electricity shortfall. The 80% by 2025 target was missed by 65.6 percentage points, with only 14.4% sourced from renewables in 2024, and the 100% by 2030 target now requires adding more than 85 percentage points in 6 years, roughly 14 percentage points per year. The company has not published a specific procurement roadmap, VPPA contracting pipeline, or on-site generation investment plan that would explain how this gap will be closed.
The 46% Scope 1+2 reduction target by 2030 faces similar pace risk. At the current average pace of approximately 1.5 percentage points per year since 2019, reaching 46% by 2030 would require the company to almost double its annual reduction rate. The renewable electricity gap and the Scope 1+2 reduction gap are structurally linked; closing the renewable electricity target is the single fastest mechanism available to reduce Scope 2, which would move the combined Scope 1+2 figure substantially toward the 2030 milestone.
- Renewable electricity gap: 14.4% actual (2024) vs. 80% target by 2025 (missed) and 100% by 2030; no delivery roadmap published
- Scope 1+2 pace: 15% reduction from 2019 baseline by 2024 vs. 46% required by 2030; current pace implies approximately 18% by 2030 if linear
- Scope 3 total above 2019 baseline: 3,555,207 MT CO2e in 2024 vs. 3,117,262 MT CO2e in 2019; 14% higher than baseline, reflecting Seagen acquisition and methodology changes
- Scope 3 Category 1 (purchased goods and services): 2,786,489 MT CO2e (2024), down 18% from 2023 but reflecting a methodology change rather than structural reduction; the category stands 47% above the 2019 baseline
- Water consumption increase: +14% year-over-year in 2024 (2.9 million m³ to 3.3 million m³) due to more water-intensive manufacturing, with 44% of total water use in high or extremely high water-stressed areas
- Hazardous waste flat: 79.9 thousand MT in 2024, essentially unchanged from 80.4 thousand MT in 2023 and 76.5 thousand MT in 2022; radical process redesign and solvent minimization needed to bend this trajectory
- Supplier EHS assessments declining: 116 (2022) → 109 (2023) → 90 (2024); a 22% reduction in supplier environmental audits over two years
- Work-related fatalities: 2 in 2024 (vs. 0 in 2022 and 2023), both related to motor vehicle collisions
- Employee engagement decline: Composite score dropped from 88% (2022) to 76% (2024), signaling internal cultural stress from restructuring
- No company-wide water reduction target published; no biodiversity or deforestation targets; no nature-based commitments formalized as of the 2024 Impact Report
Source
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/2024_KPI_Table_Final_062625.pdf
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/Pfizer_2024_Impact_Report-Performance_Data_02JUN2025.pdf
https://tracenable.com/company/pfizer/climate-targets
https://www.greendigest.co/p/pfizer-environmental-and-social-impact
Future Plans and Long-Term Goals
Pfizer’s long-term environmental roadmap is anchored by the net zero by 2040 commitment, a decade ahead of the SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard general expectation, with the 2030 46% Scope 1+2 milestone as the essential intermediate checkpoint. The near-term targets that were set for 2025 (80% renewable electricity and 64% supplier SBTi coverage) revealed a divergent execution pattern: supplier engagement substantially outperformed, while renewable electricity procurement significantly underperformed. Post-2025 commitments require a fundamental recalibration of the renewable energy delivery mechanism.
- 2030 Scope 1+2 target: 46% absolute reduction from 2019 baseline; target emissions: 683,826 MT CO2e
- 2030 renewable electricity: 100% of purchased electricity from renewable sources
- 2040 net zero: SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard, covering Scope 1, 2, and 3 across the full value chain, 10 years ahead of the standard’s general expectation
- 2040 operational emissions target: 95% absolute reduction in Scope 1+2 from 2019 baseline
- 2040 value chain emissions target: 90% absolute reduction in Scope 3 from 2019 baseline, with the most ambitious Scope 3 target covering value chain emissions
- Accord for a Healthier World: Ongoing scale expansion for 1.2 billion people in 45 countries; supply chain capacity building and new product additions under development
- Renewable energy procurement: VPPA and green tariff contracting expansion required to close the 85.6-percentage-point gap to the 2030 100% target
- Scope 3 logistics: Continued air-to-ocean freight modal shift and low-emission fuel certificate procurement from carriers
- Scope 3 supplier: Maintaining and growing the 65% supplier SBTi coverage, with ongoing annual tracking and engagement
Source
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/about/Climate_Change_Position_Statement_December_2024.pdf
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/2024_KPI_Table_Final_062625.pdf
https://tracenable.com/company/pfizer/climate-targets
https://www.pfizer.com/about/responsibility/environmental-sustainability
Comparisons to Industry Competitors
Pfizer’s nearest pharmaceutical competitors by revenue and ESG disclosure maturity include AbbVie and Novartis, both of whom have published verified, externally assured ESG datasets covering comparable reporting periods. The comparison below draws on all three companies’ primary disclosures.
Pfizer and Novartis share a 2040 net zero target, placing both a decade ahead of AbbVie’s 2050 goal. Novartis’s 96% renewable electricity in 2024 is dramatically ahead of Pfizer’s 14.4%, despite both targeting 100% by approximately 2025 to 2030. On the Scope 1+2 reduction pace, Novartis has achieved 45.3% from its 2022 baseline in three years, versus Pfizer’s 15% from its 2019 baseline in five years, a significant execution gap that reflects Pfizer’s heavier manufacturing footprint and slower renewable energy contracting pace.
Source
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/2024_KPI_Table_Final_062625.pdf
https://www.novartis.com/sites/novartis_com/files/novartis-update-public-commitments-2025.pdf
https://www.abbvie.com/content/dam/abbvie-com2/pdfs/esg-disclosure-supplement.pdf
What to Watch: 12 to 18 Month Indicators
Three specific signals will determine whether Pfizer’s sustainability trajectory recovers or continues to diverge from its stated targets over the next 12 to 18 months.
Renewable electricity procurement update for 2025. Pfizer missed its 80% renewable electricity by 2025 target by 65.6 percentage points, reaching only 14.4% in 2024. The 2025 KPI table, expected in mid-2026 in line with Pfizer’s June disclosure cadence, will confirm whether the company has accelerated renewable contracting through VPPAs or green tariff agreements. Any 2025 figure below 30% would signal that the 100% by 2030 target is structurally unreachable without a fundamental shift in procurement strategy, and would raise questions about the credibility of the 2040 net zero timeline.
Scope 1+2 reduction trajectory versus the 2030 milestone. Pfizer’s current pace of Scope 1+2 reduction implies approximately 18% by 2030 if the trend remains linear, versus the 46% required. The 2025 KPI update will show whether the Scope 2 market-based figure falls materially, which would be the primary indicator of renewable energy progress converting into emissions reduction. A 2025 Scope 1+2 figure above 1,050,000 MT CO2e would indicate that no meaningful acceleration is occurring.
Scope 3 total emissions trajectory post-Seagen integration. The 2022 Scope 3 spike to 9,377,729 MT CO2e reflected the Seagen acquisition and methodology changes; the 2024 figure of 3,555,207 MT CO2e is still 14% above the 2019 baseline of 3,117,262 MT CO2e. The 2025 update will confirm whether Scope 3 has returned below the 2019 baseline, establishing whether the restated figures reflect genuine reduction or post-acquisition accounting normalization. Any 2025 Scope 3 figure above 3,117,262 MT CO2e would mean Pfizer has not yet achieved net Scope 3 progress against its 2019 base.
Source
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/2024_KPI_Table_Final_062625.pdf
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/about/Climate_Change_Position_Statement_December_2024.pdf
https://tracenable.com/company/pfizer/climate-targets
Pfizer’s 2024 ESG program demonstrates credible, externally assured performance on social impact metrics, logistics decarbonization, and supplier engagement, while presenting material execution gaps on the two most operationally critical environmental targets: renewable electricity and Scope 1+2 reduction pace. The achievement of 65% supplier SBTi coverage one year ahead of the 64% target, combined with a 55% reduction in business travel emissions and a 23% reduction in upstream transportation emissions, confirms that Pfizer can execute supply chain sustainability programs at scale. The Access to Medicine Index improvement from 6th to 4th place in 2024 and the Accord for a Healthier World program’s reach across 45 countries for 1.2 billion people demonstrate that the social access dimension of ESG is embedded in the business model.
The renewable electricity shortfall is the single most important unresolved gap in the entire ESG program, and it is structural in nature. At 14.4% renewable electricity in 2024, Pfizer is further from its 80% by 2025 target than it was at the target’s inception. Until Pfizer publishes a specific VPPA contracting pipeline, green tariff schedule, and on-site generation roadmap, the 2040 net zero target cannot be assessed as operationally credible, regardless of the company’s commitment level. The employee engagement score decline to 76% in 2024 and the two work-related fatalities in the same year signal internal organizational stress that, if unaddressed, will affect ESG program delivery capacity.
Three strategic takeaways stand out for practitioners benchmarking or replicating Pfizer’s approach:
- Supplier SBTi engagement at 65% by spend is a genuinely replicable and verifiable model. Pfizer’s approach (tracking companies publicly committed to SBTi, companies with validated targets, and companies with equivalent Scope 1+2 targets) creates a flexible coverage definition that allows rapid expansion without requiring full SBTi validation for every supplier, which is a practical template for large, diversified pharmaceutical supply chains.
- Separate the logistics Scope 3 lever from the operations Scope 1+2 lever in planning and reporting. Pfizer’s logistics emissions reductions (23% below baseline for upstream transportation, 55% for business travel) show that Scope 3 Category 4 and Category 6 respond to modal shift and behavioral change faster than operational emissions respond to capital investment in energy efficiency. Practitioners should track these categories separately and resource them with commercial rather than engineering teams.
- Treat renewable electricity procurement as a capital allocation decision requiring board-level commitment, not a sustainability team initiative. Pfizer’s failure to advance from 9.5% (2019) to more than 14.4% (2024) in renewable electricity sourcing, despite a clear 100% by 2030 target, reflects the absence of a funded, time-bound VPPA or green tariff contracting program. No large-cap manufacturing company has reached 80% or more renewable electricity without a multi-year forward contracting program approved at the CFO and board level with specific MW targets and contract execution milestones.
Source
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/2024_KPI_Table_Final_062625.pdf
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/Pfizer_2024_Impact_Report-Performance_Data_02JUN2025.pdf
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/about/Climate_Change_Position_Statement_December_2024.pdf
https://tracenable.com/company/pfizer/climate-targets
https://www.novartis.com/sites/novartis_com/files/novartis-update-public-commitments-2025.pdf
https://www.abbvie.com/content/dam/abbvie-com2/pdfs/esg-disclosure-supplement.pdf
