Medline Europe Releases Its 2020 Sustainability Report
12 th August 2020
For the fourth year in a row, Medline International B.V. has published its annual Sustainability Report, covering Medline’s social, environmental and economic activities and impact (people, planet, prosperity) in Europe in 2019. The structure and contents of the report are shaped by the Global Reporting Initiative’s Standards.
In the context of Medline’s European operations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is synonymous with sustainability. This year’s report not only provides an overview of the company and its financial performance but also showcases Medline’s strong sustainability performance. Here are a few highlights from the report:
- We promoted labour and human rights in our product supply chain through our WRAP certification project, and initiated an in-depth review of our social compliance programme to identify areas for improvement.
- We received favourable ratings in our 2019 employee engagement survey, particularly in the areas of customer focus, quality and sustainable engagement.
- We won an award in Spain in recognition of our diversity and inclusion efforts.
- We supported communities in need through donations of cash and medical supplies, as well as carrying out medical relief trips to provide healthcare services.
- We maintained our proud tradition of raising breast cancer awareness through our 2019 Pink Glove Photo Competition and our partnership with Keep A Breast Europe.
- We continued our One Container, One Tree reforestation project in collaboration with Reforest’Action: an additional 2,500 trees were planted in Spain in 2019, and One Container, One Tree was the focus of our internal 2019 Earth Day campaign.
These highlights all correspond to Medline’s CSR/sustainability programme whose main pillars are labour and human rights (ethical supply chains), charitable giving, environmental initiatives and breast cancer awareness. With this in mind, Group President Tripp Amdur reflects:
'Events such as the global COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the interconnectedness and fragility of the world we live in. Similarly, the international nature of the 2020 protests against police brutality, inequality and exclusion have emphasised the interconnectedness and resonance of social justice issues.
With the world in a state of flux, it seems clear to me that it is more important than ever for Medline to continue being an ethical and socially responsible company, and to continue its tradition of responsiveness to the needs of our customers and society as a whole’.
For more information, we invite you to read our 2020 Sustainability Report here. In addition to our full, in-depth Sustainability Report, we also have a Summary Sustainability Report available here, providing a succinct overview of the report.