United Nations Global Compact Communication on Progress

Celebrating our second year as members of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC)

Dear Valued Customers,

 

This year, we proudly celebrate our second year as members of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC).  Though just beginning our sustainability journey, we are excited to share our progress through our Communication of Progress (CoP) submission.

Through Medela Cares, our corporate social responsibility program, Medela is focused on global topics of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. These topics are synthesized into the three pillars of our Medela Cares commitment: people, planet and society. Below are just a few of the highlights of our CoP, more achievements can be found in the detailed report:

  • People: The war in Ukraine galvanized employee action to help families in need. Through both employee and company-led initiatives, donations were raised for critical products, relief supplies and support services for impacted families, totaling approximately 250,000 CHF. This included shipments to perinatal centers and hospitals in Kiev and the Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro. Shipments included wound care devices and dressings, suction pumps, vacuum-assisted delivery equipment, breastfeeding supplies, breast pumps, nursing pads and special needs feeders.
  • Society: In honor of our 60th anniversary, earlier this year we shared our global commitment to support 60 local Ronald McDonald House® programs in Australia, China, the United Kingdom, and the USA. Through this initiative, Medela provided hospital-grade (multi-user) Symphony® Breast Pumps with trolley and kits, as well as breastfeeding accessories to support about 15,000 breastfeeding families staying at a Ronald McDonald House program.
  • Planet: We launched a sustainable packaging system with our new Medela Intimate Apparel (IA) product line, which contains 100% recycled material. Previously, this package was composed of virgin plastic and cardboard. The new sustainable packaging, made of recycled plastics and recycled cardboard, minimizes overall material consumption with an emphasis on reducing plastic. All new AI packaging has been revised to reflect this new sustainable packaging composition. The impact of this change resulted in 30% reduction of packaging material waste and 51% reduction in CO2 emissions. 

 

I continue to be inspired by the passion of our 1,500 global employees to make a difference and leave a legacy that we all can be proud of.  Our innate curiosity and desire to help those around us while we seek to decrease our environmental footprint drives us to find ways to accelerate our impact.  We look forward to sharing our continued progress with you.

To learn more about Medela Cares, our initiatives and to view our CoP, please visit www.MedelaCares.com. 

 

Sincerely yours,

Annette Brüls
CEO