Climate and the environment

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Our world’s resources are limited. That’s why we’re maximizing what we have.

Our teams are proactively working to reduce both what we use and what we leave behind. We’re tracking our progress and installing global reporting systems, setting and making progress towards our goals and reducing our use of resources across the company.
 

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Climate and the environment 

Climate change is already affecting the air we breathe, the food we eat, and it is exacerbating extreme weather impacting our communities. As a healthcare company, we know that we make choices that affect the health of the planet, and ultimately, human health. That’s why we are continually measuring our carbon emissions and have set reduction goals to reduce our impact. Our current goals are:

• Reduce Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions for Stryker facilities by 20% by 2024 (compared to a 2019 baseline)¹
• Power all facilities with 100 percent renewable electricity by 2027
• Make all Stryker facilities carbon neutral (scopes 1 and 2) by 2030

At the end of 2023, Stryker signed a commitment letter to the Science Based Targets initiative, signaling our intent to set a science-based goal within two years.

To achieve these ambitious climate goals, our strategy includes increasing energy efficiency throughout the organization and utilizing renewable energy.

Energy efficiency
Continual improvements in energy efficiency will contribute approximately 25 percent to our carbon neutral journey by 2030. Over the past several years, we have committed $20 million in capital investments to reduce emissions. Highlights of projects we have invested in include:

• Arroyo, Puerto Rico: combined heat and power (CHP) electricity co-generator come online at our Arroyo, Puerto Rico, facility. This new CHP plant is the first of its kind across Stryker’s network and is able to meet 100 percent of the facility’s electricity needs. Moreover, the project will help Stryker reduce its emissions by nearly 50 percent at the Arroyo facility.
• Mahwah, New Jersey: replacing our 650-ton conventional chillers in Mahwah, New Jersey, with higher energy efficiency chillers, helping us save 1.9 million kWh of electricity per year.
• Portage, Michigan: installing automatic gate valves for fume/smoke extractor systems on welding stations in Portage, Michigan, resulted in 400,000 kWh of electricity savings per year.
• Tullagreen, Ireland: upgrading the HVAC system in the coatings area at our Tullagreen, Ireland, facility with a heat pump system that will run solely on renewable energy, not natural gas. This resulted in an estimated annual savings of over 200,000 kWh of electricity and 1,200,000 kWh of gas.
• Plainfield, Indiana: Upgrading lighting at our distribution center in Plainfield, Indiana, to energy-efficient LEDs, which will save nearly 2 million kWh of energy annually.

Renewable energy
Our pathway to carbon neutrality depends on transitioning from fossil fuel-based to renewable electricity. Currently, we are on track to be powered by 100 percent renewable electricity globally by 2027. This electricity will come from a combination of wind, solar, hydroelectric and other sources. Our sites with renewables as of January 1, 2024 are shown below. Stryker partnered with global clean energy leader Ørsted and with Schneider Electric, a global leader in sustainability and renewable energy procurement, to establish our first long-term renewable power purchase agreement. The Sunflower Wind Farm, operated by global clean energy leader Ørsted, is a 200 MW wind project. Sunflower Wind will allocate around 37 megawatts of wind power to Stryker, which will account for approximately 70 percent of our current electricity consumption for our facilities in North America over the next 12 years. Through our VPPA partnership with Ørsted, operations commenced in October 2023 at the Sunflower Wind project in Marion County, Kansas.

Certifying our facilities
We recognize that our offices and manufacturing facilities have an impact on the communities in which they are located, and the world's health. By working with accrediting organizations to evaluate and certify the environmental impact and sustainability of our buildings, we commit to protecting natural resources and supporting our employees and their communities. We currently have over a dozen global sites certified to the ISO14001 global environmental standard. We are also proud to have 10 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified buildings in our portfolio.

Triathlon cementless tibial baseplate portions created using additive manufacturing

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Manufacturing our products requires materials, energy and water, and often generates waste as a byproduct. Stryker recognizes the need to focus on sustainable design as a strategic priority and integrate sustainability into our products and packaging.

One way we are reducing the volume of metal and plastic that goes into creating our products is by investing in additive manufacturing (AM). AM, also known as 3D printing, uses computer-aided design software to create objects one layer at a time. In contrast to conventional, subtractive manufacturing methods, AM reduces environmental impact by leveraging more efficient material usage and more freedom in product designs, while also allowing for greater product customization.

In 2023, Stryker expanded production at our AMagine Institute in Cork, Ireland. The institute, which opened in 2017, develops breakthrough technologies from early R&D to support full commercial launch and scaling across a broad portfolio of products and services. The AMagine Team, around the world, focuses on developing new implant, component and personalized solutions with innovative platform technologies. The pipeline of products from our AMagine Institute, supports all of Stryker’s divisions and demonstrates our ability to move AM research into action.

Stryker’s Sustainability Solutions
The lifespan of many medical products is relatively short; many devices are used only once, leading to thousands of tons of materials sent to landfills each year. As the leading provider of reprocessing in the global healthcare market, Stryker’s Sustainability Solutions business unit is reducing our industry’s impact during manufacturing, use and end of life.

Sustainability Solutions helps reduce healthcare industry waste by reprocessing medical devices that would otherwise be disposed of after a single use, extending the life of these products and reducing material consumption. Sustainability Solutions collects and reprocesses devices spanning thousands of SKUs. In 2023, Stryker’s Sustainability Solutions helped their customers divert more than 5 million pounds of waste from the landfill through our reprocessing programs, saving 3,250 customers approximately $238 million. In the same time period, we have helped nearly 50 Integrated Delivery Networks save over $1 million annually in supply chain costs.

To Learn more click here

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We recognize working with associations is a key component of driving impact on our sustainability strategy; sharing our story and learning from others.