Agilent ESG Report Can Help Labs Manage Their Environmental Footprint

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) released the company’s annual ESG report, showcasing a comprehensive and growing set of sustainable solutions that enable hundreds of thousands of labs worldwide to reduce consumption of nonrenewable resources and to minimize waste.

Agilent’s sustainable solutions include the sector’s largest instrument recycling and refurbishment program and an expanding number of My Green Lab ACT-labeled products that account for 40 percent of the company’s instrument revenue. The company is also delivering asset monitoring technology to manage lab resources more efficiently and a wide variety of instruments and consumables that use less energy and produce less waste. The report also highlights Agilent’s accelerated progress in adopting greener product packaging.

“Our global leadership in the lab-instrument and technology sector enables us to have a positive impact on science and society—from supporting more effective cancer diagnosis and treatment to ensuring the food we eat and the water we drink are safe,” said Padraig McDonnell, Agilent president and CEO. “It also drives our efforts as a leading sustainable lab partner for our customers, a top workplace for diverse talent, and a responsible steward of the environment.”

Below are highlights from Agilent’s 2023 ESG initiatives:

Product Sustainability

Expanded the My Green Lab ACT-certification label to more product families, increasing from 35 percent to 40 percent the share of instrument revenue from ACT-labeled instruments that provide customers information on the environmental footprint of Agilent products.
Refurbished 5,400 instruments, a 25 percent increase over the previous year, which reflects growing demand for the company’s circular economy initiative known as the Agilent Certified Pre-Owned Instruments Program.
Earned the Scientists’ Choice 2023 Sustainable Product of the Year award for the Agilent Cary 3500 Flexible UV-Vis Spectrophotometer, which reduces the use of consumables and reagents.
Implemented more sustainable packaging for many products, including the GC1 Packed Column box, 5500a FTIR Flow Cell Stanhope instrument, and Easi portfolio, eliminating hundreds of pounds of foam and plastic waste annually. Replaced paper chemical standards labels with QR codes, saving 700,000 pieces of paper annually at a single facility.

Environmental

Reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 8 percent since 2019, even as the company’s revenue grew more than 30 percent over the same period.
Received validation of the company’s net-zero emissions targets from the Science Based Targets initiative.
Held dozens of net-zero emissions forums and workshops with suppliers and assessed the carbon maturity of over 200 suppliers.
Eliminated up to 80,000 gallons of organic waste per year at the company’s oligonucleotide manufacturing facility through an innovative recycling system.

Workforce Diversity and Engagement

Achieved Great Place to Work® certification in 27 countries and territories and was named one of the best workplaces in Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.
Earned high ratings from employees, with 89 percent of those surveyed indicating Agilent is a great place to work.
Recognized as a top employer for women by Forbes, and once again achieved gender-based pay equity.
Donated $1.5 million to Delaware State University, a historically Black university, and $175,000 to eight STEM education nonprofit organizations to expand opportunities for underrepresented students; accompanied donations with hundreds of hours of mentorship by employee volunteers.
Generated $4.3 million for a broad set of charities through employee donations and matching contributions from the Agilent Foundation.

Agilent also invested $11 million in awards to support academic research that advances science and society in key areas, including bioprocess engineering, synthetic biology, quantitative analysis of pollutants like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and CAR-T cell manufacturing. Read Agilent’s ESG report for details on these and many more environmental and social initiatives in 2023.