RVBA-MERCK▲Listed

Merck & Co

Pharma Manufacturing·Drug Manufacturers - General

MRK (NYSE)·Rahway·US

Verified credentials

SBTi Validated1.5°CCDP Listed

Company website

Website

Merck | Home

At Merck, we're following the science to tackle some of the world's greatest health threats. Get a glimpse of how we work to improve lives.

merck.com ↗

Decarbonisation trajectory · all scopes

Scope 1 + 2· base 2019 · 976k tCO2eScope 3· base 2019 · 6.2M tCO2e

Headline intensities

Reporting year 2024·Values in USD ($)

Peer cohort: Pharma Manufacturing · lower is better

Revenue intensity

Carbon / $m revenue

105tCO2e / $m

Carbon per million dollars of revenue. The legacy industry-standard reference (CDP, MSCI). Useful for cross-sector context, but distorted by margin — high-margin firms appear artificially efficient. Read alongside the operational and asset intensities for the full picture.

Bottom quartile

better than 23% of peers

best 72.8n=2 peersworst 105

Operational intensity

Carbon / $m OpEx

154tCO2e / $m

OpEx (operating expenditure) is the running cost of the business — staff, services, energy, materials. This shows how carbon-intensive operations are per million dollars of spend. Removes the margin distortion that revenue-based ratios introduce.

Bottom quartile

better than 23% of peers

best 98.3n=2 peersworst 154

Economic intensity

Carbon / $m EVIC

22.4tCO2e / $m

EVIC (Enterprise Value Including Cash) is the firm's total capital footprint — equity + debt + cash + minority interest. The EU's standard intensity measure (SFDR PAI 3) — answers: how much carbon does each million of capital deployed in this business produce?

Bottom quartile

better than 25% of peers

best 21.5n=2 peersworst 22.4

Asset intensity

Carbon / $m PP&E + leased

284tCO2e / $m

PP&E (Property, Plant & Equipment) plus leased real-estate assets is the firm's physical infrastructure on the balance sheet. This shows the carbon intensity of that physical footprint — uses Scope 1+2+3 for consistency with the other headline intensities. Surfaces stranded-asset risk for asset-heavy firms.

Bottom quartile

better than 24% of peers

best 252n=2 peersworst 284

Climate action evidence

0 records · 0 sources

Carbon credits retired

No retirement evidence on file (third-party or self-reported).

Renewable electricity

61 %

Self-reported renewable electricity share, FY2024

Sources

Registry retirements are direct evidence; commitments are forward-looking pledges. EPA snapshot covers FY2019–FY2020.

Targets

Near-term

2 targets

Scope	Base	Target	Reduction	Alignment	Progress	Status
Scope 1 + 2Absolute	2019	2030	−46%	1.5°C	−9.4% reductionof −46% target · 20% there	Off track
Scope 3Absolute	2019	2030	−30%		−4.8% reductionof −30% target · 16% there	Off track

Long-term

3 targets

Scope	Base	Target	Reduction	Alignment	Progress	Status
Scope 1 + 2	2019	2045	104,780 tCO2e	1.5°C	absolute-value target	—
Scope 1 + 2 + 3Absolute	2019	2045	−90%	1.5°C	−5.4% reductionof −90% target · 6% there	Off track
Scope 3	2019	2045	644,250 tCO2e	1.5°C	absolute-value target	—

Net zero

2 targets

Scope	Base	Target	Reduction	Alignment	Progress	Status
Scope 1 + 2 + 3	2019	2045	—	1.5°C	absolute-value target	—
Scope 1 + 2 + 3	—	2045	—	In corporate strategy	absolute-value target	—

⚠ Some targets show progress vs the earliest extracted year as a baseline approximation. The real base-year value will be used once historical reports are extracted.

Progress · absolute tCO2e

Scope 1 + 2 trajectory vs target

Scope 1 + 2 · 46.2% by 2030 · 1.5°C

ActualLinear1.5°C

Scope 3 trajectory vs target

Scope 3 · 30% by 2030

ActualLinear1.5°C

Latest news· last 5 of 8

full news log →

Embedded sustainability into all capital projects; 90+ new decarbonization projects in long-range plan
In 2024 Merck embedded sustainability principles and funding into all capital projects regardless of size. Net-zero roadmaps prioritized for top-emitting sites, with 90+ new capital projects added to long-range plan. Enterprise Capital Committee now considers GHG emissions impact of all proposed capital projects via Environmental Sustainability Capital Principles.
2024
Limited third-party assurance over Scope 1, 2, and select Scope 3 emissions
External third-party performed limited assurance engagement over 2024 GHG emissions metrics under AICPA AT-C 105 and 210 standards, covering 100% of Scope 1, Scope 2 (location & market) and Scope 3 categories 3 (fuel & energy) and 6 (business travel).
2024
Updated emission factors and Scope 3 methodology
Scope 1, 2, and 3 emission factors were updated where new annual emission factor datasets were published (E-GRID, IEA, EU Residual Mix, UK Defra, etc.). Scope 3 spend-based modeling was updated to account for foreign exchange and inflation. Scope 3 Cat 6 (business travel) updated to use Thrust Carbon tool. Scope 3 activity-based data replaced spend-model data where available.
2024
Base year and prior year emissions recalculated
Base year 2019 and past years' emissions recalculated for Scope 1, Scope 2 (location and market), and Scope 3 as a result of methodology changes (updated emission factors, FX/inflation adjustments to spend-based model, and supplier activity data replacing spend models).
2024
WRI Aqueduct upgraded to v4.0 changing water-stress site count
Adoption of WRI Aqueduct 4.0 in 2024 increased identified high/extremely-high water stress sites: 12 sites at 'extremely high' (vs 4 in 2023) and 6 at 'high' (vs 11 in 2023). Five sites now have water conservation plans (vs 2 in 2023).
2024

Latest reporting year· 6 earlier years on Data-by-year tab

all years + ratios →

2026

reporting year

Financials

Revenue—

OpEx—

FTE—

Market cap (FY-end)—

Climate

Scope 1—

Scope 2 (market)—

Scope 2 (location)—

Scope 3 total—

Source documents· FY2025

all documents →

cdp response2025

via jina search · 1.5 MB

extractedOPEN PDF ↗