Merck & Co

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.

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.

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?

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.

Merck targets 100% renewable purchased electricity by 2025. As of 2024, 60.8% of purchased electricity comes from renewable sources. The Company uses Virtual Power Purchase Agreements (VPPAs) totalling 209 MW of commitments across North America (118 MW) and Europe (91 MW), including the 58 MW Old 300 Solar VPPA in Texas (operational June 2024) and the 51 MW Postigo Solar project in Spain (commenced Q2 2025). RECs from VPPAs are first applied to LEED projects and then to highest-emission-factor sites within the VPPA region. Retail supply contracts using Guarantees of Origin (GOs) cover Austria, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Portugal and China. On-site solar generation produced 17,313 MWh consumed in 2024.

Merck's SBTi-approved net-zero target (NZ1, target year 2045) includes a commitment to neutralize residual hard-to-abate emissions through permanent removal and storage of carbon from the atmosphere. The company intends to reduce greater than 90% of emissions versus its 2019 baseline before neutralization. No specific removal technology (e.g. DAC, BECCS) has been named; the firm states it is evaluating project types aligned with SBTi guidance. No beyond-value-chain mitigation or voluntary carbon credit purchases are planned for neutralization. In 2024, 2,931.56 tCO2e of project-based offsets (N2O abatement, HFC abatement, industrial process efficiency) were retired solely for LEED Zero Carbon building certification, not for inventory neutralization.

• Design for Environment: sustainable API processes and packaging review

  Merck has committed to Design for Environment processes to improve sustainability of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) processes and product packaging. New human health API processes are designed to meet internal sustainability targets at launch, and packaging for new human health products is reviewed for environmental impact as part of standard process. Packaging GHG impacts are addressed through Scope 3 reduction projects. The company uses Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools in early development to analyze manufacturing environmental impacts and reduce future product footprints.

• Fleet fuel efficiency and building standards decarbonization

  Merck actively manages its European fleet group's fuel efficiency by investing in new vehicles to meet 2024 EU fuel efficiency requirements, contributing to mobile combustion reduction. All new buildings and major renovations must reduce GHG emissions by at least 50% vs. a comparable building, meet LEED Gold (offices/labs) or LEED Silver (manufacturing/warehouse), or equivalent standards (BREEAM, EXEED, HQE). Several European sites are ISO 50001 certified. Scope 1 breakdown shows direct mobile combustion of 92,900 tCO2e in 2024.

• Manufacturing energy efficiency: process optimization, HVAC, cogeneration and insulation

  Merck embeds sustainability principles and funding into all capital projects regardless of size, with 90+ new decarbonization projects incorporated into the long-range capital plan in 2024. Net-zero roadmaps focused on energy consumption are being developed for top-emitting sites. Implemented initiatives in 2024 include process optimization (17,400 tCO2e annual savings), building insulation (2,800 tCO2e), HVAC upgrades (1,900 tCO2e), cogeneration (100 tCO2e), waste heat recovery (200 tCO2e), and machine/equipment replacement (1,600 tCO2e). The Enterprise Capital Committee now incorporates GHG emissions impact into capital approval decisions via Environmental Sustainability Capital Principles embedded in building design standards.

• Scope 1+2 absolute reduction target: 46.2% by 2030 from 2019 baseline

  Merck holds an SBTi-validated 1.5°C-aligned near-term target to reduce combined Scope 1 and Scope 2 (market-based) emissions by 46.2% by 2030 from a 2019 baseline of 1,047,800 tCO2e. As of 2024, combined market-based Scope 1+2 is 884,200 tCO2e, representing 33.8% of the required reduction achieved. Progress is driven by energy-efficiency investments, renewable electricity procurement, site demand reduction, mobile fleet consolidation, and fewer fugitive refrigerant emissions.

• Supplier engagement programme covering 60%+ of Scope 3 emissions

  Merck follows a phased supplier engagement programme targeting its top ~400 suppliers (representing approximately 60% of total 2023 Scope 3 emissions) across ~30 procurement categories. Suppliers are expected to provide company-apportioned Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions data by 2025, set near-term SBTi-aligned reduction targets by 2026, and work towards SBTi net-zero targets. Merck uses a third-party software tool for GHG data collection, has launched the Sustainability Partner Exchange Series (3x per year), and has included a 10% weight for environmental sustainability criteria in sourcing and supplier selection. The Scope 3 target is a 30% absolute reduction by 2030 from the 2019 baseline.