Sustainability
As we continue to grow and innovate, so too will our impact on the world
Our purpose – to serve life scientists to help them achieve their mission, faster – drives everything we do and sits at the heart of our value creation model. By providing life scientists with critical biological tools and reagents needed for research, drug discovery and diagnostics, we are helping advance scientific discovery, resulting in better health outcomes and improving lives.
Abcam has always been a purpose driven organisation, with a strong emphasis on doing business the right way. Beyond the delivery of financial results, we are aware of our need to ensure that we have a positive impact on our stakeholders, society and the environment.
Over the last two decades, Abcam has been viewed as a provider of resources for scientific researchers. Since the introduction of our vision “to be the most influential life sciences company for researchers worldwide” in 2014, we have endeavoured to show and grow our wider impact on not just the work that life scientists do, but how that leads to medical discoveries and progress.
Abcam’s sustainability and growth objectives are intrinsically linked. Our business objectives and growth plans are designed to serve a growing, global base of customers with higher quality products. Better reagents, used by more scientists and researchers, in support of a wider section of the scientific community, all contribute towards the UN Sustainable Development Goal of more lives positively impacted through better health and wellbeing.
This wider contribution is also achieved through fostering partnerships across the life sciences community to drive greater achievement. The pride instilled in colleagues that can see how their professional purpose leads to a positive social impact accelerates Abcam’s vision and mission.
Value creation is driven by a long-term commitment to creating an ethical and sustainable business, and this in turn generates returns for shareholders and enhanced relationships with all key stakeholders. Our business feeds a virtuous circle – striving to improve speed and quality, driving innovation and achieving scale.
The more successful we can be as a business, the greater the difference we can make in the world. That extends to doing business the right way. Our vision to be the most influential life sciences company in the world comes with a commitment to the highest ethical standards, not just in our own conduct but across our value chain.
At Abcam we’ve always been motivated to do the right thing, and we’ve had a long running and successful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, but we haven’t always fully understood or articulated our impact in the world. Today, we know that many investors are increasingly looking to Environmental, Social and Governance criteria (ESG) to frame their investment choices, and we know that being part of an ethical, purpose driven business increasingly matters more to our people and our partners. Over the past 12 months we have set about deepening our understanding and measuring the impact we have, both positive and negative: how we can become more influential and help fuel even more scientific discoveries which enable breakthroughs in human health and wellbeing.
Alan Hirzel
Chief Executive Officer
12 September 2020
Our sustainability framework weaves together our purpose, culture and strategy, and sets out our priority areas.
It is for everyone in the business to play their part: from our Board of Directors through to all of our employees.
As we continue to create sustainable value, we recognise the actions we take and progress we make are dynamic and ongoing.