Better Health for All
-30
Merck KGaA's core business, with 82% of its 2024 sales from Healthcare and Life Sciences, delivers substantial health benefits through medicines for cancer, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, gene therapies, vaccines, and diagnostics.
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The company has no reported revenue from products with negative health outcomes.
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Merck adapts medicine prices based on local market considerations, offers second-brand versions at lower prices, and implements patient access programs.
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In 2023, its SHAPE program reached over 57 million patients in low- and middle-income countries, with a target of 80 million by 2030.
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The company invested €300 million in a new Life Science Research Center in 2024, part of a €1.5 billion investment program by 2025.
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Merck's CURAFA initiative employs local healthcare workers in emerging economies.
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The company donated over €4 million for Ukraine relief and €810,000 for Turkey/Syria earthquake relief.
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It supports the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health, but with reservations on compulsory licensing.
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Merck hosts health camps, reaching approximately 600 people, and educated 1,500 healthcare professionals in Egypt, reaching over 1 million people through public awareness campaigns.
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Fair Money & Economic Opportunity
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No evidence available to assess MERCK KGAA on Fair Money & Economic Opportunity.
Fair Pay & Worker Respect
30
In 2024, the CEO-to-median employee pay ratio was 97.3:1.
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Collective bargaining coverage in the EEA was 86.0% in 2024.
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The Lost Time Injury Rate (LTIR) was 1.2 per 1 million hours worked in 2024, which converts to 0.24 per 200,000 hours.
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The unadjusted pay gap between female and male employees was 8.8% in 2024.
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Voluntary employee turnover was 9.2% in 2024.
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The company reported no significant fines, penalties, or compensation for damages related to incidents or complaints concerning employees in 2024.
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In 2024, 3,537 out of 62,557 employees were temporary, representing 5.65% of the workforce.
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Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing
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In 2024, the company reported 4 cases related to human rights, but none were confirmed as human rights violations.
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The company conducts annual or ad hoc risk analyses of suppliers, considering human rights risks, and has a risk management approach that includes supplier risk assessments and an alert system.
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A Supplier Code of Conduct details expectations regarding human rights.
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Honest & Fair Business
-40
Merck KGaA incurred $8,438 in ethics-related regulatory fines in 2023 for a workplace safety or health violation.
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The company's transparency rank is 14, and its clinical trial registration is 43%, summary results 27%, clinical study reports 23%, and individual patient data 29%.
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Merck has a group-wide whistleblowing and complaints system, including an anonymous SpeakUp line provided by an external service company, and protects employees who report in good faith.
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Receipt of reports is confirmed within seven days.
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The company has a firm stance against corruption, rejecting all forms of it and attempts to gain improper influence, and expects suppliers to comply with its Responsible Sourcing Principles.
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However, the anti-corruption policy lacks specific details on training frequency or effectiveness metrics. Less than 10% of ethical claims are independently verified, with verification limited to select regions.
Kind to Animals
-10
In 2023, Merck used almost 145,000 animals in its work, including non-human primates and dogs, with 97% being rodents.
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The company has a unique and mandatory global Animal Science and Welfare Policy, effective since December 2020, which aims to phase out all animal use.
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This policy mandates that research animals are used only for important scientific questions or regulatory requirements, effectively a global ban on non-essential testing.
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It is overseen by independent multidisciplinary Animal Usage Review boards or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees and includes detailed criteria for animal care, such as humane endpoints, analgesia, anesthesia, euthanasia, environmental enrichment, and social housing, with no single housing for most vertebrates.
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Merck actively develops and implements alternative non-animal testing methods, including extensive in vitro studies, cell cultures, computer modeling, and platforms like PyroMAT®, ZooMAb® recombinant antibodies, Blazar™, and Organ-on-a-chip.
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Alternative methods are in routine use for internal safety screens.
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The company successfully convinced EU regulatory authorities to approve an alternative method for testing some plastic parts in medical pumps.
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Merck supports and participates with nongovernmental organizations and actively contributes to the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 (IMI 2) project called eTRANSAFE.
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It also engages with regulators to drive acceptance of non-in-vivo tests and signed the Marseille declaration, advocating for worldwide implementation of high ethical and animal welfare standards.
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The company does not source eggs, meat, or dairy, and has re-homing programs for research animals.
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No War, No Weapons
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The provided articles do not contain specific, quantifiable evidence for any of the Key Performance Indicators related to the 'No War, No Weapons' ethical value. While the company expresses concern about dual-use regulations and mentions considering human rights in export controls, there is no concrete data on revenue from arms contracts, scope of R&D investment in dual-use technologies, volume of sales to embargoed regimes, or any other specific metrics required by the rubric.
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The articles also lack details on peacebuilding investment, divestment policies, board oversight of defense activities, export certification percentages, lobbying expenditures, procurement humanitarian compliance, human rights due diligence frequency, Arms Trade Treaty compliance, AI military safeguards, UN Guiding Principles alignment, dual-use screening counts, surveillance transparency, ethical red lines, zero exposure to controversial weapons, war risk audit results, annual conflict partner reviews, defense divestment percentages, conflict minerals percentages, peace tech investment ratios, conflict zone procurement percentages, or ethical red lines compliance rates.
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Therefore, all KPIs must be omitted due to a lack of explicit, quantifiable evidence.
Planet-Friendly Business
-50
Merck KGaA's total Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions for 2023 were 6,057,000 metric tons CO2eq, representing a 28.1% reduction from 2022.
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The company's 2030 targets for Scope 1 & 2 GHG emission reduction (50% compared to 2020) and Scope 3 GHG emission reduction (52% per euro value added compared to 2020) have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) as aligned with a 1.5 °C pathway.
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In 2023, 51% of purchased energy was from renewable sources, and 23% of total energy consumption was renewable, with a target of 80% renewable purchased electricity by 2030.
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The circularity rate for waste was 68% in 2023, with a target of 70% by 2030.
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Capital expenditure for climate mitigation was €46 million for Life Science and €10 million for Energy Management in 2024.
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The company does not report any current carbon offsetting activities.
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No environmental compliance violations were mentioned in the 2024 Sustainability Report, and the company holds ISO 14001 certification for 95 sites.
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Merck has a net-zero target for 2030. The company has adopted TCFD recommendations and includes climate scenario analysis in its reporting, with a shadow price of €100 per ton CO2eq for CapEx projects over €10 million.
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Respect for Cultures & Communities
0
The provided articles contain no specific, quantitative evidence to assess Merck KGaA against any of the defined Key Performance Indicators for 'Respect for Cultures & Communities'. Information regarding formal partnerships with indigenous or local community groups, revenue reinvested in local community development, cultural appropriation incidents, cultural impact assessment protocols, local employment ratios, community grievance mechanisms, FPIC participation rates, community governance inclusion, cultural preservation investment, local procurement share, indigenous supplier counts, cultural site protection, social license to operate, charitable giving to cultural heritage organizations, community fund allocation, language inclusivity, cultural incident response, or cultural sensitivity training completion is absent.
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While one article mentions total community engagement spending,
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it does not specify the percentage of revenue reinvested in *local* community development, nor does it provide the company's total revenue for the same year to calculate a relevant percentage for the 'revenue_reinvested_local' KPI.
Safe & Smart Tech
-20
Merck reported 7 minor personal data breaches in 2023, none of which resulted in sanctions.
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One of these breaches involved identified data leaks, theft, or loss of customer data.
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The company has a Code of Digital Ethics for data and AI, supported by an external advisory panel.
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In 2023, 99% of employees completed e-learning training courses on data privacy, offered in ten languages.
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Merck's privacy statement outlines user rights to access, rectify, erase, restrict processing, and data portability, as well as the right to object to processing.
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The company deletes data when it is no longer necessary or when consent is withdrawn.
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Merck adheres to EU GDPR and adapts to stricter local data privacy regulations, and its global data privacy management system, implemented in mid-2023, is aligned with these requirements.
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Zero Waste & Sustainable Products
-40
In 2024, the company achieved a waste diversion rate of 69.2%.
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Its packaging demonstrated high sustainability, with 97.7% of packaging being recyclable in 2024.
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However, the recycled content in products was 5.7% in 2024.
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The company reduced Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) use by 23% through its SMASH Packaging Plan.
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Circular economy criteria are incorporated into new key indicators, aiming for a 70% circularity rate by 2030, with a 68% circularity rate achieved in 2023.
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The company lowered its Waste Score by 5% by 2025 against a 2016 baseline, ahead of schedule.
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In 2024, 22,177 metric tons of hazardous waste were diverted from disposal through recycling, and 12,539 metric tons through other recovery.
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The expected durability for Healthcare products was 3.1 years in 2024.
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Product repairability was 51.0% for Life Science and 100.0% for Electronics in 2024.
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The company had no waste disposal violations in the past three years.
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It aims to avoid 10% of packaging weight per unit of sales by 2030.
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Waste reduction targets are set for 2025 and 2030.
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In 2023, 70% of relevant suppliers were covered by valid sustainability assessments.
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