Qualcomm Incorporated released its annual Corporate Responsibility Report today, reporting on the Company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance in 2021.
This is Qualcomm’s 15th annual report as the Company has a long history of transparency to stakeholders around its ESG performance. The report features successes achieved this year, including progress made on companywide ESG targets, including goals around environmental sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and power efficiency of our Snapdragon products. It also highlights the recognition received for the Company’s ESG performance, including being named to Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work 2022 list and Newsweek’s Most Responsible Companies ranking for the third consecutive year.
“This year the world continued to face global challenges, including poverty, access to education, digital inclusion, racial and social injustice, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the environmental, social and economic impacts of climate change.” said Cristiano Amon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Qualcomm Incorporated. “The need for our technologies and products has never been more apparent. Our innovations are transforming industries, improving billions of lives, and addressing some of society’s biggest challenges. We are enabling a world where everyone and everything can be intelligently connected while promoting sustainable economic growth to help shape a better future.”
Qualcomm’s ESG priorities include four areas where the Company believes it can make the greatest impact — Purposeful Innovation, STEM Education, Responsible Business and Our People.
Some of the key 2021 highlights include:
- Continued inventing and developing products that enable customers to make a positive impact— from the individual smartphone experiences to the environment. One of Qualcomm’s 2025 goals is to reduce power consumption by 10 percent every year in the Company’s flagship Snapdragon products. In 2021, it has achieved this reduction by at least 10 percent in Snapdragon products when averaged across all use cases.
- Because the Company’s success is rooted in the hard work, dedication, and diversity of the workforce, it has been driving progress towards meeting the 2025 diversity and inclusion goals: Increase Representation of Women in Leadership by 15 percent; Increase Underrepresented Minorities (URM) Leadership representation by 15 percent; Increase overall URM representation by 20 percent. In 2021, the Company continued its focused approach to finding top talent and the use of training and development as key recruitment tools to increase hiring rate for women and URMs while also reducing attrition within both groups.
- The Company’s efforts around sustainable supply chain management continue with the 2025 goal of auditing 100 percent of primary semiconductor manufacturing suppliers every 2 years for conformance to the Supplier Code of Conduct. In 2021, 78 percent of primary semiconductor manufacturing suppliers have been audited.
- In line with the Company’s conviction to address the environmental, social, and economic impacts of climate change, this past year it set new, ambitious climate goals, including reaching net-zero global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for Scope 1, 2 and 3 by 2040 and committed to the Science Based Targets Initiative’s (SBTi) Business Ambition for 1.5°C. The Company also continued to make progress on their long-standing 2025 emissions reduction goal. Thus far, our progress toward that goal has seen Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduced by approximately 20 percent and the Company has qualified for The Climate Registry’s (TCR) Climate Registered™ Platinum status.
- Qualcomm continues to work to enrich people’s lives by bringing technology to underserved communities around the world through its Wireless Reach™ program. During this past year, Wireless Reach has launched 6 new projects and, since 2006, has positively impacted the lives of over 24 million people.
- The Company remains committed to its goal of inspiring the next generation of inventors by engaging to date over 1.5 million students and teachers across the globe through strategic STEM initiatives. In 2021 alone, through social investments in the future workforce, Qualcomm has impacted over 550,000 students and almost 13,000 teachers.
To learn more about Qualcomm’s progress towards their goals and ESG performance in 2021, read the full report here.
