Our Corporate Social Responsibility

BioNTech's goal is to translate science into survival, pioneering innovative medicines to treat diseases such as cancer, infectious diseases and other serious diseases. For instance, it is our goal to develop innovative medicines and therapies for a range of infectious diseases as well as cancer indications with a high or unmet medical need disproportionately affecting low- and middle-income countries. In this way, we aim to contribute to solving the most pressing global health challenges and are committed to equitable access to innovative medicines worldwide.

Based on our pioneering research and experience in immunotherapy, we also aim to develop innovative therapies and improve the standard of care for a wide range of indications.

For more information, please refer to chapter “2.0 Our Responsibility" in our Sustainability Report 2023.

We base our business activities on sound principles: We require our employees to act lawfully, ethically and responsibly and support them in this regard through internal training.

BioNTech respects human rights and is committed to upholding social and environmental standards along its value chain.

As a research-based pharmaceutical company, ensuring information security and patient privacy is of critical importance to us. From the research and clinical trial phases to approved and distributed products, BioNTech makes the well-being of patients its highest priority. We also strive to achieve excellent research results while safeguarding individual animal welfare in the best possible way.

In dialogue with political stakeholders and governments, we aim to foster a constructive exchange to further advance our vision of combating infectious diseases, cancer and other serious diseases.

For further information, please refer to chapter “4.0 Responsible Governance" in our Sustainability Report 2023.

At the end of 2023, roughly 6,300 employees from over 80 nations worked at BioNTech. Our goal is to foster the full potential of our employees and create a working environment where everyone feels respected. To this end, we aim to promote equal opportunities and diversity, as well as a continuous learning culture. Maintaining high occupational safety standards are an essential foundation of our work. 

As a biotechnology company, we face intense competition for qualified employees, who form the basis for our corporate success. Our Human Resources department therefore works to ensure that we keep specialists in the company, recruit new talent, and integrate our teams across all subsidiaries - new and old.

Our corporate culture and values are vital for this: they have always been key factors in our success. The Culture Campus department set up in 2020 is working to maintain this culture even in times of sustained growth and to reflect its importance for achieving the company's vision.

Further information can be found in the chapter "6.0 Attractive Employer" in our Sustainability Report 2023.

As a research-based, commercial biotech company, our work has an impact on the environment: production processes and R&D activities, the operation of our infrastructure and major construction projects lead to energy requirements, consumption of raw and auxiliary materials and the generation of waste.

BioNTech continuously develops its global environmental management in the areas of wastewater, waste and energy management. Climate protection is the focus of our environmental management: We have developed a climate strategy with near-term science-based emissions reduction targets. In January 2024, the targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) as follows:

• BioNTech commits to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 42% by 2030 from a 2021 base year.
• BioNTech commits that 72% of its suppliers by emissions covering purchased goods and services, capital goods and upstream transportation and distribution, will have science-based targets by 2027.

This validation underlines that our scope 1 and scope 2 climate targets are ambitious and in alignment with the United Nation’s Paris Climate Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

To ensure the achievement of our direct greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets (Scope 1 and 2), a dedicated decarbonization department was established in 2022. This department was further strengthened in 2023. In 2023, we implemented measures including planning and setting yearly reduction targets for the Company and our operational sites, monitoring our progress, and implementing decarbonization measures to support a pathway towards our 2030 target. In parallel, we continued our efforts to reduce scope 3 emissions in our supply chain to meet our supplier engagement target: In 2023, we initiated dialogues with key suppliers with the aim to lay the foundation for Memoranda of Understanding on setting themselves science-based emission reduction targets. These suppliers account for approximately two thirds of our scope 3 emissions. Furthermore, we have conducted a comprehensive revision of our Supplier Code of Conduct which includes dedicated requirements for climate protection and climate-related disclosures.

Climate risk management - transition risks and physical risks according to the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) - was established in 2022 and will be continuously developed.

Further information on our environmental management can be found in chapter "5.0 Environmental & Climate Protection" in our Sustainability Report 2023.

As a company, BioNTech is actively engaged socially. To this end, we have further developed our corporate citizenship concept, which addresses three different focus topics. In close cooperation with our business units and the global sites, we want to promote, among other activities, the voluntary commitment of our employees in a targeted manner.

Read the chapter "3.0 Corporate Citizenship" in our Sustainability Report 2023 to find out how we shape our social commitment sustainably and in line with our corporate values.