Press Release

3M Releases 2016 Sustainability Report

As the global population marches toward 9 billion people, it is creating an even more urgent need to address sustainability challenges –from air pollution and water shortages to food safety and clean energy.

3M sees an opportunity to collectively overcome these challenges through innovation and collaboration. As a company rooted in scientific exploration 3M partners with customers and communities to make the world cleaner, safer and stronger. 3M’s investments in sustainable technologies result in solutions such as glass bubbles that make cars lighter and more fuel efficient, films that make smartphones and buildings more energy efficient, and low global warming potential immersion fluid that cools data centers.

Published 8 years ago | About a 2 minute read

3M recently published its 2016 Sustainability Report. The Report provides an in-depth overview of the progress made toward applying 3M science to improve lives. Key recent achievements featured include:

Between 2002 and 2015, 3M voluntarily achieved a 69% absolute reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
3M’s visionary Pollution Prevention Pays program celebrated its 40th anniversary and has prevented over 2.1 million tons of pollutants and saved nearly $2 billon USD.
3M reduced energy use nearly 30% from 2005 baseline (indexed to net sales.)
3M announced a revised pulp and paper sourcing policy providing leading-edge expectations for suppliers to protect forests, critical habitats and forest communities worldwide; resulting in supplier collaboration with 98% of production paper purchases on sustainable paper sourcing.

Also in 2015, with an eye toward the future, 3M announced its 2025 Sustainability Goals. These goals range from: investing in sustainable materials and energy efficiency, to water management and helping customers reach their sustainability goals through the use of 3M products, to building a diverse workforce and worker and patient safety in health care and industrial settings.

3M is committed to improving its business, the planet, and every life. Improving every life is an exciting endeavor and an ambitious one. It’s the right thing to do and at the core of who 3M is.