Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility at Elekta

Sustainability - is our responsibility

As a global company, we have global responsibilities not just to our shareholders, customers and employees, but to the communities we work in, and the world we leave behind to our children and grandchildren.

Conducting a business sustainably and responsibly is not a matter of choice anymore. It is a must. As it turns out - it is also a key ingredient in the recipe for a company's success. It is therefore the most fundamental part of our company strategy and integrated in everything we do at Elekta.


A program connected to a global agenda

The Agenda 2030 and the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), sets out the pathway to build a better future for everyone. It is vital that each and every player globally takes part and collaborates with other stakeholders including businesses, governments, the civil society and the general public, to make a real difference for a more sustainable future. One actor alone cannot achieve all goals.

We have carefully and strategically analyzed our operations from a value chain perspective and identified our most important sustainability risks and opportunities. As a result, we have built our program for sustainability around four broad focus areas where we deem our efforts to have the biggest impact and through this program, we contribute to 9 of the SDGs.


Top-down and bottom-up

Being a top priority for Elekta, sustainability is overseen at the highest level: the Board of Directors. Social and environmental issues under Compensation and Sustainability Committee and governance, business ethics and integrity-related issues under the Audit Committee.

An integrated approach is key to truly succeed with corporate sustainability. Each of our four focus areas has their own programs and strategic plans for implementation developed together with, and carried out by, the business line organizations, the regions and relevant group functions depending on where it is most appropriate. This way we can ensure effective management and alignment with other strategic initiatives and targets.

To read more about how our Sustainability Program is structured and coordinated, and especially to see what targets we set and report on externally, please visit our Annual Sustainability Report. You can also read about our detailed yearly 2021 carbon emissions report to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).


Living our values

The ethical principles in our Code of Conduct are all cornerstones in building a sustainable company. Our sustainability efforts and policies are further guided by leading global standards and principles such as the following:
- the UN Global Compact and its ten principles
- the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and its associated due diligence guidance for responsible business conduct
- the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
- the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- the International Labour Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
- the precautionary principle.


People in focus

People are at the heart of our business. Offering a sustainable workplace for everyone working at, or indirectly for Elekta through our suppliers, is key for long-term success.

Without our people, we could not innovate new, state-of-the-art cancer treatment solutions. Elekta is a global employer with more than 4,000 employees, and our nearly 500 direct material suppliers together employ hundreds of thousands of workers. We take our responsibility as an employer and purchaser seriously, ensuring we safeguard labor rights at Elekta and throughout our supply chain.

Elekta offers a workplace with an opportunity to work for a higher purpose. Our employees collectively make a difference in the lives of patients around the world. Attracting and retaining qualified employees is a precondition for us to keep our successful position as innovator of cancer treatments. We offer a wide range of opportunities for our employees, such as acquiring diverse skills, gaining international experience, and accessing personal development and career advancement. Our aim is to create a culture and workplace where employees can grow professionally as well as personally.

One of our long-term goal is to increase the underrepresented gender (today female) in senior leadership positions to 30 percent by 2022/23. We aim to achieve this by evaluating candidates to new roles fairly, identifying new hires with high potential for managerial roles, ensuring a balanced gender distribution in our leadership programs, and developing processes for equal pay for equal work.

Our approach for this area is outlined in our People and Human Rights Policy and progress is evaluated against clear targets and reported annually.

Every supplier Elekta engages with must have signed our Supplier Code of Conduct. To read more about how we engage with our suppliers, we refer you to the Sustainable Sourcing Program, described in the Annual Sustainability Report and in the Modern Slavery Statement.


Business Ethics

As we strive for our life-saving products to be available to as many as possible worldwide, we make it a top priority to combat corruption and anti- competitive behaviour. Such practices hinder sustainable economic and social development and can also have a substantial negative impact on innovation, customers and ultimately the well-being of patients. In a nutshell this focus area is all about:

enforcing our robust compliance program to detect, prevent and mitigate unlawful and unethical behavior in all our business activities,
raising awareness about sound business practices,
providing compliance training both internally and externally.
Elekta’s compliance program consists of nine activities designed to strengthen our main areas with regard to business ethics, namely anti-corruption, fair competition and public tenders, privacy and data security as well as trade compliance.


Access to healthcare

Access to healthcare, and particularly radiotherapy, is at the core of Elekta’s business. We aim to improve access to healthcare globally, especially in low- and middle-income countries. This matters since cancer is the second leading cause of death globally. In 2020, it accounted for an estimated 10 million deaths, or one of six, globally. Half of all cancer patients require radiotherapy as part of their care, yet 70 percent of all radiotherapy equipment globally is available to only 25 percent of the world’s population.

Elekta has a unique opportunity to fight cancer and alleviate the suffering of people affected by cancer in all corners of the world. The incidence of cancer is rising globally and there is a pressing need for radiotherapy services. Everyone deserves high-quality care, but it is not always available. Elekta is committed to improving access to radiotherapy for all, not least in currently underserved markets. The world community has set an ambitious target, as part of Agenda 2030, of reducing mortality from non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, by one third by 2030. Increasing access to radiotherapy will be crucial in reaching this target. Equitable access to medical care is a fundamental human right, and one we are committed to stand up for.

Not only are we contributing to this through our direct business purpose and our innovative and high-quality solutions to improve access. Also through our efforts in increasing education and training (with special focus on low- and middle income countries, see e.g. BrachyAcademy) and through our agenda for raising global awareness with carefully selected international organizations (e.g. City Cancer Challenge and Union for International Cancer Control).

Our target is to increase installed linear accelerators in low- and middle-income countries so that 300 million additional people in these countries will get access to radiotherapy by 2024/25. This is equivalent to an additional 400,000 actual cancer treatments by 2024/25.

Environmental Sustainability

Green processes

The world is experiencing an unprecedented gravity of environmental crises such as climate change and ending of natural resources. No matter how big or small, we must all take actions to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, improve the resilience to manage climate related effects on societies, and upgrade industries and manufacturing sites for a more sustainable production. Elekta is taking steps to minimize our footprint and working to advance more sustainable productions processes. Our long-term goals in this area evolve around three key initiatives (also set out in our Global Environmental Policy):

Develop a system for taking back and recycling components and material in our products (circular solutions)
Safely managing and minimizing waste (including hazardous materials, package reduction etc.)
Reduce our greenhouse gas emissions (including the "Scope 3" emissions in our supply chain, caused for example when buying components and transporting our products)
We aspire to be an actor that peers and others can look to for inspiration on our approach to combat climate change. We fully stand behind the Paris Agreement of 2015 and we are committed to set our targets in line with the Agreement’s targets and the criteria of the Science Based Targets initiative.

Community Impact and Philanthropy

Elekta’s Sponsorship & Donation Program strives to advance causes that reflect Elekta’s founder (Dr. Leksell’s) spirit, ingenuity, and commitment to patient care.

Each year, Elekta contributes millions of dollars to support cancer and brain disorder research, education, training, public awareness, scientific advancement, and patient advocacy. All Elekta’s Sponsorship & Donation activities reflect the company’s commitment to doing business with the highest ethical standards and in compliance with all applicable laws.