IVI discovers, develops, and delivers vaccines to protect communities in resource-limited settings from deadly and disruptive infectious diseases. In pursuit of our mission and our broader aims to help realize the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, IVI commits to working sustainably and fairly to limit our harm to the environment and champion values of equality, inclusion, and ethical governance.

Why ESG?

An Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework measures the sustainability and societal impact of an organization.

• Environmental criteria include energy and resource consumption, waste management, and carbon emissions that contribute to climate change
• Social criteria address our relationships with each other and the work sites and communities where IVI conducts research. Examples of social factors include labor relations, diversity, and gender equality
• Governance addresses IVI’s internal system of practices, procedures and ethics to make decisions, comply with the local law, and meet the needs of our external stakeholders, which include governments, other international organizations, industry partners, and more

To measure, uphold, and make progress on IVI’s commitment to excellent environmental, social, and governance practices, IVI formed an ESG Committee at the start of 2021. This committee will report on IVI’s ESG activities while making strategic recommendations to improve IVI’s operations.

IVI and the Environment

As a first step, IVI conducted an Environmental Impact Assessment to map our research and operations’ significant impacts on the environment and identify tangible goals to address them. The ESG Committee plans to integrate environmental considerations across core operations including the development and adoption of an environmental management system to reduce our carbon footprint. Learn more about IVI’s commitment to environmental sustainability here.

IVI and Social Issues

IVI recognizes that health and wellbeing are the bedrock of a fair, equal, and thriving society. Our work to make life-saving vaccines available to vulnerable populations has an inherent impact on other critical global goals, including eliminating poverty, reducing inequalities, achieving gender equality, and more.

A primary goal of the ESG Committee was developing a standalone Gender Policy at IVI to reflect a commitment to gender equality across our work at research sites around the world as well as how we work. The Gender Committee identified opportunities for gender mainstreaming across our vaccine research development and outlined an updated standard for promoting gender equality in our operations.

At the start of 2021, the IVI Board of Trustees approved the Gender Policy, available for download here. IVI also annually reports to Global Health 50/50 to remain transparent and accountable to our aims and policies.

Learn more about IVI and Gender here.

IVI and Governance

IVI is a non-profit international organization with 36 signatories to our Establishment Agreement and 4 countries providing core funding. IVI is governed by a Board of Trustees and led by an Executive Leadership Team.

The ESG Committee will ensure that IVI continues to lead with transparency, fairness, and equity while reflecting the standards and expectations of an international organization.

IVI is thankful to the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)—one of IVI’s core supporters—for their guidance in elevating ESG considerations at IVI. Particularly in our commitments to environmental sustainability and gender equality, Sida has been a key partner in helping to assess our current operations and to shape our approach to strengthening our organization.

Thank you to Dr. Teresa Soop, Senior Research Advisor at Sida, for her words of encouragement: