When I joined Micron’s team as sustainability director a year and a half ago, I was energized by the opportunity and challenge of working with a leading technology manufacturer at a critical time. At that point, Micron had created a solid foundation for its sustainability programs and was establishing the direction for many of its efforts.

Yet while we were coming off the best financial year in the company’s history, we were entering a significant market downturn, and more recently the coronavirus crisis has gripped the entire world. As a new Micron team member, I asked myself, “How will we handle this? How committed are we to advancing on the environmental, social and governance opportunities in our operations, communities and teams, in our supply chains, and with our customers and products when business and economic conditions are so uncertain?”

Despite these challenges, I am proud that Micron has not only maintained, but even strengthened its commitment toward sustainability leadership. We were among the earliest companies to protect our employees and support our communities in the face of COVID-19. We have also established a clear long-term improvement trajectory for the environmental impact of Micron’s operations for the first time, including a decision to invest approximately 2% of our annual capital expenditures on environmental sustainability initiatives, amounting to approximately $1 billion over the next five to seven years.

I am also grateful to work with incredibly tenacious, collaborative and innovative colleagues — people driven to find solutions to the challenges we are facing. The Micron Foundation and Micron’s health and wellness, safety, and other teams have been on the front lines of our response to COVID-19. Operations, facilities, technology, environmental health and safety, procurement and other teams have rallied together to establish and implement a clear environmental trajectory. Sourcing teams have stepped up to address challenges to workers and the environment in our supply chains. And Micron’s technology and manufacturing teams continue to develop and deliver products that help solve some of the biggest challenges facing the world.

I am privileged to share many of these stories, outlined in Micron’s fifth annual sustainability report.

Some specific accomplishments I’m proud to highlight:

• Our processes: We have committed to aggressive aspirational environmental goals to align our greenhouse gas emissions and energy use with global agreements to combat climate change, as well as to 100% water restoration and zero waste to landfill.
• Our people: We launched three new employee resource groups (ERGs) supporting diverse employee populations in 2019, grew ERG membership by 72% and expanded our paid leave benefits.
• Our products: Micron’s latest LPDDR5 DRAM improves energy efficiency by 20% compared to previous generations.

As I said last year at this time, we have a lot of work to do. We still do. The world’s challenges, from COVID-19 to climate change to inequality, are unrelenting. The opportunities to transform how the world uses information to enrich life are great. The evolution of Micron’s sustainability efforts is ongoing, and this will come with challenges. We will face difficulties along the way. Yet we will continue to take active steps to address our most significant issues and accelerate our progress.