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Priority topics

The CVS Health® environmental, social and governance (ESG) priority topics represent the areas in which the company has the most significant economic, environmental and social impacts, as well as the topics that most influence the decisions of our stakeholders and governance over our priorities. These topics inform our ESG strategy and goals, as well as our approach to transparent reporting.

Every two years, we carry out a full prioritization assessment to better reflect our growing business, strategy and stakeholder expectations. In 2021, we conducted a comprehensive ESG prioritization assessment in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative Standards. This included topics from our previous assessments and uncovered emerging topics through internal and external stakeholder engagement, competitive benchmarking and review of the media and industry landscape. We evaluated roughly 100 priority topics that CVS Health stakeholders care about, and for which CVS Health has a significant level of influence.

The 2021 prioritization assessment reflects the experiences and evolving conversations of our policymakers, shareholders, regulatory bodies, patients, colleagues and business partners since our last assessment. It showed that stakeholders continue to align to our Healthy 2030 strategy, reflecting a continuous increase in importance and prioritization of topics addressing diversity, equity, inclusion, climate action, human capital and health-related topics.

Learn about our material topics and approach in our 2021 ESG Report Appendix (PDF).

CVS Health Priority Topics

Graph with y-axis labeled as the Influence on Stakeholder Assessments and Decisions and x-axis labeled as the Significance of Economic, Environmental and Social Impacts. Scatter plot shows CVS Health Priority Topics from Moderately high, high and very high. Download the 2021 ESG Report Appendix (PDF) for further explanation of data points.

Topics grouped by priority

Very High

1. Access to quality health care
2. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
3. Healthy Equity
4. Mental Health
5. Community Investments
6. Climate Action 
7. Colleague Health & Safety
8. Workforce Development
9. Wages and benefits
10. Patient & Customer Safety
11. Response to Public Health Challenges

High

12. Pricing of Drugs & Services
13. Data protection & Privacy
14. Advancing Public Health
15. Prescription Drug Misuse
16. Sustainable Operations
17. Packaging
18. Waste
19. Supply Chain Sustainability 
20. Human Rights
21. Governance

Moderately High

22. Chemical Management
23. Deforestation
24. Product Quality & Ingredients
25. Public Policy
26. Chronic Disease Prevention & Management
27. Responsible Marketing & Advertising
28. Medication Adherence
29. Maternal Health
30. Ethics & Compliance
31. Safe & Affordable Housing
32. Smoking Cessation
33. Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)
34. Water Stewardship
35. Risk Management