American Express Publishes its First Environmental, Social And Governance Report
September 30 2020 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
Report includes enhanced information on diversity and inclusion
initiatives, actions to help stakeholders navigate the COVID-19
pandemic and updates on philanthropic and community development
initiatives globally
American Express (NYSE: AXP) today announced the release of its
first Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report, which
outlines the company’s approach to responsibly back its colleagues,
customers and communities. The report is an evolution of American
Express’ Corporate Social Responsibility report and includes
updated and enhanced disclosures on a number of key topics, such as
the diversity of the company’s workforce, its efforts to support
its various stakeholders through the COVID-19 pandemic, continued
progress toward its environmental sustainability goals and
philanthropic initiatives.
“At American Express, we believe the fundamental purpose of a
corporation is to serve the needs of society and that backing our
colleagues, customers and communities so they can thrive is
critical to our success,” said Stephen J. Squeri, Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer. “These beliefs have been our North Star
for 170 years and through many challenging times, and they continue
to guide us today in the face of the current global health crisis.
Moving forward, we remain committed to implementing strong ESG
policies and practices and delivering on our refreshed priorities
detailed in our ESG report.”
The report’s publication follows an analysis of opportunities
and risks as it relates to American Express’ ESG strategy to better
understand the expectations of internal and external stakeholders,
including shareholders, customers, colleagues, business partners,
regulators, suppliers, community organizations and others. Based on
these valuable insights, the company developed a refreshed ESG
framework and set of priorities that will drive its strategy moving
forward. To further facilitate the execution of its ESG priorities,
the company established a new ESG Steering Committee, comprised of
senior leaders from across the business, which will be responsible
for driving the development of new ESG goals and metrics.
Report highlights include:
BACKING OUR COLLEAGUES
American Express is committed to delivering a great colleague
experience, growing the best talent and developing new ways of
working to unlock enterprise value. The company’s focus
includes:
- A commitment to building an inclusive and diverse culture and
providing transparency on its progress, with enhanced disclosures
around the diversity representation of its workforce. Specifically,
the company has provided more detailed data on the breakdown of its
global colleagues by gender, race/ethnicity and job category, as
well as its progress on increasing representation across the
company. Between January 2018 and June 2020, American Express has
increased the number of female members on its Executive Committee
by 250 percent, female Country Managers by 100 percent, and female
Directors on its Board by 33 percent.
- The creation of an Office of Enterprise Inclusion, Diversity
and Business Engagement, which reports directly to the CEO. This is
the first step of a multiyear commitment to further advance
inclusion and diversity priorities across the company, and address
issues of inequality and social justice.
BACKING OUR CUSTOMERS
American Express has taken a number of steps to help its
customers – including consumers, small businesses, corporate
clients and merchants – navigate the financial disruptions caused
by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as:
- Creating a Customer Pandemic Relief Program to provide
short-term support for customers impacted by COVID-19 and enhancing
and expanding its longer-term Financial Relief Program to provide
assistance to customers in 20 countries.
- Adjusted certain merchant policies, including raising
transaction thresholds for contactless payments to reduce physical
contact at the point of sale and reminding merchants globally that
they are not required to collect Card Members’ signatures at the
point of sale.
- Committing more than $200 million as part of its largest-ever
Shop Small campaign to promote Card Member spending at small
businesses, supported by a marketing campaign to help jumpstart
their recovery.
BACKING OUR COMMUNITIES
The ESG report outlines how American Express is working to help
address the most pressing societal issues in the communities it
serves around the world. Throughout 2019 and to date this year, the
company has leveraged its philanthropic and civic engagement
initiatives to further empower the people and organizations on the
front lines addressing society’s most complex challenges,
including:
- More than $42 million in charitable giving globally in 2019,
including grants from the American Express Foundation, the
company’s Center for Community Development and colleague
gift-matching programs. In the first half of 2020, the company
committed more than $7 million in grants to back communities,
organizations and healthcare professionals to help combat the
pandemic.
- $3 million in grants to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational
Fund, the National Urban League and other People of Color-led
organizations focused on supporting the Black/African American
Community.
- Formation of the “Coalition to Back Black Businesses,” in
collaboration with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, with a
$10 million commitment to fund a grant program and support the
recovery of Black-owned small businesses in the U.S. over the next
four years. The Coalition is a first-of-its-kind collaboration
between four major Black chambers: the National Black Chamber of
Commerce, the National Business League, the U.S. Black Chambers,
Inc., and Walker’s Legacy.
- Continued commitment to protecting the environment and
supporting a low-carbon future. The company remained
carbon-neutral, was powered by 100 percent renewable electricity
and was named to the 2019 CDP Climate A List, which recognizes
corporate leaders for their climate-action and transparency.
American Express’ ESG report responds to the Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI), Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)
and Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
reporting guidelines. To learn more about American Express’
approach to corporate responsibility and ESG, visit
https://about.americanexpress.com/corporate-responsibility/default.aspx.
ABOUT AMERICAN EXPRESS
American Express is a globally integrated payments company,
providing customers with access to products, insights and
experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn
more at americanexpress.com and connect with us on
facebook.com/americanexpress, instagram.com/americanexpress,
linkedin.com/company/american-express, twitter.com/americanexpress,
and youtube.com/americanexpress.
Key links to products, services and corporate responsibility
information: charge and credit cards, business credit cards, travel
services, gift cards, prepaid cards, merchant services, Accertify,
InAuth, corporate card, business travel, and corporate
responsibility.
Source: American Express Company
Location: Global
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200930005482/en/
AMERICAN EXPRESS Andrew R. Johnson
Andrew.R.Johnson@aexp.com 212-640-8610
American Express (NYSE:AXP)
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