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2021 Sustainability
Report

Our Goals & Action to Drive Impact

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a call for action by all countries to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. Whirlpool Corporation shares these goals as we continuously aim to improve our products, our business and our operations to benefit our employees, consumers, suppliers, customers and communities by building a better workplace, business and world.

Here are the Sustainable Development Goals (listed in numerical SDG order) that we have prioritized in accordance with ESG strategic goals:

SDG Goal Material Issue Target Action
SDG Goal
8: Decent Work and Economic Growth 10: Reduced Inequalities
Material Issue
Target
  • Increase by 50% the number of U.S. Black employees across all levels by 2025
  • Cultivate a strong, inclusive and diverse culture that drives strong employee engagement
  • Zero fatalities and serious incidents in all manufacturing sites
Action
  • Demonstrating action to advance our U.S. Racial Equality Pledge:
    • Established Regional Inclusion & Diversity (I&D) Councils in the North America Region (NAR), the Latin America Region (LAR) and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)
    • Completed our pay practices review for 2021, examining pay between employees of different gender and racial demographics
    • Launched Unconscious Bias and Empathy for People Leaders, with participation by 92.3% of eligible People Leaders
  • Held third annual Global Inclusion Week, reaching 60% participation across all global regions
  • Certified 78% of our manufacturing plants in safety certification ISO 45001
SDG Goal
11: Sustainable cities and communities
Material Issue
Target
  • Drive impact through our U.S. Racial Equality Pledge commitments to our community
  • Through the launch of our House+Home CSR strategy, continue our support of local community organizations and key partnerships through volunteerism and giving
  • Expand our work with Habitat for Humanity® to double the number of people served from the last 20 years by 2025
Action
  • Demonstrating action to advance our U.S. Racial Equality Pledge:
    • Broke ground on a $20 million attainable workforce multi-family housing development in August 2021, with plans to open in the fall of 2022
    • Launched P@th Internship Program, Apprenticeship Program, Benton Harbor First Initiative and Benton Harbor Pitch Night
  • Employee participation in the United Way Employee Campaign grew to more than 35%, up 4% from previous year
  • Our company and employee contributions generated nearly $4.5 million for United Way of Southwest Michigan and United Way chapters near our U.S. manufacturing plants
  • Two out of every three employees volunteered with organizations such as Boys and Girls Clubs of America and FIRST Robotics
  • Provided appliances for nearly 3,000 Habitat for Humanity® homes in 2021 for families to receive access to quality, resource-efficient housing in the U.S.
SDG Goal
12: Responsible Consumption and production
Material Issue
Target
  • Zero waste to landfill in all manufacturing sites by 2022
  • Requesting full material disclosure from 100% of our global suppliers by 2021
  • Achieve 18% recycled plastic content targets in EMEA by 2025
Action
  • Established Zero Waste to Landfill at 3 more sites in 2021, resulting in 28 sites reaching Gold or Platinum levels
  • Fully deployed Global Material Compliance Portal capability, sending more than 43,000 material compliance requests to over 1,300 suppliers across the globe
  • Obtained 100% of signatures from our existing direct and FPS suppliers for our SCoC; implemented requirement that all new suppliers are required to sign SCoC as part of their contract
  • Completed the PolyCE project, demonstrated the technical feasibility to use recycled PP in home appliances
SDG Goal
13: Climate Action
Material Issue
Target
  • GHG emissions reduction by 2030:
    • Net Zero emissions from our plants (Scopes 1 & 2)
    • Reduce emissions from our products in use (Scope 3 category 11) by 20%1
    • Reduce 3% in energy intensity and 1% in water intensity every year in our plants
    • 95% reduction of high global warming potential refrigerants and foams by 2023
  • Build more than 250 climate-resilient and energy-efficient homes over the next three years with Habitat for Humanity U.S.
Action
  • Committed to reaching a Net Zero emissions target in our global plants and operations by 2030 and achieved a greenhouse gas emission reduction of 27% in Scopes 1 & 2 from 2016 to 2021
  • Issued our first Sustainability Bond, enabling us to invest in projects that improve our communities and our environment. (See our Sustainability Bond Framework in the “Investors” section of our website at WhirlpoolCorp.com)
  • Record performance on Scopes 1 & 2 emissions intensity and water intensity, as well as highest rainwater use in our plants in history
  • Joined BuildBetter Campaign with Habitat for Humanity to expand access to sustainable housing
  • Progress since 2016 on Scope 3 Category 11 reductions to our 2030 goal of 20%

*Compared to 2016 baseline

Here is a snapshot of how we are contributing to additional SDGs through our wider ESG efforts:

SDG Goal Material Issue Action
SDG Goal
5: Gender Equality
Target
Diversity & Equal Opportunity
Action
  • Launch new family benefits for U.S. employees to continue to support inclusive benefit offerings for families no matter their path to parenthood
  • Continually improving the gender diversity in leadership positions with 3% increase in female representation in leadership
SDG Goal
7: Affordable and Clean Energy
Target
Energy Management
Action
  • Reached commercial operation of our first Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) that will cover approximately 50% of our electricity consumption at U.S. plants and help reduce our overall global carbon footprint in operations by nearly 16%. Additionally, contracted a second VPPA covering the remaining 50% of our electricity consumption, which will become operational in December 2022.
  • Converted our U.K. facilities to be 100% powered by renewable electricity generated by wind and hydro assets
SDG Goal
9: Industry, Innovation and infrastructure
Target
Technology & Innovation Inclusive of Design for Environment
Action
  • Launched a Sustainable Product Playbook in 2021, including chapters on recycled plastic content in products, sustainable packaging and substances of concern in products
  • Launched Digital Literature pilot, saving more than 110,000 trees
  • Launched dishwashers and cooktops with expanded polystyrene (EPS) free packaging
  • Launched High Efficiency heat pump dryers in EMEA
SDG Goal
16: Peace, Justice and strong institutions
Target
Corporate Governance
& Ethics


Responsible Sourcing
Action
  • 100% of all in-scope employees completed the Annual Ethics and Compliance Certification in 2021
  • Held 2021 Global Integrity Week with 49 ethics and compliance training sessions globally, reaching over 12,000 employees
  • Conducted 341 Supplier Audits in 27 countries