Operationalizing Our 30x30 Goals

Resilience has taken on new meaning in an extraordinary year like 2020.

Against the tumultuous backdrop of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, an unprecedented surge in climate-related disasters, and a historic reckoning with systemic inequities, 2020 has served as a defining moment in our collective memory. As we look to the future, the decade ahead will largely be defined by how we come together in collaborative and innovative ways to overcome the most urgent, significant challenges of our time (what our CEO Pat Gelsinger coined “The Triple Threat”).

Today we’re announcing how VMware is rising to the challenge and taking a new approach to building a better future. We are setting out a 10-year commitment to reaching 30 goals by 2030 for creating a more equitable, sustainable and resilient world. This approach is different—and we believe more effective—because it integrates these goals into the VMware business. We call this new approach our 2030 Agenda.

When VMware first embarked on our Global Impact journey in 2015, our aim was to build on the company’s enduring commitment to creating a more sustainable world. We set ambitious targets for ourselves, got down to business and achieved nearly all of our goals over a five-year period. But if 2020 has proven anything, it is that the way we have approached corporate responsibility in the past is no longer sufficient in an interdependent and unpredictable world. In a year defined by crises in public health, social inequity and the global economy, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues have risen to the top of business leaders and investors’ minds. To succeed in this new era of stakeholder capitalism, organizations must have the agility and strategic foresight to act on the dynamic materiality of ESG.

Our vision is ambitious. We’re mobilizing our engineering talent, innovative spirit and broad ecosystem of partners and customers to deliver long-term solutions to pressing societal issues through innovation. In establishing a new ESG office, we will ensure strategic focus as well as measure and track our progress against our goals annually using widely recognized guidelines for ESG reporting and transparency.

Inspired by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, VMware’s 2030 Agenda is focused on driving three outcomes:

• TRUST: We envision a future where inclusive prosperity is possible for all—one where all stakeholders are effectively safeguarded from cyberattacks threatening our digital world. By approaching innovation from a foundation of digital ethics and stewardship, and focusing on intrinsic security, privacy-by-design and transparent business practices, we aim to build and protect trust among our people, customers, partners, shareholders and communities.
   
• EQUITY: We firmly believe that technology will play a critical role in building a digital future that is equitable, accessible and inclusive for all. From our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts to our digital workspace technologies, we are redefining the workplace of the future. We are enabling distributed workforces to empower employees with equal opportunity, inclusive leadership and increased flexibility—within VMware and beyond. Through partnerships with academic institutions and nonprofit partners, we also aim to close the digital skills gap in marginalized communities and make digital transformation more accessible for all.
   
• SUSTAINABILITY: Sustainability is core to our values and future success. As a global corporate citizen, we have an opportunity to innovate for a more resilient world by decarbonizing digital infrastructure across our customer ecosystem, supply chain and operations. Through our collective efforts to drive net-zero emissions, radical efficiency and sustainable innovation, VMware will help accelerate a future where our public clouds are zero-carbon and powered by renewable energy.

VMware people across every business unit will play a role in helping the company achieve these 30 new goals over the next ten years. This coming decade will likely serve as the ultimate test of business and society’s resilience. One thing is certain, we recognize that we cannot do this alone, nor all at once. And, that is why we will invest in co-innovation and collaboration with our expansive ecosystem of customers and partners along the way.

The challenges of positive change in a radically unpredictable world are great —and so too are the opportunities to innovate for a better tomorrow. A better future requires effecting systems, and lasting change will demand a critical reimagination of how we operate our business, how we leverage our technology and how we serve all of our stakeholders.

This is the work of our time. May we all take the lessons of 2020 with us as we act more decisively than ever with more empathy and humility as we work together to enable a healthier, safer, equitable and resilient world for ourselves, our families, and future generations.
 

— NICOLA ACUTT, Vice President, Environmental, Social and Governance