Jabil's Ambitious Emissions Reductions

Global manufacturer Jabil, serving 400 top brands in 25 countries, has spent the past five years intentionally transforming how sustainability is integrated into the business. 

Rather than operating as a parallel initiative, sustainability is being embedded into enterprise strategy, governance and operational execution. As a result, Jabil has made measurable progress across environmental and social priorities, meeting or exceeding several multi‑year targets ahead of schedule.

The company committed to reducing operational greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by the end of fiscal 2025, compared to fiscal 2019 as a baseline. That target was achieved two years ahead of schedule.

By the close of fiscal 2025, Jabil had reduced operational emissions by 47%, nearly doubling its original reduction target and bringing the company close to its longer-term goal of a 50% reduction by 2030. A combination of standardized governance, cross-functional execution and scalable energy strategies drove the process.

The foundation for this approach was established in fiscal 2022 with the launch of Jabil’s five-year sustainability strategy. The strategy established a dozen enterprise‑level goals, spanning climate action, water stewardship, employee safety, human rights, workforce culture and community impact.

Over the past fiscal year, Jabil’s annual sustainability progress reviews, paired with increasingly ambitious interim targets, have strengthened accountability and accelerated execution across multiple focus areas, helping sustain momentum and alignment across the organization.

Shared Responsibility

Embedding sustainability into enterprise strategy requires clear ownership, strong governance, and reliable data to support decision‑making.

Each sustainability goal is assigned to leaders with the authority, operational control, and technical expertise required to drive measurable progress year over year, including leaders from HR, EHS, operations, IT and other business functions.

Accountability is intentionally distributed across the organization, rather than centralized in a single sustainability function, reinforcing the expectation that sustainability performance is a shared business responsibility.

To support this model, Jabil’s IT organization developed enterprise sustainability dashboards that track progress against targets on a monthly basis. These dashboards provide visibility across the company, allowing employees to monitor performance month by month at the enterprise level and, in some cases, at the regional or site level. This visibility helps identify where performance is strong and where additional attention or resources may be needed.

Technology and Governance

Beyond performance tracking, technology plays a critical role in operational execution and efficiency. Jabil applies advanced analytics, machine learning, and computer vision within its operations to improve inspection accuracy, anticipate maintenance needs and reduce material waste.

These technologies enable a shift from reactive problem-solving to predictive, data‑driven decision-making, improving resource efficiency, extending asset life and reducing energy consumption: directly supporting environmental goals while delivering operational benefits.

Governance structures further reinforce alignment with business goals. Jabil established an Executive Sustainability Leadership Council sponsored by the CEO and chaired by the chief compliance officer.

Composed primarily of CEO direct reports, the council oversees sustainability strategy, provides leadership guidance and supports integration across enterprise functions, with meeting frequency varying from year to year depending on business needs. This governance framework is supported by the day-to-day execution of more than 140,000 employees globally, whose engagement is essential to achieving enterprise targets at scale.

Renewable Energy’s Big Role

Climate action is central to Jabil’s sustainability strategy, reflecting the scale of its global operations and the importance of energy and emissions management to long‑term business performance.

To support this effort, Jabil established a global energy working group led by operations leadership and composed of cross‑functional experts from across the organization. The group developed standardized energy procedures, company‑wide energy standards and shared resources accessible to sites globally. Its work follows a structured approach focused on reducing overall energy consumption, generating energy onsite where feasible and procuring renewable energy at scale.

While onsite generation opportunities, such as solar installations, contribute where practical, the most significant greenhouse gas reductions have come through renewable energy procurement, particularly power purchase agreements. For a global manufacturer, this approach has provided the scale and consistency needed to reduce emissions across multiple regions and operating environments.

Other Advancing Areas

Progress in climate action has also been complemented by advances across other sustainability priorities.

Operational improvements, including real-time monitoring technologies and targeted conservation efforts, such as closed-loop water recycling systems and other site-specific applicable strategies, enhanced water stewardship across global operations, allowing the company to meet or exceed targets designed to reduce overall water intensity and improve resource efficiency.

In waste management, more than 90% landfill diversion has been achieved at 14% of sites, building momentum toward the five‑year goal of 20% of sites diverting 90% or more of their waste from landfills.

Employee engagement has remained strong, with employees contributing more than 590,000 volunteer hours in 2025 to sustainability efforts, exceeding the company’s goal of 500,000 hours to support communities around the world. In parallel, participation in the Responsible Business Alliance and voluntary third‑party assessments strengthened human rights compliance across Jabil’s operations and supply chain, reinforcing transparency and accountability.

External validation has reinforced these efforts. Strong performance with third-party sustainability raters, including CDP and EcoVadis, where Jabil holds gold status, has supported credibility with customers and partners. In some cases, exceeding a certain threshold for sustainability ratings is required as part of customer agreements, making performance in these assessments both a commercial and reputational consideration.

Collaboration and Key Takeaways for Large Manufacturers

Collaboration has also played an important role in advancing sustainability outcomes. Jabil engages with industry organizations, NGOs, academic institutions and cross-sector initiatives to exchange knowledge, refine methodologies, and address shared sustainability challenges. These partnerships provide external perspective and support progress in areas where standards and data remain inconsistent.

One area where collaboration remains essential is Scope 3, Category 1 greenhouse gas emissions, associated with purchased goods and services.

For many manufacturers, this represents the largest share of total emissions, yet it remains among the most complex to assess and manage. Existing approved calculation methodologies can produce varying results, and there are significant gaps in the data needed for these analyses. Addressing these challenges requires coordinated efforts among suppliers, customers and standards-setting organizations. Jabil contributes through expanded supplier engagement, including surveys to collect emissions data directly from targeted top-spend suppliers, with participation increasing year over year.

Academic engagement has also provided valuable insights. For example, various engagements with a university ESG graduate program have provided Jabil independent perspectives on sustainability reporting content, supporting continuous improvement and stakeholder considerations. Over the past year, Jabil has refined how it assesses ESG priorities in response to a rapidly evolving geopolitical and regulatory landscape.

Historically, materiality assessments focused primarily on the company’s environmental and social impacts. Jabil is now taking into account not only the business activities on society and the environment, but also the related financial risks and opportunities for the company.

Lessons Shared

For manufacturers pursuing similar goals, several practical lessons emerge from Jabil’s experience.

Sustainability initiatives benefit from a clearly articulated business case linked to operational efficiency, regulatory readiness, customer expectations or risk management.

Cross-functional alignment is essential to secure sustained funding and resources. Data quality must be addressed early, including how information is collected, validated, stored and used to drive performance rather than solely for disclosure.

Multi‑year goals, reinforced by annual milestones, help balance long‑term ambition with near‑term accountability, while voluntary reporting efforts increasingly serve as preparation for future regulatory disclosure requirements.

As Jabil continues delivering interim milestones, the company is also evaluating the next generation of sustainability objectives that will follow the conclusion of its current five‑year strategy at the end of this fiscal year.

These future goals are expected to remain focused on the company’s most material environmental, social and governance priorities, while reflecting evolving regulatory expectations, technological developments and market conditions.

For large manufacturers, sustainability is no longer discretionary. Expanding regulations, increased customer scrutiny and reputational risks associated with environmental or human rights considerations have made ESG performance a prerequisite for participation in global supply chains.

When sustainability objectives that are material to the business are effectively embedded in enterprise strategy, supported by clear governance, accountability, transparent data and cross-functional collaboration, they can drive stronger execution, greater resilience, and improved long-term performance.