In terms of business activities, sustainability is not a new term. Yet it has become one of those meaningful issues that occasionally emerge that cannot be dismissed as merely a trend. That’s because government agencies, businesses and individuals alike have embraced the concept in a much broader sense than merely an economic one. Sustainability must be integrated into human rights, societal issues and perhaps most important, the environment. It is a generational issue — perhaps the major issue of our time.

At Lexmark, we realize our responsibility as a global entity to operate our business in a manner that results in a better world from both a humanitarian and an ecological perspective. We accept the challenge to build products that positively impact all the people our company touches and all those who touch our products. From the first glint of an idea, to a product’s end of life; from our employees and their families, to our neighbors; from our suppliers to our shareholders; from our political governments, to their citizens.

We believe that accessible and regular documentation of our efforts to be a responsible corporate citizen is critical to improvement in our sustainability efforts. We are committed to transparency in running our business as well as in the reporting of the Company’s environmental and social progress. This report addresses 100 percent of all GRI indicators including environmental, product, finance & economics, society, human rights and labor.

We have identified five components of sustainability that, in particular, have substantial materiality to our operations and this report is segmented by those components. You will note as you read these sections that measuring progress against and in the context of goals and objectives is a substantial part of Lexmark’s management approach.

Lexmark is committed to honest exchanges and believes that exploration and dialogue relative to these issues will result in advancing our efforts. We want to engage our stakeholders on every level and realize that their input is relevant and beneficial. In support of this objective, this year we have changed our Corporate Social Responsibility report from a view-only PDF document to one of considerable interactivity.

In essence, we are all stakeholders in each other. Your comments are welcome at csr@lexmark.com as we consider constructive feedback an important tool from which we can enhance our sustainability success.