Together, we're going to change the world.
At Illumina, we're already fueled by a purpose-driven strategy. Our corporate social responsibility program has deepened our impact on patients, our communities, our people, and the planet.
We have a deep conviction that genomics should be available to the many, not the few. That means we need to accelerate access to genomic technology and precision medicine, regardless of social status, income, or geographic location.
We believe in the importance of setting bold targets and ensuring transparency and accountability on our progress. We've invested in environmental sustainability with net zero commitments, increased donations in our communities, and created a culture of care for our people. As a global leader in genomics, we have a responsibility to continually innovate. Genomics can exponentially improve the human condition. We have that spirit of innovation, and that helps keep us connected to our purpose.
There's an urgency to our mission. We understand that today's discoveries have the potential to help tomorrow's patients, create food security, and protect our natural capital. We honor that urgency with continued investment in making our technology more affordable, more accessible, and more sustainable, helping our customers realize their biggest dreams.
Our purpose is to make genomics useful for all. We're delivering breakthroughs that redefine what's possible, broadening the impact of genomics to tackle many of humanity's biggest challenges. That requires vision. Illumina is making that vision a reality.
Human health and environmental health are intertwined, connecting our mission with our commitments to operate responsibly and sustainably.
Core to our purpose, inclusion. It is essential to the work we do, the communities we serve, the partners we choose, and the teams we build. We understand the value of creating an environment of diversity.
Purpose-driven.
Transparent.
Bold.
Innovative.
Resilient.
Compassionate.
Inspiring.
Trusted.
Good morning. Thanks for joining us at Illumina's second annual Virtual ESG Investor Event. I am Salli Schwartz, Vice President of Investor Relations. Before we get started, I need to provide a few cautionary notes. On the slide displayed are important disclaimers for our business. Today, we may share information that could be considered forward-looking statements. You should refer to our SEC filings for a discussion of the risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from our current expectations. It is our intent that all forward-looking statements regarding our financial results and commercial activity made during today's discussion will be protected under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The disclaimers on this slide also include a statement reflecting the current full separate requirement related to our GRAIL business.
As a reminder, the European Commission has adopted an order requiring Illumina and GRAIL to be held and operated as distinct and separate entities during the pendency of legal matters related to the acquisition. We encourage you to review these disclaimers, and they will be included on the presentation on our website. Over the next hour, Francis deSouza, CEO, John Frank, Chief Public Affairs Officer, Aimee Hoyt, Chief People Officer, and Sharon Vidal, Head of ESG, will provide an overview of Illumina's ESG strategy and join us in a panel discussion. We will then open it up for Q&A. If you didn't submit a question in advance, feel free to drop one in the chat at any time during the event. I will now invite Sharon Vidal, our Head of ESG, to walk us through some key messages you can expect from today.
Thank you, Salli. To get us grounded, here are a few key themes we aim to bring to life today. First, we continue to respond to growing stakeholder expectations for ESG leadership with an emphasis on transparency, climate action, and progressive human capital programs. Second, our ESG strategy centers on five pillars, access to genomics, empowering our communities, integrating environmental sustainability, nurturing our people, and operating responsibly. Third, we are on track to meet our 2030 targets as we embed ESG in our strategic plan and annual corporate goals to create long-term shareholder value. Fourth, our annual CSR reporting is designed to proactively communicate our ESG programs, targets, and progress. We are recognized as an industry leader for both our ESG disclosures and program. Lastly, we've made great progress since our inaugural ESG Investor Event last November.
We are among the first companies in the world to achieve validated net zero emission targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative. We also recently launched our most sustainable sequencer yet, the NovaSeq X. Let's dive in. I am honored to introduce Francis deSouza, Illumina's CEO, and recently recognized as the most responsible CEO for leadership in ESG by 3BL at the 3BL Forum: Brands Taking Stands. Francis.
Thank you, Sharon. Hello, and thank you all for joining us today. At Illumina, our mission is to improve human health by unlocking the power of the genome. Making genomics useful and accessible for all is our purpose and our promise to our customers who work toward new discoveries every day and to the lives they touch. Our mission guides everything we do, from our business decisions to our ESG efforts. We seek to deepen our impact on human health by championing patients, our people, our communities, and the planet. Next April, Illumina is going to celebrate our 25th anniversary. For those of you that are new to our story, let me start with a little bit about who we are. We innovate at the intersection of biology, technology, and health, and we're reimagining what's possible in the genome era.
Our sequencers enable researchers in academic, government, and commercial settings to comprehensively understand the genome and how it translates into health and disease. Our technologies empower healthcare providers to leverage those genomic insights in clinical care for cancer, rare genetic and infectious disease, providing patients with diagnoses and groundbreaking therapies. Our technologies are also increasingly offering a critical tool for climate action. Agrigenomics and research in biodiversity create an opportunity for Illumina to be an impactful part of solutions for a more sustainable future. Environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, is a construct that is central to the way we operate. Environmental and social responsibility is core to Illumina's business. We at Illumina will keep innovating and improving health, and by incorporating ESG into our business, we will solidify our path to deliver long-term performance and value creation.
To support our long-term value creation mindset and ESG oversight, we have an active, independent, and diverse board. This strong governance supports our strategic management of material ESG issues. To operationalize our ESG strategy and support the integration of ESG themes into our business, we've also established an ESG executive steering committee. The board and our executive leadership have created an ESG governance structure that facilitates accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement. They meet quarterly, and the group is now chaired by our new Chief Public Affairs Officer, John Frank. Currently, select ESG targets are included in annual corporate goals and influence executive compensation through the management performance scorecard. Our strategy and our reporting approach align to international frameworks and reflect our commitment to transparency and accountability. We are signatories to the UN Global Compact, the UN Women Empowerment Principles, and the Business Ambition for 1.5°C.
Our ESG focus areas link to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. We support all 17 goals and have identified eight that we can most uniquely influence and are the most material to Illumina. The concepts of health, education, reduced inequalities, and innovation have always been core to who we are as a company. As we've evolved our program, our investor community has provided feedback. Our first report used the Global Reporting Initiative or GRI framework. You asked for us to align with additional well-recognized frameworks, including SASB, TCFD, and Net Zero, and we listened. You asked for expanded diversity in our demographic data, and we listened. With the launch of our last ESG report, we also built an ESG reporting hub linked from our Investor Relations page. This year, we continued our stakeholder connection points and performed an update on our materiality assessment.
After three years of ESG reporting, we revisited our materiality assessment to validate the most material ESG issues. The results indicated that we remain attuned to where we can make the most impact for our business and stakeholders. Our current CSR focus areas remain relevant and still reflective of the most material topics for Illumina and confirm appropriate prioritization of existing efforts. All these inputs led to the creation and confirmation of our ESG priorities to create unique and purpose-driven impact. Accelerate access to genomics, empower our communities, integrate environmental sustainability, nurture our people, operate responsibly. We'll explore each of these in closer detail. Accelerating access to genomics is our signature pillar and provides the most unique Illumina lens. We believe genomics should be available to the many, not just the rich or lucky. We're driving innovation and affordability to democratize genomics and increase the diversity of genomics data.
Today, it's glaringly imbalanced. Genomic data is the blueprint for everything, from identifying new diseases to developing precision drugs. The data sets must be equitable. Currently, 87% of individuals included in genomic studies of disease risk are of European ancestry. Only 2% of genomic data is from African individuals, but 17% of the world's population is African. We will continue to develop technology that provides unprecedented access to the genome with more data, processing power, more efficiency, and greater affordability. We will also partner to remove barriers of access, educate the healthcare community, seek expanded reimbursement coverage, and invest in genomic startups to broaden the ecosystem. On the point of technology, at our recent Illumina Genomics Forum, we introduced our most powerful and most sustainable sequencer ever, the NovaSeq X Series.
Powered by the new XLEAP-SBS chemistry, NovaSeq X provides massive improvements in all key aspects, throughput, scale, accuracy, simplicity, efficiency, cost, and we do it more sustainably than ever. We will dive into the sustainability in a few minutes. Since 2001, the cost of DNA sequencing has dropped from $100 million per human genome to now capable of achieving $200 per genome on the NovaSeq X. This reduced cost is key to providing more access. Part of our employee value proposition is our strong commitment to giving back to our communities. With programs like skills-based volunteering, paid volunteer time off, volunteer rewards, and donation matches, we make it easy for employees to get involved, give back, and connect with our mission and their own core values.
To create the diverse STEM workforce of the future, we prioritize programs that create equitable access to STEM education and genomic literacy. Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. We create intersections between our internal diversity work and our community work. We've also made significant progress in sustainability since our last ESG Investor Event. Last year, we shared our 2030 commitments. This year, we're sharing commitments in action with increased renewable electricity, net zero verification, sustainable products, and sustainability community investments. At the end of 2021, 59% of our electricity was from renewables, and we are on track to exceed that this year. Last year, we shifted our San Diego facilities to renewable electricity, and this year, we successfully converted our Madison site. We have set bold, ambitious targets on climate action.
Since we last met, we became one of the first companies in the world, and the first genomics company, to obtain approval and independent validation on our net zero targets. We reported on emissions in our value chain for Scope 3 for the first time last year, and found 87% of our emission inventory sitting in our value chain. We knew that we would have to go beyond our facility walls to make a meaningful impact. With the integration of design for environment principles, we're addressing both the products currently on the market and those in development. NovaSeq X is the first of these major leaps forward. It is not an incremental improvement in packaging or waste or weight. It's a transformational innovation. We intentionally focus on improving the sustainability of our platform, and we reinvented everything, every single piece of technology, from chemistry to engineering.
We heard the feedback from our customers on packaging waste, and we took action. We saw the data on the impact of cold chain on emissions across our value chain, and we took action. Customers came to us in tears when they learned about these improvements and the impact this will have. We invested more money and more scientific firepower into the development of XLEAP-SBS than had ever been done before in our industry. We created new reagents to enable ambient shipping, including our first lyophilized or freeze-dried reagents. XLEAP-SBS is the first SBS chemistry that can be shipped over a wide range of temperatures, - 20 degrees Celsius to 50 degrees Celsius. No dry ice shipments are required. Our cartridges have more recyclable plastics, and the buffer cartridge is made of bioplastics, a biopolymer from sugarcane.
The result is ambient ship, no dry ice, and a 90% reduction in packaging weight and waste. These enhancements to make our products more sustainable are important, not only to our customers, but to the whole genomics ecosystem and to the planet. In addition to creating more sustainable products, our technologies are being leveraged for sustainability applications for a healthier planet. Through our Illumina Agricultural Greater Good Initiative, the most recent recipient is applying genomics to yams. Yams feed over 300 million people worldwide. Pioneering genomics researchers like Dr. Ranjana Bhattacharjee are working to protect their resilience. Dr. Bhattacharjee's work will help millions of farmers produce more heat and disease-resistant varieties. These technologies have the potential to end food insecurity for hundreds of millions more people worldwide. Similarly, our technology is being applied in research for conservation of biodiversity and natural capital.
Our partnership with the Minderoo Foundation in Australia will leverage the power of genomics to accelerate scientific understanding of marine ecosystems and help conserve marine biodiversity. Only 1% of the known species of marine vertebrate genomes have ever been sequenced. The goal is to build a reference library of fish genomes, and to support this effort, we put a NovaSeq on a research boat. Our employees are as passionate about how we do the work as they are about what we do. We are deeply committed to creating a workplace centered on innovation and care. We value the unique talents of the individual and bring forward the best of the collective to deliver on Illumina's mission at global scale. By focusing on inclusion, investing in our people, and enabling a culture of care, we magnify the value of that collaboration and build community.
Last year, our U.S. workforce included 50% minority representation, and we have seen a 6% increase in minority representation in the director and above executive leadership roles over the last three years. Our DEI program is anchored in the philosophy of practice. We invite everyone to start where they are and continue to work appreciating that there's always more to learn. Investing and developing our people is the catalyst for how we achieve success as individuals, as teams, and as an organization. Regardless of work arrangements or location, opportunities exist for continuous learning and growth. Every day, our technology is being used to improve human health, enabling advancements that were not possible just a few years ago. It seems only fitting that our employees access these new technologies to help better inform their healthcare decisions, like workplace genomics, reproductive health programs, and cancer testing.
We create a culture of care offering a world-class portfolio of benefits and wellness programs, and we extend these benefits to employees, spouses, domestic partners, and dependents. The macro labor trends require us to continue to evolve and thrive. We will continue to attract and retain employees with clear connections to our purpose-driven strategy, diversity and inclusion as a brand promise, and embedded across all functions of the business, meaningful, inclusive, and equitable benefits. The last ESG focus area is operate responsibly. Doing the right thing is core to who we are. Our role as a genomics pioneer brings the responsibility to enable innovation for good, ensuring that the technology we create and the data we collect are used safely, ethically, and responsibly.
As our business and genomics continue to evolve, we strive to set the highest standards for ethical use of our technology as well as the security and privacy of data. We are honored to have our work recognized, and we are committed to continuing to push our ESG efforts forward. We're dedicated to making a positive impact on humanity, not just through our technology and solutions, but also through our actions. As we look to the future, we view our CSR program through the lens of continuous improvement and innovation. We will continue to strive to be the best employer, the best environmental steward, and the best corporate citizens we can possibly be. I will now invite Salli to kick off our panel discussion.
Thank you for the overview, Francis. I would now like to invite Aimee Hoyt, our Chief People Officer, John Frank, our Chief Public Affairs Officer, and Sharon Vidal, our Head of ESG, to join. We will get started with a few questions that came in through the registration platform in advance of today's event. If you didn't submit a question in advance, feel free to drop your question in the chat and we will save some time at the end. Welcome, panel. I'd like to direct this first question to John. John, we received a question about the change in reporting structure for the ESG function. Could you tell us why we moved the ESG function from residing in finance and reporting to the CFO to sitting in your newly developed department, public affairs, and reporting to you as the Chief Public Affairs Officer?
At Illumina this year, we created a new department focused on public affairs. It was a natural fit to bring together our teams working on government affairs, corporate social responsibility, privacy, ethics, and patient advocacy. After years of my career at Microsoft, most recently starting the UN affairs group there, I greatly appreciate the intersection of government affairs, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and ESG, create good synergies together. Now, our CSR projects will continue to work closely with finance, with investors, and risk management, and all those relationships remain strong, and our functions will continue to work very closely together, and we expect that collaboration to only increase as the various mandatory reporting proposals out there advance.
Thanks, John. Sharon, Francis talked about the Science Based Targets verification. Why did Illumina choose to pursue this approach?
Sure. Well, not all net zero commitments are the same, and as a science-based company, we wanted to ground our environmental targets in a science-based framework. We wanted to have a plan that would take us from commitment into measurable action and support making changes in how we do business on an enterprise level. We chose to create a climate transition plan that was time-bound with quantitative targets based on the best climate science recommendations available. The other reason, and almost as important as the actual plan was, you know, we were equally invested in the commitment to be transparent and to signal to all our stakeholders where we were starting, where we planned to go, and then how we thought we would get there.
The Science Based Targets initiative, or SBTi, is a partnership between CDP, the UN Global Compact, the World Resources Institute, and the World Wide Fund for Nature. It is the credible source for net zero commitments and emission reductions from a science-based effort. We saw our external approval of climate transition plans as a way to demonstrate to our external stakeholders that we had a credible and accountable set of targets to help guide our company towards that 1.5-degree scenario.
Francis, you covered a little bit about the promise of genomics related to climate change. I remember that you mentioned something about cattle during your keynote at the Illumina Genomics Forum. Could you share an example about how genomics could have a direct impact on reducing emissions?
Absolutely. Genomics can have a direct impact on reducing emissions. A study demonstrated that a 5% projected reduction in methane emissions using genomic-guided selection in cattle. CRISPR gene editing technology is already starting to bolster the natural ability of plants and soil microbes to both capture and store atmospheric carbon. Carbon dioxide removal will play an increasingly important role in reducing the global impact from climate change and potentially reversing its course. Genomics plays an important role in making all of this happen.
That's amazing. Aimee, let's shift to another topic, human capital. We received multiple questions about macro labor trends that have been impacting organizations. Can you share what Illumina's experience has been?
Yeah. Thanks, Salli. There is no doubt that there is a tight labor supply and more competition than ever. This is especially true in the tech talent, notably in data science and software. The experiences from the pandemic have heightened employee expectations on agency, voice, flexibility, and growth opportunities. We are also seeing the labor markets reshaping with both hybrid work and remote work, creating opportunities for employees to seek higher mobility without leaving their geographic location. Beyond flexible work, employees are expecting their experience to be tailored to their needs, whether that is work-life balance, physical, mental, or caring for their families. There is no longer one singular way of working, but the totality of the touch points that we now call a workplace. People want to have an impact on the work that they do and then in the groups that they serve.
To address these trends, we have focused on our efforts in recruiting, retention, and highlighting our approach to flexible work, inclusive benefits, wellness, ESG efforts, as well as developing a robust intern program and early career pipeline. Development and investment in our people is an everyday activity. It is employee-led, guided by their manager, and enabled by enterprise collaboration tools.
Sharon, I saw that you wanted to jump in on that topic. Did you have something that you wanted to add?
Yeah. I think that Aimee touched on a great theme that we're seeing related to the job seekers and expectations of working where they can have an impact. I think one of the most interesting trends that we saw reported this year was the Edelman Trust Barometer, and that indicated trust has shifted to employers ahead of what's historically been trust placed in NGOs, governments, or media. The role of a corporation is changing in how they're engaging in social impact and corporate citizenship, and it speaks to the growing expectations and similar reports that have come from Deloitte and others that millennials and Gen Z job seekers say they are making job choices to join purpose-driven organizations. I think this is an area that Illumina can shine, and it's a great business case for having a strong ESG program.
Well, speaking of trends, Francis, we have a question as it pertains to access and the role of genomics in surveillance, pandemic preparedness, and your hopes on preventing future outbreaks from becoming pandemic.
Yeah, that's an important and very timely topic. We can prevent the next outbreak from becoming another global pandemic. If, for example, we had stopped the COVID pandemic in the first 100 days, we could have saved over 98% of the lives that were lost. We have it within our grasp. There'll always be new emerging pathogens, but we'll be able to come out with vaccines and therapies earlier. What really matters is our ability to identify and control the spread of pathogens.
Effective global surveillance backed by collaboration and adoption can create a world that never sees another pandemic.
John, as a genomic pioneer, brings with it the responsibility to enable innovation for good, ensuring that we have technology we create and the data that we're collecting are used safely, ethically, and responsibly. Could you share a little bit about the ethical use of genomics and the controls that we have in place?
Certainly. We at Illumina are steadfast in our commitment that genomic technologies should only be used to benefit humanity, and we will only work with partners that further this mission. Our human rights policies and our customer agreements outline our expectations regarding the ethical use of our technology and the steps we can take in the event of a possible violation. Illumina's core customer base is comprised of research, academic, and healthcare institutions. We have oversight and accountability processes to monitor and enforce these commitments with the aim to prevent sales that could result in the misuse or human rights concerns before they happen. We're committed to investigating reports of potential product misuse, and we will not hesitate to cease sales to business partners if an ethics or human rights concern is confirmed. We care deeply. These commitments are very important to us.
Thank you. Sharon, of all the sustainability initiatives this past year, which one was the standout for you?
Well, the sugarcane plastic on our buffer cartridge is pretty cool, but I would definitely say ambient shipping. Not only because of the emission reduction and the packaging reductions, but because of the direct impact this will have on access. Eliminating the need for dry ice for that last mile shipment will remove barriers of access to some regions of the world. At our recent customer event, I had a scientist from Africa share that ambient shipping is a game changer for their lab. Another customer from a smaller lab in Israel said that the combination of the lower per genome cost and the money that they're gonna save in import fees of dry ice is gonna enable them to purchase their own sequencer rather than to outsource.
John, back to you. We've talked a lot about the E and the S, but let's shift to the G for governance. We've received a question asking if we've considered adding ESG to any of the board committees in addition to the full board.
I think it's clear this emerging consensus that boards of directors of public companies should be taking a greater role in overseeing companies' ESG programs and disclosures. There does remain variations in how boards have chosen to approach their oversight. Currently, we have a full board oversight model with various themes under the ESG umbrella captured by different committees. For example, Illumina's compensation committee currently oversees and provides input to management on diversity and inclusion matters, and the audit committee oversees cybersecurity. We are continuing to evaluate and discuss the opportunities for supplemental ESG oversight with a specific committee, and we'll move that forward very soon.
Well, Aimee, we have time for one more question before we move over to the live Q&A. Could you tell us about Illumina's employee resource groups or ERGs and the growth that we've seen as an element of the diversity, equity, and inclusion program here?
Yeah. Thanks, Salli. ERGs are incredibly exciting, not only in the growth in the number of participants, but also the expanded global reach. The ERG philosophy is focused on educating our teams about the value of difference, the power of diversity, and to drive innovative problem-solving for our business. Each ERG is focused on professional development and education. They take on annual business impact projects and social impact projects. This past year, we've seen some great outputs. Our BE GREAT ERG hosted a strawberry DNA extraction workshop at underserved community in the elementary school. Our iPride ERG conducted a project updating customer-facing databases to expand accepted pronouns. Our SHADES ERG supported our diverse supplier team with data management. We are particularly excited about our ERG program because we see these as early career leaders as our future leaders of the company.
Programs like this support our approach that learning and development can happen in all we do, can take place in our daily work, and is outside the traditional classroom model.
That's great. All right, let's go to some of the additional questions that have come in during the event. Aimee, I'm gonna go back to you first. There are several pay transparency regulations that have been circulating in California and New York, Washington, even the EU, I believe, and they're addressing that topic of pay transparency. What's Illumina's response to the recent legislation?
Yeah. Thanks, Salli. That is correct. The state of California recently passed the pay transparency law, and that goes into effect January 1st. The law requires transparency of pay ranges in job postings and enables employees to access their salary ranges upon request. We believe this is a pivotal moment in our pay transparency journey and plan to lean in as part of our commitment to pay equity, diversity, and inclusion. We believe in equitable processes, open communication, and leadership accountability. Our Illumina plan is to provide salary range transparency in all of our U.S. job postings January 1st, not just California. To ensure fairness and consistency, we'll also be providing employees with access to salary ranges in their current positions via our Workday HR system.
Great. All right. One for you, Sharon.
All right.
What are the CO2 emissions associated with sequencing a whole human genome, and how will these be reduced with the XLEAP-SBS technology?
Thanks, Salli. Great question. We're actually in the process of completing a product lifecycle assessment on the NovaSeq X as well as on our NovaSeq 6000. We are planning to provide a normalized value per genome for both those systems, and that will show the quantitative comparison and the full environmental footprint for each one. We expect to have those details ready for our next CSR report that's coming out in Q2 of 2023.
Great. All right, John. There are three proposed mandatory reporting disclosure proposals around the world that have now closed their public comment periods. The EU released broadened disclosure under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive or CSRD. There's also an international impact by the International Sustainability Standards Board or ISSB. In the U.S., there's something from the SEC. Is Illumina prepared for all of these?
Overall, over the last three years, I think we're off to a good start. We've published voluntary ESG disclosures based on comprehensive international frameworks. Many of the current proposals calling for mandatory reporting are based largely on the Task Force on Climate-related Disclosures and the Global Reporting Initiative. We've already incorporated those into our voluntary reporting. We don't know exactly what the scope of the new rules will be, but we will continue to evaluate the reporting landscape and continue to build on our strong reporting foundation, committed transparency and accountability.
Got it. Okay. I have another one. I think I'll ask two people this one. It says, what are your efforts in recruitment and training for underrepresented minorities in genomics? Maybe Aimee, perhaps you could take the current internal workforce lens, and then Sharon, maybe you could add something on the community investment side and our future STEM pipeline.
Yeah. Thanks for the question. It's a big personal passion of mine. You know, developing a diverse workforce for our future is critical to our mission and absolutely aligned to our DEI commitments. We seek to build a global workforce that represents the communities where we operate and the world that we're working to serve. We have focused efforts on every stage of the employment life cycle. That absolutely includes curating a diverse slate of candidates for hiring managers, creating a diverse interview panel, and then providing internal training for hiring managers. We're also building excellent relationships on campuses and universities. Our campus program was successfully hosted a recent session that was really focused on authenticity, something that underrepresented employees and potential joinees from the universities are very interested in.
Our team addressed the power and importance of how to be authentic to yourself in the workplace. Once hired, we take a very integrated approach to supporting employees for their development needs along their career journey. We have an amazing diversity council made up of diverse leaders from across the company. They also sponsor our ERGs. We offer executive development series, and we support growth through the structure of our ERGs, as we discussed earlier, and our business impact and community impact programs. Sharon, do you wanna take those external lenses?
Yeah, sure. Thank you, Aimee. I think, you know, this focus area intersects really well between our internal DEI work and our community work. I think Francis said it best earlier in the program about the fact that talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. That premise guides our work in prioritizing STEM education for all. We focus our community engagement on themes that prioritize developing a diverse STEM workforce and equitable access to STEM education, as well as genomic literacy. Our approach is typically either through direct programming, philanthropic support to nonprofits, employees donating their time, or some combination of these. An example program is in San Diego, we're founding sponsors of SD Squared, and that's a group dedicated to diversity in STEM in our hometown of San Diego. We participate with a philanthropic grant. We provide scholarships.
In Bangladesh, we recently provided a grant to Dr. Saha's lab at the Child Health Research Foundation, where she's going into rural areas to ignite curiosity and science for girls and bringing girls to the lab to introduce to genomics and sequencing technology. I think our own diverse workforce is also a great source of inspiration for students, and we use our broad and diverse set of volunteers that come from the lab and science functions from IT, bioinformatics, engineers, genetic counselors, even our finance professionals, and many more. We offer regular career chats so that students from underrepresented minorities can see themselves in these roles and then learn about the jobs of the future as well as the path to get there.
That sounds great. It's very comprehensive. All right, John, I'm gonna go back to you. Are there plans on the governance side to explicitly connect ESG metrics with our executive compensation?
Great question. Now currently, select ESG targets are included in our annual corporate goals, and so they influence executive compensation through our management performance scorecard. You know, it's an interesting point to further evaluate, and we'll continue to look at how we can deepen the connections as our compensation program and our ESG programs evolve.
That's good. All right. I'm gonna go over to Francis for this one. Last year at the Investor Event, Illumina announced a new philanthropic effort for iHope. What's the current status of the iHope expansion, Francis?
Well, thanks, Salli. iHope is an important initiative for us at Illumina, and it really focuses on expanding access to genomic sequencing to families who are touched by a genetic disease and have a child that's impacted by a genetic disease but can't afford to get whole-genome sequencing. We know, for example, that 5% of children born worldwide are born with a genetic disease, and for many of them, this is the beginning of a many-year diagnostic odyssey, where they will be tested many, many times using many procedures, some invasive, and may never get a diagnosis. We also know, though, that if those children get access to whole-genome sequencing, then a number of them can get a diagnosis within days.
The challenge today is that many families don't have access to whole-genome sequencing because it's either not covered by their insurance or because they can't afford it or both. What we did with iHope was we created a program where we'll provide access to whole-genome sequencing to families that don't have the means to pay for whole-genome sequencing. We've been running it as a small program for a number of years, but last year, at our Investor Event, we announced a very dramatic expansion of the iHope program globally. What we did was we set aside $120 million of in-kind donations over a five-year period to expand access to whole-genome sequencing. We did that in partnership with the nonprofit Genetic Alliance.
The idea here is that the two of us would look for partner labs around the world that would make whole-genome sequencing accessible to families that needed it, and that we would provide the consumables and reagents for them to do the testing. That $120 million will be spent over five years. 1/2 of it is earmarked for spending outside the U.S. and 1/3 specifically to Africa. That program is up and running. The first RFP and donation deliveries are planned for early 2023. Now, this is part of a broader program we have to expand access to whole-genome sequencing around the world. For example, we've also created a similar approach for our Greater China region, where we have partnered there with the March of Dimes to expand access to whole-genome sequencing.
Next month at our regional customer event in China, we will give an update on that program as well as make some exciting announcements about the path forward.
Thank you, Francis. I know access is an incredible point of focus for us. I'm not sure who to send this question to, so I'll just throw it out there and see if someone wants to take it. How much emphasis is there on biologically degradable packaging for consumables?
Oh, thanks, Salli. I can take this one. This is Sharon. Well, we've converted our insulated container shipments in both North America and South America to our new plant-based paper recyclable insulated container, so replacing the foam. The rollout to EMEA and our APAC regions continues as we transition toward full use throughout all of our regions. Our goal in this space, or one of the goals, is that by 2030, we'll achieve 90% of our secondary and tertiary packaging that'll be either recyclable, reusable, or compostable.
Got it. That sounds great. All right, for this one, I think I'm gonna go back to Francis. On genomics for pediatrics, how far are we from lab to bedside treatment for this vulnerable population?
Yeah. This is a really important segment that genomics can really make a big difference from the life of so many children, so many families. As I touched on earlier, this is an important problem to solve because 5% of children are born with a genetic disease. In fact, genetic disease contributes to about 40% of babies' deaths in the NICU, a really, really important problem to address. We know genomics can make a big difference. Maybe I'll put a you know, a human face to what we're talking about and talk about you know, the story of a boy called Fitz. Fitz was born with severe combined immunodeficiency or SCID, which meant that he was incredibly vulnerable to any pathogen. Even a common cold could be life-threatening.
What happens with babies born with SCID is that, you know, their outlook is really bleak. In fact, their life expectancy can be often less than a year if they're lucky. Now, typically, a bone marrow transplant is the primary course of treatment, but Fitz had one of the most severe forms of SCID, so a transplant wasn't gonna be enough for him. Now, Fitz was incredibly lucky in the sense that, you know, he had access to Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine here in San Diego, where Fitz is, and that Rady's was able to do whole genome sequencing for him and able to identify the specific type of SCID he had. Fortunately, a gene therapy trial was available for that type of SCID at UCSF.
Fitz was able to enroll in the trial, and he got a lentiviral gene transfer, which inserts a normal copy of the gene, DCLRE1C, into his bone marrow. That meant Fitz was now able to make normal B and T cells on his own. Within the first year, that's exactly what happened. Now, Fitz was only the seventh baby in UCSF's clinical trial, you know, patient 007 , and this year he celebrated his third birthday by throwing out the first pitch with our CTO, Alex, at a Padres game in San Diego. Now, Fitz is incredibly lucky, and the case of Fitz is really the exception today rather than the norm. You know, within 72 hours of taking his first breath, he had both a definitive diagnosis as well as a solid care plan. Most babies with SCID are not as fortunate.
In fact, most children with genetic diseases are not as fortunate. We know that time matters, not only for diseases like SCID, but if you take diseases like cancer, for example, you know, in some cases, every month delayed in cancer treatment can raise a patient's risk of death by 10%. There's an urgency here to make genomic diagnosis and tools more accessible to more people. Now, there's a lot we're doing to make these tools more accessible. We as a company and as a community are working with payers to increase reimbursement for whole genome sequencing for babies in the NICU, for children with genetic disease and adults with genetic disease. We're doing that on the private side, but we're also doing that on the public side.
Just over a year ago, for example, Michigan became the first state to make rapid whole genome sequencing available to babies in the NICU in Michigan that are suspected of having a genetic disease and can benefit from a diagnosis with whole genome sequencing. We're also doing work with the physician community to increase awareness around whole genome sequencing as a potential diagnostic tool for kids with genetic diseases. We're also working with patient advocacy groups to increase awareness among parents and patients that whole genome sequencing is available to them. It's promising that we have diagnostic tools around whole genome sequencing that can help and that there are some therapies available that can help.
We need to move the entire ecosystem forward between patients and physicians and payers to make sure that these increase awareness and access to these tools more broadly.
Thank you, Francis. I'm noticing that we're down to just a few minutes left, so we have time for a quick lightning round as our last set of questions. I'm just gonna throw it out to the group. For each of you, what's been the proudest accomplishment that you've had in 2022?
Well, maybe I'll start. I'll say I feel like in 2022 we've made big steps in increasing access to genomics on a variety of fronts. By, for example, the elimination of the cold chain requirement in our NovaSeq X line of products. We now have lots of countries around the world that can have access to high-throughput genomic sequencing even that couldn't have access before. For me, that stands out as one example of a big step forward we've made in access to genomics, which is sort of an important point for all of us.
This is Aimee. I'll go next. I couldn't not mention our intern program. This is the most enthusiastic, highly driven, highly diverse, ready to impact the world through the eyes of genomics. I'm very proud to say that we maintained that program even during COVID and went to remote, but it's wonderful to have our 100 interns back on campus, and we can't wait to have them be the next leaders of this genomic journey.
This is John. I'll jump in on, you know, building on Francis' point and working with the Gates Foundation and others and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you know, we help support building, you know, a modern, cutting-edge technology disease surveillance system across Africa. That's an incredible win, and I think it demonstrates that this technology can be so useful all around the world.
Great. Well, I'll wrap it up. I think if nobody had mentioned the NovaSeq X, I would have listed that one, or the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative, I would have said that one. But I would say the other one would be the level of employee engagement in our giving and our volunteering programs. We have even exceeded our pre-pandemic levels, and employees are finding more ways than ever to give back and connect to our mission with members of our community. That has been a highlight to see, employees engaged and connected to our partners in the regions.
Definitely. Certainly a number of things to choose from in terms of everything we've accomplished this year and more to come. That wraps up the time that we have for Q&A. If you submitted a question and it wasn't answered, we are available for individual ESG discussions or email follow-up through the IR team. Thank you for joining us today. Before we go, I'm gonna turn it over to Francis for his closing remarks.
Thank you, Salli, for moderating today's event. Thank you to all the attendees for joining our second annual ESG Investor event. Next year, we will plan to host this event in Q2 following the release of our annual CSR report with full updates on our 2022 metrics and programs. We hope you will join us again. We look forward to working together towards a more equitable and sustainable future. Thank you.