Theglobal healthcare distributor went from spreadsheets to audit-ready carbon data in weeks.
Henry Schein moved from spreadsheets to Watershed, replacing manual processes with a platform purpose-built for audit-ready carbon measurement. With Watershed, the company streamlined data collection across 200+ global employees, established traceable internal controls, and trained global teams on efficient, localized workflows. The result: faster assurance, credible carbon data, and a stronger foundation for industry leadership and long-term decarbonization.
Challenge
To meet evolving global regulatory rules and monitor progress for science-based targets, the company needed to replace manual data collection with a solution that could scale across its global footprint. Sector-wide climate momentum added urgency; if the healthcare sector were a country, it would be the fifth-largest emitter of emissions. To partner with customers and suppliers, Henry Schein saw the need to lead with reliable, audit-ready carbon data.
Solution
Henry Schein chose Watershed to streamline its footprinting process, prepare for regulatory compliance, and scale its internal sustainability infrastructure. Within weeks, the team uploaded 2024 scope 1–3 data, implemented uploader/approver workflows, and enabled global contributors with localized, role-based access. Advisory support and anomaly detection tools improved assurance quality and empowered teams to start building a science-based net zero roadmap.
Results
Faster assurance: Limited assurance timelines cut in half, with centralized, traceable data.
Global enablement: 80+ team members trained; monthly uploads now ahead of schedule across geographies and facilities.
Actionable insight: Watershed powers year-over-year comparisons, hotspot analysis, and Henry Schein’s net zero transition plan.
Challenge
Henry Schein has long believed in “doing well by doing good”—and its climate journey reflects that. Sustainability is core to its strategy, embedded in its stakeholder value model—the “Mosaic of Success”—and three-year BOLD+1 strategic plan, where the “+1” stands for shared value.
But growing pressure—from new regulations and global net zero commitments—highlighted the limits of the organization’s legacy tools. With over 200 data collectors across global facilities and reliance on spreadsheets, the company’s climate program wasn’t built for the audit-ready, finance-grade expectations ahead.
“We asked ourselves: do we keep spending people’s time—or invest in systems that can scale?”
Jennifer Kim Field,
Chief Sustainability Officer, Henry Schein
In 2023, Henry Schein entered limited assurance for its ESG reporting. The team was ready to upgrade from ad hoc validation to traceable, audit-ready workflows—but faced some hurdles:
In a sector where climate action has lagged but momentum is growing, Henry Schein saw an opportunity to lead with rigor and coordination. Healthcare accounts for nearly 5% of global emissions—if it were a country, it would rank fifth (Source).
As new coalitions and industry consortiums take shape across the sector, from suppliers to health systems, the company is leaning into its role as a global distributor to help drive aligned, audit-ready action.
“We can’t solve this alone,” Field says. “It takes all of us—suppliers, distributors, and providers—pulling in the same direction.”
Solution
After evaluating multiple options, Henry Schein chose Watershed for its:
In early 2025, the team kicked off its first footprint measurement. By uploading structured 2024 scope 1–3 data via Watershed’s bulk upload and custom fields, they avoided additional work and formatting—and gained real-time insights.
“We dropped in our data and saw it populating right away,” says Beckie Frame, Enterprise Sustainability Systems Manager. “That was a moment for us—when we realized, okay, this is working.”
Watershed gave Henry Schein the structure and visibility it needed to streamline climate data across a global operation. Key product capabilities helped the team move faster, train more easily, and engage more contributors from day one:
The impact was immediate: “We had countries that used to be behind on uploading now leading the pack—because it’s that much easier,” Frame says.
Results
Using Watershed, Henry Schein cut its limited assurance preparation time in half and streamlined auditor engagement by centralizing data, enabling full traceability, and embedding QA checks directly into workflows.
Now, internal teams can surface verified emissions data in minutes—whether they’re responding to CDP, preparing board reports, or meeting regulatory requirements.
“We used to chase data. With Watershed, we have it at our fingertips.”
Jennifer Kim Field,
Chief Sustainability Officer
Watershed’s intuitive interface and role-based permissions enabled Henry Schein’s sustainability team to train more than 80 colleagues in under an hour.
Because contributors see only the data relevant to their facilities, confusion is reduced and security is maintained. And thanks to the platform’s ease of use, country teams are now uploading monthly data ahead of schedule—driven by a renewed sense of ownership and accountability.
With science-based targets validated, Henry Schein is deep in the action phase of its climate journey—and using Watershed to power it.
The platform provides the data infrastructure behind the company’s net zero roadmap: enabling year-over-year comparisons, supporting a historical backfill to 2022, and flagging anomalies like sudden usage spikes before they reach auditors. “We’re constantly watching for what auditors might ask us for, and with Watershed, we have the answers ahead of time,” explains Frame.
Teams can now prioritize top-emitting facilities and materials, visualize progress across regions through custom dashboards and pie charts, and link emissions hotspots directly to investment decisions. With this visibility, strategy becomes tangible—and global teams are equipped to act.
“Every one of our teams in different countries wants to see their data,” says Frame. “With Watershed, we can customize the views to show them their emissions.”
The company is expanding access to emissions insights across its organization and supply chain—enabling faster decisions, local ownership, and external engagement through initiatives like Practice Green.
“Watershed helps us be proactive instead of reactive—and gives us confidence that we’re focusing on the right things.” —Jennifer Kim Field, Chief Sustainability Officer
Henry Schein knows climate progress can’t happen in isolation. As a global distributor operating at the center of the healthcare ecosystem, the company is committed to public-private partnerships—working with suppliers, customers, and peers to drive industry-wide progress.
“Our CEO, Fred Lowery, likes to say, ‘Whoever helps the most people wins.’ That mindset helps drive our approach to this work. We’re doing our part, but we know it will take all of us—inside and outside our organization—with a singular focus on moving the healthcare sector forward.”
Jennifer Kim Field,
Chief Sustainability Officer
The Henry Schein team is energized by both the clarity of their data and the strength of their company’s values. With real-time emissions visibility from Watershed, they’re activating teams across their highest-emitting sites, aligning strategy with credible data, and scaling decarbonization—one facility, one product, one partnership at a time.