American Express released a 2021 Interim ESG Update: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Progress Report, highlighting strong progress toward its $1 billion action plan that outlined a series of initiatives and commitments through year-end 2024 to advance its DEI priorities.

Key actions outlined in the report include more than $250 million spent since October 2020 to fund a range of initiatives such as spending with diverse suppliers, financial assistance for Black-owned businesses, colleague education and training, pay equity and philanthropic contributions.

American Express 2021 Interim ESG Update also provides further disclosures around the diversity representation of its workforce, including the company’s 2020 U.S. EEO-1 report. As of year-end 2020, nearly half of American Express workforce in the U.S. were from diverse backgrounds in terms of race and ethnicity, and more than half of the global workforce were women.

The company established the Office of Enterprise Inclusion, Diversity and Business Engagement in 2020 to mobilize collective resources across the company and create new initiatives to drive meaningful, long-term change. American Express is continuing to focus on increasing diverse representation of its colleagues at all levels and achieved 100% pay equity for colleagues across genders globally and across races and ethnicities in the U.S.

In 2021, American Express rolled out a “self-ID” initiative in major office locations globally to help advance its workforce diversity goals, inform diversity strategies and optimize related programs and resources. The company also launched an initiative to further its inclusive hiring and recruitment practices and implemented mandatory education and training programs related to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

DEI is among the core pillars of the company’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy, which focuses on three areas: Promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Build Financial Confidence; and Advance Climate Solutions. American Express will provide a comprehensive update on its overall ESG strategy in its 2020-2021 ESG Report later this year, as well as a separate DEI report that includes a more detailed discussion of its DEI initiatives.