Message from our CEO & CTO

We are living at a critical turning point in human history, where technological advancements are so significant that industries, societies, and cultures are transforming radically and rapidly. This turning point is at the scale of both the agricultural and industrial revolutions. AI is the defining technology of our time, and it is going to require a different way of thinking about business, IT, and data. We are entering an exciting age of innovation and opportunity.

As one of the world’s most valued information companies, we are incredibly optimistic about the transformative potential of Business AI to elevate individuals, business, communities, and societies around the world to be their best.

The AI revolution is both horizontal and vertical. It is broad as it is deep. It will advance business and society in profound ways: healthcare, education, and climate solutions.

OpenText is embracing Business AI, embedding it into our major solutions in ways that are redefining our customers’ relationship with technology and elevating human potential. With Business AI, everything must change. What remains constant is our commitment to our Zero-In Initiative, which is helping to create a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable future.

The OpenText Zero-In Initiative

Our Zero-In Initiative is based on the pillars of Zero Footprint, Zero Barriers, and Zero Compromise, encompassing our ESG commitments. We are passionate about making the world a better place, and we challenge ourselves every day to help our customers grow and thrive, while at the same time solving some of the most difficult challenges we face.

Zero Footprint

Climate change is the defining challenge of our time. We are dedicated to reducing our carbon footprint in every way possible and helping our customers to do the same.

In 2022, we set bold Zero Footprint goals and have been diligent about assessing our progress. We are also realistic about what we can achieve following our acquisition of Micro Focus last year, which almost doubled our employee base and brought significant structural change to our global footprint. As we integrated our new employees, processes, products, and customers, we gained greater insight into our greenhouse gas emissions inventory, as well as our opportunities to reach our Zero-In goals.

To better reflect the reality of our expanded global footprint, we are reintroducing our net-zero target to 2050 and remain committed to reducing our emissions by 50% by 2030.

As a technology company, we are fact and science based in all that we do, including finding climate solutions. To achieve our Zero Footprint goals, we are proud to announce that OpenText has committed to setting near- and long-term company-wide emission reductions in line with the Science Based Targets initiative (“SBTi”). By committing to SBTi, OpenText is ensuring our climate objective is aligned with the latest science.

Although our global office number has grown, we stand firm on our ambition for zero waste from operations by 2030. This year, we are gathering more data for better insights, bringing us closer to achieving our Zero Footprint goal.

OpenTexters are also doing incredible work to reach our Zero Footprint goals. This year, for the first time, we were recognized as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers. We've also been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index for the second year in a row and received our second consecutive “AAA” rating from MSCI. We're proud of our progress and excited to continue building a strong roadmap for our Zero Footprint goals over the next year.

Zero Barriers

At OpenText, we believe diversity, equity, and inclusion are important for their own sake. We strive to unlock the voice and potential in each of our employees in the context of business. Our commitment to these principles means creating an environment where all employee perspectives are valued and each person can thrive.

Our Zero Barriers commitments are: a majority ethnically diverse workforce and 50/50 gender parity in key roles by 2030, with 40% women in leadership positions at all levels.

Currently, our workforce is 30% women, and women hold 27% of our management roles. Our programs are helping us achieve our Zero Barriers goals with focus on women in leadership, mentorship programs, and the Worldwide OpenText Women (WOW) Employee Network, which saw a 70% increase in membership over the last year.

Furthering our Zero Barriers initiative, earlier this year, we aligned our corporate giving and community efforts with six of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-Being, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Reduced Inequalities, and Climate Action. We are laser-focused on directing our resources in the most meaningful ways possible. Our employees are also passionate about and participate in our efforts, especially in our fight against hunger, surpassing our $500,000 Holiday Food Bank fundraising goals and providing 2.4 million meals to those in need worldwide. Our education and training programs, from Indigenous and Black student internships to engineering internships for women in India, are creating new opportunities for our employees to excel.

Finally, our nine ED&I employee networks are building inclusivity and belonging across our offices.

Zero Compromise

Our Zero Compromise pillar is foundational to all of our Zero-In initiatives. This is about the underlying transparency as we strive towards our Zero Barriers and Zero Footprint goals. The OpenText Way, our blueprint for company culture and operations, drives us to live our values every day. We intend to reach our ESG goals in the same manner.

Values-based design is in the center of our software design process, using ethical practices. As such, we launched our AI Bill of Obligations, which consists of our pledge to uphold equity, accountability, safety, and other vital guiding principles in accordance with our culture of tech for good. We create industry-leading products that protect and secure our customers’ data with best-in-class technologies with zero compromise.

For OpenText, there is only ethical AI. We are a founding signatory to the Canadian Voluntary Code of Conduct on Responsible AI. We are also one of Canada’s representatives in both the Business 7 (B7) group and Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development advising the G7 to promote safe and ethical AI technology around the world.

Shaping our future

Our individual actions have the power to transform the world for the better.

The technology we are building at OpenText is making a difference. Our solutions help businesses drive sustainability in their own operations by reducing paper use, cutting energy consumption, and gaining visibility into their suppliers’ ESG compliance details.

This year, we launched our GreenOps solution to help customers reduce their IT carbon footprint through reporting for scope 2 and 3 emissions produced by both a customer’s cloud and owned data centers, as part of our Cloud FinOps solution.

It is an exciting time to be a technology business. Business AI—when deployed effectively and ethically—has great potential to change the world for the better. Business Clouds, Business AI, and Business Technology will reinvent the knowledge worker, supply chains, security, the developer and a lot more. We intend to keep playing our role.

It is not just what we leave behind, it is also what we send forward that truly matters.

I am proud to share our progress towards our ESG goals in our 2024 Corporate Citizenship Report, and I am very optimistic about the journey ahead.

Mark J. Barrenechea
OpenText CEO & CTO