Environmental performance

The majority of employees - some 83 percent - are covered by data collected year-on-year from approximately 360 sites, mainly manufacturing and service organizations.

For non-manufacturing sites, which by nature have only limited environmental impact, we have made assumptions of the levels of their main environmental indicators, such as the use of electricity, district heating and water consumption per person. These assumptions are based on data from comparable premises and relate to about 17 percent of employees, an improvement by 5 percent in 2006. When we have made an assumption, it is stated in the text.

Under the indicators in the GRI Guidelines, we have chosen to report data which is relevant to the environmental impact caused by ABB’s activities, products and services. In recent years we have steadily expanded our data collection system to cover most of the GRI indicators.

However, rather than report the amount of materials used, we believe it is more useful and challenging to report on our use of hazardous substances as defined by official international lists of restricted substances, and to show the progress we are making in eliminating them.

To report precise figures for all other (non-hazardous) materials would be very difficult for a company like ABB, which manufactures such a wide range of products in many different sites, and sources millions of different materials and components globally and locally. Apart from report the amount of materials used, we have reported against all the GRI core environmental indicators and many of the additional indicators.

We have also discontinued the reporting of data – either where the quantities have become negligible, or where ABB’s activities have almost no impact (for example on water sources), or where data can only be based on estimates (for example, types and impacts of transportation, disposal methods of regular waste).

Primary fuel	2008	2007	2006*
Oil (11.63 MWh/ton)	104	103	117
Coal (7.56 MWh/ton)	0	0	8
Gas	416	437	410
District heat	250*	223	239*
Electricity	1,323*	1,264	1,265*
Total energy used	2,093	2,027	2,039

* The figures are based on reported data from 85 percent of employees and an assumed energy use of 3 megawatt-hours (MWh) per employee for district heat and 12 MWh per employee for electricity for the remaining 15 percent of employees.

	Used by ABB			Losses at utilities			Total use of energy
	2008	2007	2006	2008	2007	2006	2008	2007	2006
District heat	250*	223	239	37	33	36	287	256	275
Electricity	1,323*	1,264	1,265	1,627	1,746	1,747	2,950	3,010	3,012

* The figures are based on reported data from 83 percent of employees and an assumed energy use of 3 megawatt-hours (MWh) per employee for district heat and 12 MWh per employee for electricity for the remaining 17 percent of employees.

	2008	2007	2006
CO2 from use of energy	859*	835	833
SF6 (in CO2 equivalents)	357***	398	558
CO2 from transport by own fleet**	350	350	350

*The figure is based on reported data from 85 percent of employees and an assumed energy use of 3 megawatt-hours (MWh) per employee for district heat and 12 MWh per employee for electricity for the remaining 15 percent of employees.
**Estimated figures
***This figure is based on site-specific information of ABB’s gas inventories instead of a global estimate used prior to 2007. The Figure for 2006 is therefore not comparable.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions calculations are based on in-house energy use for production, lighting, heating and air-conditioning, and include indirect emissions at utilities where ABB buys power. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) emissions are estimated to be equivalent to three percent of all SF6 gas used by ABB.

The total amount of ABB’s greenhouse gas emissions, based on the WBCSD/WRI Greenhouse Gas Protocol (Scope I and II), is estimated to be 1.7 million tons for the whole ABB Group.

Greenhouse gas emissions by type for 2006

– CO2 from use of energy* 48 percent
– SF6 (in CO2 equivalents) 32 percent
– CO2 from transport by own fleet** percent

	2008	2007	2006
Phthalates (DIDP) – softener for PVC	25	43	42*
PBB and PBDE – flame retardants in plastics	2.3	0	3.1
Lead in submarine cables	6,596*	4,750	6,900*
Organic lead in polymers	36	n.a.	n.a.
Lead in other products, e.g. counterweights in robots	318	346	222
Cadmium in rechargeable batteries	6.4	21	4**
Cadmium in industrial batteries delivered to customers	2.0	0.4	22
Cadmium in lead alloy	5.3*	3.5	5
Mercury in products delivered to customers	0.015	0.013	0.009
SF6 insulation gas (inflow to ABB)	1,200**	909	815
SF6 insulation gas (outflow from ABB)	1,184**	892	596*

*Increase due to higher business volume
**Increase due to higher business volume for high-voltage products

	2008	2007	2006
Purchased from water companies	3,100*	3,186	3,431
Groundwater extracted by ABB**	2,700	2,800	2,700
Surface water extracted by ABB**	2,800	2,300	2,500

*The figure is based on reported data from 85 percent of employees and an assumed water consumption of ten tons/year/employee for the remaining 15 percent of employees.
**Estimated (rounded) figures

	2008	2007	2006
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)	909	850	992
Chlorinated Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC-Cl)	6	13	29

	2008	2007	2006
SOx from burning coal	0	0	6
SOx from burning oil	76	76	86
NOx from burning coal	0	0	4
NOx from burning oil	57	57	65
NOx from burning gas	90	94	89

	2008	2007	2006
Waste sent for recycling	139	126	112
General waste sent for disposal	35*	38	31
Hazardous waste	7	6	4

*The figure is based on reported data from 85 percent of employees and an assumed waste output of 0.28 tons/year/employee for the remaining 15 percent of employees.

	2008	2007	2006
Oil spills	3	6	3
Chemical spills	0	1	0
Emissions to air	1	2	1
Others	0	3	0

Adequate decontamination procedures were implemented to prevent any permanent contamination of soil and water due to these spills. Corrective actions, such as improved control systems, have been taken to reduce the risk of future spills.

Each country is provided with a generic audit protocol for the screening of suppliers. The protocol is used for the auditing of the five most significant suppliers rated according to the severity of their environmental and social impacts.

For example, ABB has identified a total of 1,233 suppliers which fall in this category. Of this total, 570 already have externally certified environmental management systems to ISO 14001. ABB is now focusing its auditing work on the remaining suppliers. Furthermore, in response to ABB’s screening questionnaire, 1,107 of the total confirmed that they are in legal compliance.