Key stakeholders

We collaborate with companies and academic institutions on a wide range of social, environmental, and technological activities and topics. These partnerships serve to foster knowledge exchange, enabling us to stay abreast of the latest developments, contribute to innovation, provide access to talent, expand markets and address complex challenges in a more effective manner. The engagement is done both centrally and at a divisional level.

 

How we engage:

• Collaborations with academic institutions to drive innovation, including themes related to energy efficiency, security and transition.
• Participation in industry groups, like the Energy Efficiency Movement, to drive innovation and advance policy.
• Membership in sustainability-related international organizations such as Global Business Initiative on Human Rights (GBI), UN Global Compact, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI). We also collaborate with organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Climate Group, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the International Code of Conduct Association (ICoCA) and the Responsible Security Association.
• Technology and innovation partnerships with companies as well as startups through our SynerLeap program to lay the basis for potential future direct investments or acquisitions.

Meeting customer needs and expectations is essential to our success. The engagement with customers on sustainability topics occurs primarily via our divisions and includes sustainability-focused meetings and projects.

 

How we engage:

• Customer collaboration around ABB’s product offerings to enable targeted innovation and emission reduction in the product use phase.
• Addressing sustainability questions from customers, for example, in connection with business opportunities or providing data that is needed for customers to evaluate their carbon footprint by providing Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), Product Carbon Footprints (PCF) and EcoSolutionᵀᴹ QR codes.
• To enhance circularity efforts, we engage in customer partnerships such as enabling take-back schemes and lifetime extension via product refurbishment.

Employees are vital for achieving our targets and staying competitive. Employee engagement takes place at different levels across the organization.

 

How we engage:

• Annual Employee Engagement Survey, followed up with local workshops to discuss the results and define actions.
• Targeted pulse surveys on specific topics.
• Annual performance reviews. Negotiating with collective bargaining associations.
• Networks of Employee Resource Groups, addressing and promoting sustainability-related questions.
• Courses, learning pathways and workshops available to employees on sustainability topics.
• Engagement and training on business conduct.

We engage with governmental, regulatory, political and economic stakeholders, local communities, the media, non-governmental organizations etc. at global, national and local levels. These key stakeholders provide the political and regulatory support and public trust necessary to achieve sustainable growth. Engagement with government and civil society takes place both centrally and at a divisional level.

 

How we engage:

• Volunteering, especially in the field of community engagement.
• Meetings with regulators to understand their priorities and share our views on policy issues and advocate the deployment of low-carbon technologies and energy-efficient solutions.

The investment community enables ABB’s access to finance and includes such market participants as shareholders, debtholders, analysts, rating agencies and proxy advisors. Investor relations are managed at corporate level through the Investor Relations team supported by Corporate Sustainability.

 

How we engage:

• Annual General Meeting;
• Investor relations website linking to our sustainability page;
• One-on-one meetings, including requests from investors for specific meetings to understand sustainability performance;
• Quarterly analyst and investor webcasts, including a specific section on sustainability; and
• Investor roadshows focusing on sustainability.

Our suppliers have a significant impact on our operations and success as well as our ability to meet our sustainability targets. Working with suppliers allows us to identify and mitigate risks in the supply chain. While day-to-day engagement with suppliers is primarily done in our divisions, several of the engagement programs and supplier-related policies are centrally coordinated through topic-specific workstreams. Depending on the concrete subject and initiative, we also engage directly with workers in the value chain, with legitimate representatives or through their employers.

 

How we engage:

• Monitoring and active engagement through our Sustainable Supply Base Management (SSBM) program, our Responsible Minerals Program and Material Compliance Program.
• Partnerships to access more sustainable materials.
• On-site evaluations and audits including interviews with the suppliers’ employees.
• Business areas holding Supplier Day events.