SPI in market communication

The graph below shows how the data for the Sustainability report is collected in ABB.

Sustainability Affairs has a general responsibility for the data collection process.

All countries where ABB has production have a "Sustainability Controller" and they are responsible for establishing and communicating ABB's social and environmental policies, programs and procedures to all facilities within their countries. They also commission independent social and environmental audits, and prepare performance reports. Other duties include promoting eco-efficient technologies and developing country-specific education and training programs.

All ABB production sites have a "Sustainability Officer" and they are responsible for local environmental management programs. This includes developing manuals, planning improvements and reporting environmental and health and safety performance.

At the end of a calendar year the Sustainability Officer is responsible for submitting a report - Local Sustainability Report -where all the reported data is included. Practically, the Sustainability Officer enters (emission, energy use,…) data in a Lotus Notes database. When the data has been entered the report is marked as finished and the entered data are sent to the Sustainability Controller for approval.

When all the reports are marked as finished, the data is checked for consistency and aggregated into a Sustainability report by Sustainability Affairs (link to report). The sustainability performance of ABB is rated by independent sustainability evaluators.

Improvement process 
When all the data has been entered, Sustainability Affairs has a good overview of the current situation and now a process can start to define what environmental issues ABB companies should focus on during the current year e.g. reducing energy, material use or what emission to focus on. This decision of focus issues is based on a process where different inputs are weighted, such as, coming legislation, ABBs restricted list of materials, stakeholder perception and technical possibilities.

When the focus areas (around 3 - 5) are decided, the concerned ABB companies will be requested to present a plan for measures to be taken, e.g. phasing out, plans for replacement, technological possibilities and costs. 

The improvement projects are generated locally with support from the Sustainability Affairs organization. Companies producing similar products are benchmarked and a knowledge/technology transfer is facilitated. There is a continuous follow up of the improvement projects during the year by Sustainability Affairs. This way of working ensures a method for setting objectives for the environmental work, monitor and control that continually improves the environmental performance of the production process and products. At the end of the calendar year the new values are reported, the work can be evaluated and the process starts again with new focus issues.

Experiences