Abb Corporate Social Responsibility

ABB’s sustainability strategy essentially includes making sure that the sustainability values are understood, implemented and incorporated throughout the value chain so that they become a part of the way of doing business at ABB. ABB follows a “triple bottom line” approach aimed at achieving a balance in the economic, environmental and social impact of the company’s business to benefit all our stakeholders.

PLANET

ABB seeks to minimize the environmental impact of their technology and products by ensuring that their manufacturing processes are environment friendly and energy efficient.

It also passes on its expertise to customers and suppliers by sharing their best practices. For example, water-borne paint systems developed at one factory have been introduced at similar sites worldwide to reduce emission of organic solvents.

At ABB, 900 sustainability specialists , most of them based out of factories, strive to implement and ensure that all manufacturing facilities (ABB’s approximately 550 sites and offices),comply with ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001international standards on the management of environment and health and safety risks.

ABB's products, systems, solutions and services are designed to improve our customers' businesses - centered on improving grid reliability and increasing industrial productivity - while lowering environmental impact. A few examples are discussed below:

Improving the efficiency of their buildings

Energy management is an integral part of their role, guided by the ABB Green Building Policy and now, supported by the Green Corporate Real Estate Management (Green CREM) strategy developed by ABB in Germany.

The Green CREM system aims to increase energy efficiency and improve sustainability within the entire real estate portfolio by indicating potential or necessary improvement measures at the site through two steps – first, an energy efficiency analysis and second, an analysis of ecological quality of the site. Regular re-evaluations provide before-and-after comparisons following the implementation of measures, as well as an objective overview of the level of environmental performance achieved.

The Green CREM system has been implemented across the 20 main sites of ABB in Germany, allowing online analysis of energy data and ongoing implementation and tracking of improvement measures. So far, the program has reduced energy consumption by 35,000 MWh and CO2 emissions by 8,000 tons.

Green CREM has been so successful in Germany, we are now implementing stage one (energy efficiency) of the CREM system across Europe. The program is being rolled out to more than 100 locations in 15 countries. By the end of 2014, the energy monitoring phase will be substantially implemented across Europe.

Protecting the watershed

ABB has developed an in-house tool for mapping and analysis of water flows at our facilities. This tool is now being used to develop and track water action plans at our manufacturing facilities located in water-scarce and extremely water-scarce watersheds.

First, regular monitoring of water consumption was implemented, leaks identified and recovery measures taken up. The plan also implemented an awareness raising and water conservation training program. Posters were displayed on Quality, Health, Safety and Environment boards throughout the facilities and training on water conservation measures were conducted for all employees.

 Secondly, the water recycling systems were improved to increase efficiency providing better quality output and avoiding the need for additional clean water.

The improvement programs are beginning to show results: simple steps are bringing the dual benefits of reduced environmental impacts and lower utility bills. It has been implemented at many of ABB’s facilities like ABB Al Quoz facility in the United Arab Emirates, ABB Xiamen Electrical Controlgear Company in China, ABB facility located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and many more.

Reducing VOCs – transforming industry standards

At ABB, Transformers Business Unit uses approximately 3,500 tons of paint per year. As conventional solvent-based paints dry, they emit VOCs as a vapor, which react with other pollutants and sunlight to form harmful ground-level ozone and other oxidants known as smog. These are harmful to health and the environment.

ABB has almost completed our most extensive program to decrease the emission of hazardous substances: the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) reduction program. This initiative, involving our factories in 27 countries, involves reducing VOC emissions in the painting processes by replacing solvent-based paint with water-based and high-solid paints.

ABB has also developed reduced VOC painting systems based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) international standards, setting new industry benchmarks for product performance and low environmental impact. . The lower VOC paint also decreases the amount of energy needed in the paint application and drying processes. 

PEOPLE

Employees:

ABB has developed OHS Behavior standard at all levels of the organizations with an aim to achieve the OHS goal of zero incidents. Workshops have been conducted in major countries to train the assessors on evaluate baseline behavior. Employees will be required to include health and safety goals in their annual objective.

ABB has also introduced a hazard reporting indicator throughout the group so that all the near misses and hazards can be investigated and root causes be analyzed that can help in reducing the chance of future incidents.

ABB has a dedicated Group Service OHS Advisor, responsible for aligning Service OHS with ABB Group standards and coordinating activities throughout regional, country and BU service organizations. This team ensures that at country level the OHS strategic plans are tailored according to local conditions and business needs within our global priorities and framework.

Performance and implementation of the training and development programs are monitored

quarterly at Group level.

SUPPLY CHAIN:

ABB Suppliers code of conduct and Suppliers Sustainability Development Program are effective tools develop to raise awareness and incentivizing the suppliers to continuously improve their performance and also provide specific requirements around material compliance and procurement policies. Under the program, the suppliers receive training on sustainability standards and performance as well as a platform to receive assistance from the ABB group.