Our reporting is inspired by the proposals of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, June 2000. We have carried out a progress assessment to promote continual improvement in ABB’s sustainability performance, using those GRI indicators measurable and relevant to ABB’s activities. This looks first at whether we have enough data to fulfill the GRI indicator information and whether we have a process in place to use this information effectively. We have taken a further step by checking the existence of ABB improvement targets and assessing to what degree these are being met.
The basis for this assessment and the supporting results has been ABB’s sustainability reporting system at site, country, and business area level and other ABB information sources (interviews, site visits, committees, stakeholder dialogues and the ABB Annual Report). The results were aggregated for the whole Group, assessed and cross-checked by the Group Function – Sustainability Affairs.
This system allowed us to present a summary of our findings and helped indicate gaps and future priorities.
Environmental dimension
Here we summarize our findings on our progress according to the GRI’s nine environmental performance indicator groups, including sub-groups, measurable and relevant to our activities. Our actual performance is reported in the section ABB's sustainability performance in 2001.
| GRI indicator groups | Progress |
| Energy | Good progress and improvement process established. |
| Materials | Good progress but reporting needs to be improved. |
| Water | Good progress but reporting needs to be improved. |
| Emissions, effluents, and waste | Good progress and improvement process established. |
| Transport | The baseline for reporting is not yet established. |
| Suppliers | The baseline for reporting is not yet established. |
| Products and services | Good progress but reporting needs to be improved. |
| Compliance | Good progress and improvement process established. |
Energy
ABB has a well-established system to monitor energy use and electricity purchased. However, the monitoring and reduction of fuel used for transportation needs to be addressed. For the energy group in GRI, it appears that ABB’s process system is reasonably in place.
Materials
ABB has chosen to focus on materials that may have an adverse environmental impact, the use of recycled materials and use of packaging materials. However, it is not feasible to gather data worldwide to meet the GRI requirement to report total materials used.
Water
ABB reports total water used for the manufacturing of products. This consumption, being low, does not significantly affect water sources. Since practically all water for ABB processes is supplied by the water utilities, reporting is limited to these sources.
Emissions, effluents, and waste
ABB reports emissions of greenhouse gases as defined by the Kyoto Protocol. Emissions of ozone-depleting substances, as well as quantities and destinations of hazardous waste, are also reported. Major waste streams for regular waste, as well as the disposal methods, are identified. In this category, it appears that the progress system is reasonably in place.
Transport
The environmental aspects of ABB’s use of transport represent a new reporting requirement. In 2001, ABB did not have all necessary procedures in place to provide this data – upstream as well as downstream of its facilities – and the baseline for reporting is not yet established.
Suppliers
A system for monitoring the environmental performance of ABB’s suppliers was launched during 2001 and sufficient data to report performance is not yet available. However, many of the major suppliers have ISO 14001 in place. Nevertheless, ABB is not yet in a position to report on the GRI indicators for this category.
Product and services
In order to describe the environmental performance of its products, ABB has a corporate objective to produce and publish Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for all core products. ABB has published approximately 50 EPDs but needs to maintain steady progress in meeting this objective in the coming years.
Compliance with international and legal requirements
Starting in 2001, ABB has implemented a Group-wide system for reporting environmental incidents, as well as pending and/or incurred environmental penalties. ABB is therefore in compliance with the GRI reporting requirements for this category.
Economic dimension
As a multinational enterprise with activities in over 100 countries, we have found it difficult to aggregate data to present the economic impacts of ABB’s activities worldwide. Instead, we have selected indicators describing those aspects of ABB’s economic performance for which we have established Group targets. A table of these results is shown in the “Economic performance” section on pages 18–19.
Social dimension
In this section, we have summarized our findings on the scope of ABB’s methodology for reporting its performance according to the GRI’s 13 social performance indicator groups. ABB’s actual social performance is reported on pages 20–23.
Quality of management
Employee retention rates and job satisfaction levels are monitored regularly per country. ABB also participates in relevant employer-ranking surveys per country (nine in 2001). Employee orientation to organizational vision is well fulfilled by means of the ongoing program to promote ABB’s Mission and Values group-wide. Data on employee engagement in shaping management decision-making is not available at Group level.
Health and safety
A system was established in 2000 to gather work-related health and safety statistics per country.
In 2001 it was extended to include travel-related incidents and to report and investigate serious incidents, for which the Group has a zero-target approach. ABB has now initiated research to improve health and safety performance on construction and customer sites. But no figures were available of investment per worker in illness and injury prevention.
Wages and benefits
The ratio of ABB’s lowest wage to the national legal minimum was monitored in each country. The ratio of lowest wage to local cost of living was not reported, nor were health and pension benefits provided to employees – considered to be difficult to report meaningfully from over 100 countries.
Non-discrimination
Figures were collected per country of women in management positions. Discrimination-related litigation was monitored (none in 2001) and each country described any mentoring programs for minorities.
Child labor, forced labor, freedom of association
Each country reported on any incidents of non-compliance with child labor laws or forced-labor grievances by employees (none in 2001 – not considered to be an issue within ABB’s workforce). Procedures to check for abuses among ABB’s major suppliers were introduced in 2001 and are to be further developed. ABB’s social policy commits the company to consult with employees to address their concerns – also in non-unionized countries. No legal actions related to anti-union practices were reported. While employee grievance procedures are in place throughout the Group, the existence and effectiveness of staff forums are not evident.
Human rights, indigenous rights, security
While there were no reported incidents of alleged human rights violations, indigenous rights protests or security force victims, there needs to be a systematic process in place to monitor organizational practices, to apply human rights screens in investment and country risk assessment and to represent indigenous interests in decision-making in areas with indigenous peoples.
Suppliers
A system was introduced in 2001 – Suppliers Qualification Requirements (SQR) – to evaluate and select major suppliers and subcontractors on their ability to meet the requirements of ABB’s social policy. However, regular auditing of these suppliers is not yet in place throughout the Group.
Products and services
ABB’s data gathering did not detect any significant social impact of products and services. However, definitions and data collection procedures need to be improved to raise accuracy and scope. A single, global system (Customer Complaints Resolution Process) tracks and analyzes all customer complaints – and, by inversion, customer satisfaction. In addition, most ABB companies carry out customer satisfaction surveys every one to three years.
Community development
Support for community development is reported by country. In 2001, ABB companies in 26 countries submitted details, many stating the monetary value of their support. The reports indicate that the definition of community development needs to be clarified for next year’s reporting, with a requirement for monetary value estimates in all cases. At the global level, ABB actively participates in several large international initiatives and contributes to their funding.