Operations

We have adopted a rigorous and holistic approach to reducing the overall environmental impacts of our manufacturing facilities. We have established global facility environmental targets that address the range of our environmental impacts, including energy use, emissions, water use and waste generation.

Every facility uses a detailed scorecard to report against environmental targets, so that we can track and accelerate improvements. Progress toward the targets is reviewed throughout the year by senior management at regular Business Plan Review meetings. In addition, these targets become part of the performance review metrics for every plant manager and regional manufacturing manager, as well as others in the management hierarchy up to the Executive Vice President of Manufacturing and Labor Affairs. Our 2010 and 2011 targets and progress are shown in the Year-over-Year Environmental Targets chart.

To facilitate performance tracking, we launched the Global Emissions Manager database (GEM) in 2007. This industry-leading database provides a globally consistent approach for measuring and monitoring environmental data, which helps us track and improve our efforts to reduce water consumption, energy use, carbon dioxide emissions and the amount of waste sent to landfill. GEM also provides a library of environmental regulations relevant to each plant, significantly increasing the efficiency of tracking and meeting those regulations.

This section reports on our facilities’ environmental performance, including non-CO₂ facilities-related emissions (including volatile organic compounds), water use, waste reduction, sustainable land use and biodiversity, compliance and remediation.

Operational energy use and greenhouse gas emissions are discussed in the Climate Change section.