GRI content index table

General Standard Disclosures

GRI category

Reference

Strategy and analysis: G4-1

CEO letter

Organizational profile: G4-3, G4-4, G4-5

Annual Report 2016, PDF p. 89-96

G4-6

Annual Report 2016, PDF p. 56-57

G4-7

Annual Report 2016, PDF p. 51

G4-8

This is ABB, Annual Report 2016, PDF p. 16-18

G4-9

Annual Report 2016, PDF p. 10, Annual Report 2016, PDF p. 47-49, Annual Report 2016, PDF p. 90

G4-10

Summary of main performance indicators

G4-11

The proportion of our employees that are represented by labor unions or are the subject of collective bargaining agreements varies based on the labor practices of each country in which we operate. Collective bargaining agreements are subject to various regulatory requirements and are renegotiated on a regular basis in the normal course of business.

G4-12

Responsible sourcing

G4-13

Annual Report 2016, PDF p. 47-49, Annual Report 2016, PDF p. 97-100

G4-14

Governance and integrity, Annual Report 2016, PDF p. 40-42

G4-15, G4-16

Sustainability governance, Stakeholder engagement, Human rights

Identified material aspects and boundaries: G4-17 - G-23

Material issues, ABB Report Review Panel statement, Stakeholder engagement, Approach to sustainability reporting

Stakeholder engagement: G4-24, G4-25, G4-26, G4-27

Material issues, ABB Report Review Panel statement, Stakeholder engagement, Human rights

Report profile: G4-28, G4-29, G4-30, G4-32, G4-33

ABB in summary, Interview with Michael Cooke, Sustainability governance, Approach to sustainability reporting

Governance: G4-34

Sustainability governance, Annual Report 2016, PDF p. 40-42

Ethics and integrity: G4-56

Governance and integrity

Specific Standard Disclosures

GRI category, aspect and indicator

Reference

Economic

 

Economic performance: EC1, EC2

This is ABB, Products and services

Procurement practices

Responsible sourcing

 

 

Environmental

 

Materials

Resource efficiency, Summary of main performance indicators

Materials: EN1, EN2

ABB, as a multinational organization with operations in around 100 countries, has difficulty in providing meaningful information for this indicator. In view of our very heterogeneous product portfolio, which includes a very wide range of different materials and processing stages, and the adverse cost-benefit ratio in producing this information, ABB has decided not to report against this GRI indicator.

Energy: EN3, EN4, EN5, EN6, EN7

Energy efficiency, renewable energy and climate, Products and services, Summary of main performance indicators

Water: EN8, EN9, EN10

Resource efficiency, Summary of main performance indicators

Biodiversity: EN11, EN12, EN13, EN14

Biodiversity has not been identified as a material aspect for ABB.

Emissions: EN15, EN16, EN17, EN18, EN19, EN21

Energy efficiency, renewable energy and climate, Resource efficiency, Summary of main performance indicators

Emissions: EN20

ABB operations emitted less than 1 kg of CFC-11 equivalent in 2016.

Effluent and waste: EN22, EN23, EN24

Resource efficiency, Summary of main performance indicators

Effluent and waste: EN25, EN26

Not reported as not material.

Products and services: EN27

Products and services, Resource efficiency

Products and services: EN28

ABB is not in a position to provide Group-wide aggregated information.

Compliance: EN29

ABB did not pay any significant fines for non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations in 2016.

Transport: EN30

Energy efficiency, renewable energy and climate, Summary of main performance indicators

Overall: EN31

Combined costs of remediation and corrective actions to address the spills reported under EN24 were approximately $390,000.

Supplier environmental assessment: EN32, EN33

All new suppliers are required to agree to ABB’s Supplier Code of Conduct which emphasizes environmental management, among other issues. This is supplemented by a contractual obligation on suppliers to deliver goods or services in accordance with the ABB Supplier Code of Conduct.

ABB developed and launched a new, common supplier qualification and classification process during 2015. Implementation of the new procedures is continuing, therefore it is not yet possible to report on this indicator.

See also: Responsible sourcing

Environmental grievance mechanisms: EN34

ABB has a number of formal grievance mechanisms, including a third-party run Business Ethics hotline available around the clock to internal and external stakeholders, where employees can report concerns, if they wish, confidentially. Monitoring and management of environmental grievances is the responsibility of our local operations.

 

 

Social

 

Labor practices and decent work

 

Employment: LA1

Our people, Human rights, Summary of main performance indicators

Employment: LA2

ABB, as a multinational organization with operations in around 100 countries, has difficulty in providing meaningful information for this indicator. ABB provides competitive salaries and benefits to employees, taking legal requirements into account and benchmarking against other companies. In view of the different legal requirements from country to country, and the adverse cost-benefit ratio in producing this information, ABB has decided not to report against this GRI indicator.

Employment: LA3

Around 2,530 employees took parental leave in 2016, around 70 percent of whom were women. Following completion of parental leave, 89 employees – around 3.5 percent – did not return to work. Women accounted for 73 percent of those not returning.

Labor/Management relations: LA4

ABB is not in a position to provide Group-wide aggregated information, as the figures vary from country to country depending on local regulations. For the 27 countries of the European Union, ABB is represented on the EU’s European Works Council where such matters are discussed.

See also: Our people, Human rights

Occupational health and safety: LA5

Consolidated data is not yet available at Group level for this indicator.

Occupational health and safety: LA6, LA7, LA8

Safe, healthy and secure operations, Summary of main performance indicators

Training and education: LA9, LA10, LA11

Our people, Summary of main performance indicators

Diversity and equal opportunity: LA12

Our people, Summary of main performance indicators

Equal remuneration for women and men: LA13

Our people

Supplier assessments for labor practices: LA14, LA15

All new suppliers are required to agree to ABB’s Supplier Code of Conduct which emphasizes labor and human rights among other issues. This is supplemented by a contractual obligation on suppliers to deliver goods or services in accordance with the ABB Supplier Code of Conduct.

ABB developed and launched a new, common supplier qualification and classification process during 2015. Implementation of the new procedures is continuing, therefore it is not yet possible to report on this indicator.

See also: Responsible sourcing

Labor practices grievance mechanisms: LA16

ABB has a number of formal grievance mechanisms, including a third-party run Business Ethics hotline available round the clock to internal and external stakeholders, where employees can report concerns, if they wish, confidentially. Figures are available for cases of discrimination and harassment (HR3).

See also: Our people, Governance and integrity, Human rights

Human rights

 

Investment: HR1

ABB maintains and regularly reviews a list of sensitive countries where it has, or considers engaging in, business operations. Human rights, as well as legal, financial and security criteria, are included in risk assessments, and are among the factors in deciding whether ABB does business in a particular country.

Based partly or wholly on human rights considerations, to the end of 2016, ABB had not taken any business in Sudan or North Korea for several years.

See also: Human rights

Investment: HR2

Human rights

Non-discrimination: HR3

Human rights

Freedom of association: HR4

There were no ABB operations identified during 2016 to be at significant risk concerning employee rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

See also: Human rights, Responsible sourcing

Child labor: HR5

There were no ABB operations identified during 2016 to be at significant risk concerning incidents of child labor.

See also: Human rights, Responsible sourcing

Forced or compulsory labor: HR6

There were no ABB operations identified during 2016 to be at significant risk concerning incidents of forced or compulsory labor.

See also: Human rights, Responsible sourcing

Security practices: HR7

72 percent of security personnel received training in ABB’s human rights policies or specific procedures and their application to security. These requirements also apply to third party organizations providing security personnel.

ABB recognizes the importance of training security personnel, as well as ABB country and regional managers, on the human rights dimensions of security work. It has been part of general security training in different parts of the world for several years. As far as security personnel are concerned, ABB recognizes it is essential that they observe human rights. We require due diligence to be carried out on security companies according to ABB and international standards. In 2014, internal checklists for security providers were strengthened, and clauses on human rights were introduced into new contracts with private security providers. The wording is drawn from the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights and the International Code of Conduct for private security providers.

See also: Human rights, Safe, healthy and secure operations

Indigenous rights: HR8

Human rights

Assessment: HR9

This data is not available. ABB is involved as a supplier in thousands of projects worldwide each year. Depending on the scope and size of the project – such as larger power infrastructure projects - some will require at least an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment performed by the customer. The data is currently not consolidated by ABB.

See also: Human rights

Supplier human rights assessment: HR10, HR11

All new suppliers are required to agree to ABB’s Supplier Code of Conduct which emphasizes labor and human rights among other issues. This is supplemented by a contractual obligation on suppliers to deliver goods or services in accordance with the ABB Supplier Code of Conduct.

ABB developed and launched a new, common supplier qualification and classification process during 2015. Implementation of the new procedures is continuing, therefore it is not yet possible to report on this indicator.

See also: Human rights, Responsible sourcing

Human rights grievance mechanisms: HR12

ABB has a number of formal grievance mechanisms, including a third-party run Business Ethics hotline available round the clock to internal and external stakeholders, where employees can report concerns, if they wish, confidentially. Figures are available for cases of discrimination and harassment (HR3).

See also: Human rights, Governance and integrity

Society

 

Local communities: SO1

Stakeholder engagement

Anti-corruption: SO3, SO4, SO5

Governance and integrity

Public policy: SO6

Under ABB’s Code of Conduct, contributions to political parties, politicians and related institutions can be made only in exceptional cases and only after a rigorous approval process which includes the approval of the Chief Integrity Officer. Any donations must be vetted as part of ABB's approval process.

See also: Governance and integrity, Stakeholder engagement, Summary of main performance indicators

Anti-competitive behavior: SO7

Governance and integrity

Compliance: SO8

Governance and integrity

Supplier societal impacts assessment: SO9, SO10

All new suppliers are required to agree to ABB’s Supplier Code of Conduct which emphasizes labor and human rights among other issues. This is supplemented by a contractual obligation on suppliers to deliver goods or services in accordance with the ABB Supplier Code of Conduct.

ABB developed and launched a new, common supplier qualification and classification process during 2015. Implementation of the new procedures is continuing, therefore it is not yet possible to report on this indicator.

See also: Responsible sourcing, Human rights, Stakeholder engagement

Societal impacts grievance mechanisms: SO11

ABB has a number of formal grievance mechanisms, including a third-party run Business Ethics hotline available round the clock to internal and external stakeholders, where employees can report concerns, if they wish, confidentially. Figures are available for cases of discrimination and harassment (HR3).

See also: Governance and integrity, Human rights, Our people, Stakeholder engagement, Responsible sourcing

Product responsibility

 

Customer health and safety: PR1, PR2

No complaints related to health and safety impacts of our products and services were reported in 2016.

See also: Products and services, Resource efficiency

Product and service labelling: PR3, PR4

ABB’s goal is to produce Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for our core products. They describe and quantify the environmental impact and performance of ABB products through every phase of their life cycles, covering raw material extraction, component manufacture, transportation and use over their full operating lifetime. They can also contain recovery, recycling and disposal instructions for when the product has completed its useful life. The EPDs are published on ABB’s website and help customers to select products that will improve their own environmental performance. ABB also engages with customers with particular reporting needs, to ensure clarity and completeness of environmental data.

No complaints related to product information or labeling were reported in 2016.

See also: Products and services, Stakeholder engagement, Other GRI indicators

Product and service labelling: PR5

Stakeholder engagement