ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH & SAFETY (EHS) MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
The Hexcel EHS Management System is a set of policies, processes, and expectations applied to our day-to-day operations to ensure that we systematically meet compliance commitments and continuous improvement goals. Through this system and a commitment to maintaining a safe workplace, Hexcel works to continuously improve EHS performance, its operating systems, and overall safety conditions, while also reducing waste and costs without compromising performance or service. This robust system represents to our customers and stakeholders that we not only are a committed partner with reliable systems in place to sustain their supply chains, but that we also recognize our responsibility to be a good corporate citizen in the communities where we live and work. More than 75% of our sites are ISO 14001:2015 certified, and we are working to add the remainder under our Hexcel Corporate ISO 14001:2015 umbrella certificate. In addition, about half of our sites are ISO 45001:2018 certified, and we are working to add the remainder under our Hexcel Corporate ISO 45001:2018 umbrella certificate.
We monitor the environmental commitment of our supply chain and have implemented procurement practices to recognize and differentiate suppliers by their commitment to the environment and their implementation of robust, continuously improved EHS management systems. To illustrate, majority of our largest suppliers, representing over 80% of our annual raw material purchasing spend, reported ISO 14001:2015 certification for all or most of their sites. We expect this level of certification to grow as it is a key criteria in our supplier selection and oversight program.
EMISSIONS
Hexcel tracks Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions for all Hexcel sites globally. Since tracking began in 2015, the overall trend for both Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions has been reducing, after normalizing for sales growth. Emissions increased temporarily in 2017 reflecting the start-up and qualification of our new operations in Roussillon, France and Casablanca, Morocco, as well as expansions at other sites globally. Overall, from 2015 to the end of 2019, emissions decreased approximately 15% when normalized for sales.
This emissions reduction was accomplished through a variety of methods outlined below, including changes to our procurement and manufacturing processes.
RENEWABLE ENERGY PROCUREMENT
Consistent with the favorable environmental impact of our composite lightweighting products, we seek to minimize the environmental impact of our operations, including the use of renewable power for generating approximately 20% of our global power consumption needs.
These are two of many examples of Hexcel’s renewable power adoption globally as we continue to evaluate cost-effective solutions to further increase our utilization of renewable power while simultaneously reducing our power costs.
OPERATIONAL INITIATIVES TO REDUCE EMISSIONS AND CONSERVE ENERGY
Hexcel has achieved significant energy savings by reducing energy consumption, leveraging our scale to reduce the price we pay for electricity and natural gas and sharing energy management best practices across our organization. Project examples include:
We use industrial-scale ovens to manufacture carbon fiber and honeycomb composites.
RECYCLING AND WATER RE-USE
We have been recycling our waste for a number of years and continue to increase the percentage recycled each year.