Highlights of 2001

ABB is a global leader in power and automation technologies that enable utilities and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. ABB is present in more than 100 countries. We rank number one, two or three in almost all our industries.

Triple bottom line reporting
In producing this report, ABB has been inspired by the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), published in June 2000, and has made a first attempt to take account of its recommendations in so far as they are relevant to ABB’s activities.

• ABB published its first social policy in 2001 and held round-table discussions with stakeholders in 34 countries about its content and implementation
• ABB’s environmental management program now includes operations in more than 50 countries, with Vietnam and Bulgaria the newest members. The ISO 14001 standard has been implemented in some 98 percent of ABB’s manufacturing and service sites
• The publication of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), begun in 2000, accelerated. By year-end there were 43 EPDs (nine of them externally certified) covering all of ABB’s major product lines.
• For the third year running, ABB topped its industry group in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index
• ABB was also included in the new FTSE4Good Index of socially responsible companies and was rated one of the top five sustainability companies in India by the Tata Electrical Research Institute
• ABB introduced a program in its research and development organization to investigate future sustainability challenges.