Protecting the Environment
Our commitment to protecting the environment begins with our HSE&S Policy Statement. Protection of the environment, an expectation of all employees, is supported by a series of environmental operational control procedures in our HSE&S Management System. These procedures provide guidance on responsible waste management and protection of air, land, and water quality.
The information presented here is a summary of our environmental programs. Please see section 4 of our 2010 Annual HSE&S report for a complete discussion of our environmental performance.
Energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction
Energy efficiency has become a key environmental goal within our company. Improvements in energy efficiency support the company sustainability objectives by reducing cost, conserving natural resources, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Resources have been developed to elevate awareness and drive performance improvements. These include an energy-reduction toolkit and green building specifications for new and existing company facilities, which integrate energy saving concepts, such as natural lighting. For more details, please see the Greenhouse Gases, Emissions Reduction, and Energy Efficiency PDF.
On an annual basis, energy data are used to calculate greenhouse gas emissions for public reporting. We participate in the Carbon Disclosure Project, in which organizations across the globe measure and disclose greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and climate change strategies. This information is designed to motivate investors, corporations, and governments to set reduction targets and make performance improvements. The Carbon Disclosure Project is the only global climate change reporting system in existence.
Waste Management and Reduction
Throughout our corporation, employees have identified novel approaches to reducing our environmental footprint through effective waste management, minimization, and recycling activities. While many facilities have succeeded in dramatic waste reductions, some have eliminated waste streams altogether.
Recycling efforts, which are maturing throughout the enterprise, have shown remarkable results, substantially reducing our environmental impact.
Reducing our environmental footprint also means ensuring sound waste disposal practices are used. We have a rigorous review, selection, and audit process of waste vendors to ensure waste materials are handled and disposed in an environmentally responsible manner.
Baker Hughes is a founding member of the US Business Council for Sustainable Development, an organization dedicated to demonstrating the business value of sustainable development. We are an active participant in the By-Product Synergy Project where companies collaborate to find beneficial uses for undervalued by-product streams.
Green building initiatives
A number of green building initiatives have been implemented at our facilities. Green building concepts, typically, include a focus on lighting with equipment, such as climate control systems that use significant energy. Baker Hughes’s largest office in Houston, Texas, has completed a massive energy reduction project involving lighting retrofits throughout the campus; this concept is being adopted as a standard practice for new sites, including our Eastern Hemisphere headquarters in the Dubai Techno Park.
Environmental due diligence and expenditures
The company takes a proactive approach to remediating environmental impacts whether these result from existing operations or arise from business acquisitions. Efforts to minimize the unexpected acquisition of environmental liabilities have been enhanced through the development of more robust HSE due diligence procedures by a team of environmental professionals. We are similarly proactive in our approach to US Superfund liabilities associated with third-party waste disposal activities.
Environmental reserves are established to ensure adequate funding is available in accordance with SEC regulations, applicable Sarbanes Oxley requirements, and Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP). Internal procedures exist to govern the reserve process, which is subject to regular internal review and external audit by the company's auditing firm, DeLoitte and Touche. Environmental reserves, routine environmental costs, and capital expenditures for environmental equipment are tracked and reported in our annual 10K.
Highlights
In May 2009, Baker Hughes received an award from Economic Zones World (EZW) group, the Dubai company that develops and manages a total of four economic zones, including the JAFZA and Techno Park industrial parks in Dubai. The award recognizes us for a distinctive green initiative at our Eastern Hemisphere/Middle East region headquarters facility in the Techno Park. We applied a new sun-pipe technology to bring natural light into internal areas of the manufacturing workshops that don't have windows. This energy-free lighting technique uses sealed pipes to convey sunlight deep into the building without the heat normally associated with skylights.
We are actively involved in environmental projects in the communities where we operate. In the past, to commemorate Earth Day, our employees in Hassi Messaoud, Algeria, planted more than 150 trees, shrubs, and flowers including palms, Marguerite, roses, and fruit trees. A garden specialist was on hand to assist with planting techniques in the challenging conditions of the Sahara desert.
Our drill bit systems group utilizes an atmospheric surface rig where drilling experiments are performed on large blocks of rock. The blocks are fully utilized and as many holes as possible are drilled in the blocks, which renders them like Swiss cheese. When the experiments are complete, the large blocks of rock, taken offshore on large barges, are dropped into the ocean as part of a coral reef rebuilding effort by the State of Texas. This is better than disposing of them into a landfill.
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Corporate Social Responsibility
At Baker Hughes, Corporate Social Responsibility is central to our core values.
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Additional Resources
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