Land, water, waste, and biodiversity

We are committed to conserving and protecting freshwater resources throughout the water cycle - from withdrawal, to use, and eventual reuse or discharge. We focus on monitoring our water use, understanding associated risks, and taking proactive steps to minimize residual risks. We also work with other stakeholders, including our customers and industry, on adopting efficient water practices.

We are committed to reducing spill volumes to minimize potential effects to the environment. Our approach is built on the core concept of spill prevention, with internal standards involving risk identification and control measures, including secondary containment and other engineering controls as well as improved systems and processes.

Sites are expected to conduct and document periodic inspections to identify spill risk factors as outlined in the updated spill prevention and response procedure. Timely corrective actions or improvements must be implemented and tracked in our system of record.

Baker Hughes prioritizes the responsible use of natural resources through quality control and assurance processes. thus, minimizing scrap and waste materials. We also strive to design products for longer life and adopt business models centered on product lease or service options where equipment is returned for refurbishing and reuse rather than disposed. We believe this approach will help to minimize resource extraction, waste, and emissions and address environmental challenges including climate change, plastics pollution, and natural resource scarcity. We are committed to increasing our efforts in this area to help reduce pressure on the world's resources.

Our sites follow our formal procedure for waste management and minimization, which requires that all waste types be identified and tracked. We provide guidance to promote efforts to minimize waste volumes and increase the recycling and reuse of materials at each facility. Even with our best efforts, there are still instances where materials are generated for which there is no economic demand, and which require eventual disposal. To manage waste in an environmentally sound manner, we audit our waste vendors and recyclers and only use those who are approved based on rigorous criteria that goes beyond regulatory compliance. We seek to collaborate with our waste vendors to provide additional sustainability benefits including waste to product conversion and preferred alternatives to landfill disposal. In 2021, we produced more than 1,800 metric tons of solvent material that is classified in our "waste to product conversion" category, through a relationship with our North America vendor. We are working to broaden this effort from our chemical manufacturing sites and expand to a number of chemical blending plants during 2022.

We value biodiversity as the rich variety of all living organisms and recognize that preserving it is essential to our future. Biodiversity provides for healthy, well-functioning ecosystems necessary for clean air and water, our supply of food and other materials as well as a beautiful planet for all to enjoy through cultural and recreational activities.

In line with our core value of "Care", we strive to operate responsibly and protect biodiversity wherever we operate around the world. As a signatory to the UN Global Compact and with respect for the SDGs, we commit to exploring our potential impacts on biodiversity, protected areas, and areas of significant biological value at or near our operational sites. We endeavor to minimize our environmental footprint, preserve natural habitats, and protect and restore ecosystems through nature-based projects. We accomplish this through our internal standards for establishing sites in new areas, sound environmental practices throughout our existing operations, volunteer efforts by our employees, and foundation grants to support environmental efforts.

We evaluate potential impacts on biodiversity by conducting environmental due diligence for each new location. For industrial sites, this is comprised of a review of environmental risks including sensitive habitat, such as wetlands, and the potential presence of threatened or endangered species. We conduct formal environmental impact assessments when required by local regulations. This is particularly important for new business activities around the world, and with continuing changes to our real estate portfolio. We strive to minimize effects on biodiversity, and generally establish facilities in existing industrial areas since most of our activities commence after exploration activities have begun. We develop mitigation plans whenever necessary to protect biodiversity in areas on or adjacent to our sites. These plans protect wetland areas and other water features, as well as specific species of interest.

We recognize the UNESCO "No-Go" commitment for Natural World Heritage sites as an important program for the protection of unique and valuable locations. We are concerned about the potential effects that industrial operations can have on protected and ecologically sensitive sites. For 2021 reporting, we have expanded our review of our operations with the intent of improving our reporting related to protected areas and threatened or endangered species. More than 100 key contacts in our HSE and facility management functions participated in this review. 

We have identified 14 sites with operations that are located in or adjacent to a protected area or an area of high biodiversity value outside a protected area. This represents less than 2% of our company facilities and operations across the globe and includes locations in Brazil, Mexico, Angola, Australia, France, Germany, the US and UK. Our assessment did not reveal any significant impacts on biodiversity from our activities, products, or services. However, we recognize that we are in the early stages of understanding what a full and comprehensive assessment may entail, and there is more work to be done on this topic.

We publicly disclose the presence of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List species on or adjacent to our company locations. Based on our review, we are reporting 202 species on the IUCN Red List which have habitats in areas that may be potentially affected by our operations. The majority of these are classified as vulnerable (74) or least concern (71), comprising 72% of the total, while 19% are classified as endangered (39). In 2021, we expanded our review for identified 202 IUCN Red List species which have habitats in areas that may be potentially affected by our operations. Our assessment did not reveal any significant impacts on biodiversity from our activities, products, or services.

Baker Hughes is committed to minimizing risk in how we develop, manage, and distribute chemicals across our operations. Our robust chemicals management process covers activities from product development, sourcing/procurement, manufacturing, and transportation to product stewardship including safe handling, storage and use. We comply with a rigorous set of quality, safety, and environmental standards we set for ourselves, and meet regulatory requirements and customer needs across the globe.

Safety risk reviews, regulatory assessments, and compliance reviews are conducted at key stages of chemical development, manufacturing processes, and field operations. Opportunities for improvement are identified through annual internal audits, and any corrective actions are implemented in a timely manner. Employees are empowered and have a responsibility to "stop work" for safety, environmental, or quality concerns and report related observations to management and in our system of record.