ST's new EHS Decalogue

In 1995, we published our first Environmental Decalogue, a set of 10 targets created to help us reduce our impact on the environment. We were one of the first companies to set measurable, time-defined goals for environmental performance and to commit to them in public – publishing our Decalogue as a booklet and distributing it widely among our employees, suppliers, customers, and partners. In 2005, to mark the 10th anniversary of the first Decalogue, we published a new edition, which includes specific health and safety targets.

Decalogue English Version
Decalogue Italian Version
Decalogue French Version
Decalogue Chinese Version

Over the past 11 years, driven by the Decalogue, we have highlighted the outstanding progress we have made as a company with regard to environmental performance. We have reduced our energy consumption by 43%, our water consumption by 66% and our CO2 emissions by 52%, per unit produced. This has provided us with extraordinary savings of well over US$100m per year (US$173m in 2005), demonstrating very clearly our company's belief that to a large extent 'ecology is free'. In cases where a financial investment is required without a tangible 'payback', for example in the reduction of CO2 emissions from PFCs, we consider this an internalization of the real cost to society, for which we are responsible.

"The evidence we have accumulated over more than 10 successive years demonstrates that ecology is not only free but makes a significant positive contribution to commercial performance," says Georges Auguste, Corporate Vice President, Director of Total Quality and Corporate Responsibility. "Equally true, and just as important, operating according to the highest standards of wider social responsibility, also makes financial sense. Of course there are challenges and it is not always easy to find the right balance between financial imperatives and wider responsibility for our impact on society, but we firmly believe that responsible behavior is what makes long-term superior performance possible. For us, this is 'sustainable excellence'."

The new EHS Decalogue

The new edition of our Decalogue (it was last revised in 1999) has changed to introduce a new global approach to achieving our overall company target. The big change is that we have now integrated our environmental targets with our health and safety commitments. For the first time, we have also introduced innovative environmental targets, so as well as traditional targets like energy, water and chemicals conservation, we now have specific targets relating to other environmental issues, for example decreases in acidification and eutrophication. We have also included explicit references to our chemical risk management activities, which are embedded in our efforts to ensure a safe and healthy working environment.

After evaluating the historical trends of our environmental performance, we have set new targets for the coming year. As with previous years, we are confident we will achieve these, using the best technologies in the market, together with the extensive knowledge we have developed over the past decade. Some areas are challenging, for example attaining carbon neutrality, but we are determined to find a way to succeed.

ST's Environment Health and Safety Decalogue

1.0	Regulations
1.1	Meet the most stringent environment, health and safety (EHS) regulations of any country in which we operate, at all of our locations.
1.2	Comply with all relevant international protocols at least one year ahead of official deadlines at all our locations.
2.0	Conservation
2.1	Energy: reduce total energy consumption (kWh per production unit) by at least 5% per year, through process and facilities optimization, conservation and building design.
2.2	Water: reduce water draw-down (cubic meters per production unit) by at least 5% per year, through conservation, process optimization, reuse and recycling.
2.3	Chemicals: reduce total consumption of chemicals by at least 5% per year (weight per production unit), through process optimization and recycling.
3.0	CO2 neutrality
3.1	Energy: reduce total emissions of CO2 due to our energy consumption (tons of CO2 per production unit) by at least 5% per year.
3.2	PFCs: reduce absolute Perfluorinated Compound (PFC) emissions by 10% in 2008 from 1995 baseline.
3.3	Renewable energies: adopt, wherever possible, renewable energy sources such as wind, hydroelectric, photovoltaic, and thermal solar.
3.4	Carbon sequestration: compensate for the remaining CO2 emissions through reforestation or other means, aiming at carbon neutrality by 2010.
4.0	Pollution
4.1	VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds): reduce VOC emissions by at least 10% per year (weight of VOCs/production unit).
4.2	Acidification: reduce the emissions by at least 5% per year (kg of SO2 equivalent per production unit).
4.3	Eutrophication: reduce the phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) compounds discharged into water by at least 5% per year (weight of P+N per production unit).
4.4	Heavy metals: reduce the heavy metals discharged into water by at least 10% per year (weight/production unit).
4.5	Noise: meet a 'noise-to-neighbors' rate of less than 60dB(A) at any point and any time outside our property perimeter for all sites, or comply with local regulations (whichever is the most stringent).
5.0	Risk management
5.1	Chemical selection and screening: adopt an approach based on precautionary principles when assessing the EHS impact of new chemicals and gases.
5.2	Strive towards continuous reduction and control of hazards, hazardous material and processes, and associated risks in the quest for a healthy working place and employees' well-being.
5.3	Eliminate all CMR (Carcinogenic, Mutagenic, toxic for Reproduction) substances.
6.0	Waste
6.1	Reuse or recycle at least 95% of our waste.
6.2	Reduce the generation of waste by at least 5% per year (kg per production unit).
7.0	Products and processes
7.1	Design products for decreased energy consumption and for enablement of more energy efficient applications.
7.2	Develop and manufacture products and processes, responsibly managing their potential environmental impact (DFE: Design For Environment).
7.3	Contribute to global environmental control establishing the Life Cycle Assessment on selected products/processes with the purpose to minimize all environmental and social impacts from raw material, manufacturing, use, and disposal.
8.0	Proactivity
8.1	Promote the use of more-efficient (less consumption and low pollution) vehicles for our employees and encourage the use of alternative ways of transportation (mass transportation, car sharing, two-wheeled vehicle, etc.).
8.2	Support local initiatives for sponsoring environmental projects, sponsor local EHS events at each of our sites, encourage our people to lead or participate in EHS committee, conferences, etc.
8.3	Establish long-standing partnerships with suppliers and customers to achieve common environmental goals and strongly encourage suppliers and subcontractors to be EMAS validated, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001-certified, and assist them through training, support, and auditing.
9.0	Health and safety
9.1	Number of work-related injuries and illnesses: reduce the Recordable Case rate (RC rate) by at least 10% per year.
9.2	Work-related injuries and illnesses with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction: reduce the DART (Days Away from work, job Restriction, job Transfer) rate by at least 10% per year.
9.3	Severity rate (total number of days away from work): reduce the Severity rate by at least 10% per year.
10.0	Measurement and validation
10.1	Continuously monitor our progress, including periodic audits of all our sites worldwide and cooperation with international organizations and corporations to benchmark and define future goals.
10.2	Measure progress and achievements using 1994 as a baseline (where applicable) and publish our results in our Corporate Responsibility Report.
10.3	Maintain the ISO 14001 certification, EMAS validation and OHSAS 18001 certification of all manufacturing sites worldwide.
10.4	Certify new manufacturing sites within 18 months of their operational start-up, including regional warehouses.