United Technologies Corporation (UTC) Summary

Brief Description of United Technologies:

• United Technologies Corporation [1] is a diversified company that provides a broad range of high technology products and services to the aerospace and commercial building industries worldwide. UTC products include Otis [2] elevators; Carrier [3] heating, air conditioning and refrigeration systems; UTC Fire & Security [4] security and fire protection systems; UTC Power [5] fuel cells; Pratt & Whitney [6] aircraft engines; Hamilton Sundstrand [7] aerospace systems and industrial products; and Sikorsky [8] helicopters.
• UTC is a $48 billion company, the 20th largest U.S. manufacturer (2006 list, Industry Week) and the 43rd largest U.S. corporation (2006 list, Fortune). Its total shareholder return since 1992 is more than 1200 percent and is two and a half times that of either the S&P 500 index or the Dow 30 Industrials.
• UTC does business in approximately 180 countries and is the 126th largest company in the world (2006 Global 500 list, Fortune).
• UTC has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index each year since it was launched in 1999. It recognizes the top 10% of companies in more than 60 industries and 24 countries.
• UTC has been rated AAA by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors.
• UTC has been named one of the world’s 100 most sustainable companies for each year since 2005 at the World Economic Forum in Davos by Corporate Knights.
• UTC has been named Fortune's Most Admired aerospace company every year since 2000.
• Visit the United Technologies Web site [1] for more information.

Targets:

• In 2006, UTC achieved reductions in air emissions, recycled waste and non-recycled waste by 69 percent, 52 percent and 66 percent, respectively, since 1997.
• UTC also exceeded goals to reduce energy and water use by 40 percent between 1997 and 2006. Energy and water use are down 56 percent and 72 percent, respectively (normalized for revenues). In absolute terms, energy measured in Btu's decreased 19 percent and water use declined 49 percent. During this same time period, UTC's revenues doubled.
• UTC is accomplishing its climate change goals directly by reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced by UTC operations and indirectly by developing and manufacturing products that use less energy and emit smaller amounts of greenhouse gases.

See other BELC company targets [9].

Chairman of the Board: George David

President and CEO: Louis Chênevert

What United Technologies Has to Say About Climate Change:

From the 2006 Corporate Responsibility Report [10]:
"The focus of UTC’s programs is to reduce the negative environmental impacts of operations, particularly those that may affect global climate change and the ozone layer.

"At UTC, we pursue environmental goals the same way we pursue financial and business goals: by continuously improving our processes at every level of the company. To achieve our aggressive greenhouse gas reduction goal, our businesses will undertake significant conservation projects and equipment upgrades based on audits of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions."

From UTC's EH&S goals brochure [11]:
"Energy conservation and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction are an important part of UTC's 2010 goals. Prior to 2002, there was no accepted standard for measuring GHG emissions. For the 2010 goals, UTC adopted the GHG accounting standards and methodologies set out by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the World Resources Institute GHG Protocol. Our goal is to reduce absolute GHG emissions by 3 percent annually through 2010. This is an aggressive goal as we achieved about 2 percent annually since 1997. We intend to make the reductions mainly through investments in energy conservation projects and co-generation systems at many of our largest facilities in the United States."

From George David's WBCSD speech [12] in China (March 2006):
“The lessons I bring from UTC are that we can always reduce costs and increase productivity and performance. The same is true for environmental impacts and potentially to an even greater degree because companies generally haven't worked at these as hard as they have at costs and corporate profitability. Remember that more than 90 percent of the energy coming out of the ground is wasted and doesn't end as useful. This is the measure of what's in front of us and why we should be excited.”

From the 2004 Corporate Responsibility Report:
"At UTC, we don't choose between responsibility and profitability. We pursue both with discipline and focus. We do this with great products and product innovations and a relentless focus on productivity and cost reductions while at the same time meeting high standards of corporate citizenship. Good companies can do both, and UTC does."

From George David's speech [13] at the Society for Organizational Learning's Sustainability Consortium Luncheon at Rentschler Field (December 2003):
"Sustainability is doing things efficiently to preserve resources and minimize environmental impacts. Not everyone broadens the definition to include human capital but I would… We can and do spread these sustainability initiatives globally. In the mid 1990s UTC was one of the first multinationals to adopt uniform environment, health and safety standards globally, essentially exporting U.S. standards. Our compliance programs are equally global and date from the same time."

More on United Technologies' Environmental Record:

• In 1997, UTC set the following environmental, health and safety (EH&S) goals, all normalized for revenue, to achieve by 2007:
  • A 60 percent reduction in air emissions (base year 1999)
  • A 35 percent reduction in recycled waste (base year 1999)
  • A 60 percent reduction in non-recycled waste (base year 1999)
  • A 40 percent reduction in energy and water consumption (base year 1997)
• All of these goals were exceeded:
  • Air emissions: 69 percent
  • Recycled waste: 52 percent
  • Non-recycled waste: 66 percent
  • Energy and water consumption: 56 percent and 72 percent, respectively
• When developing its next set of EH&S goals, UTC examined best in class practices at peer companies
• In 2007, UTC set its new EH&S goals, all in absolute terms, to achieve by 2010:
  • A 20 percent reduction in non greenhouse gas emissions
  • A 12 percent reduction in greenhouse gases (CO₂ equivalent)
  • A 10 percent reduction in industrial process waste
  • A 30 percent reduction in non-recycled waste
  • A 10 percent reduction in water consumption
  • A 10 percent reduction in chemicals discharged
• There are several significant changes in UTC's 2007-2010 metrics when compared to the previous set of goals, including:
  • Expanding coverage to suppliers and products
  • Using absolute rather than normalized environmental metrics
  • Adding a new and important metric on greenhouse gas reductions
  • Expanding all safety metrics globally
  • Increasing focus on compliance

More on United Technologies and Corporate Responsibility:

• To access UTC’s 2006 Corporate Responsibility Report online, please click here [10].
• To read a summary of testimony UTC provided to the Senate Science Committee in June of 2006 on the company's progress in developing zero emission hydrogen fuel cells click here [14].
• UTC Power’s geothermal installation in Chena Springs, Alaska, was named “Project of the Year” by Power Engineering magazine. With UTC Power’s unique low-temperature application, it broadens the possibility of geothermal power to more than 30 million households in the U.S.
• UTC is one of 100 companies named to KLD Research’s new Global Climate 100 Index [15], intended to alert investors to businesses that are expected to provide solutions to climate change.
• In 2007, UTC announced a $1 million gift to support the “greening” of historic preservation at Lincoln’s Cottage and Visitor’s Center. This is a renovation of President Abraham Lincoln’s summer White House, which will be opened in early 2008. This project is the first National Trust property to seek LEED certification.
• In 2006, UTC announced that it is supporting the efforts of Conservation International [16] (CI) to restore critically endangered forests within the Mountains of Southwest China through a $200,000 grant stretching over two years.
• UTC has an on-going partnership with Habitat for Humanity in the Northeast U.S. to bring green building practices to low income housing. UTC has spent more than $250,000 training Habitat affiliates, and covering the cost of energy efficient appliances, insulation and low VOC paints and floorings.
• In 2006, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) announced the formation of the Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EEB) project, an alliance of global companies led by United Technologies and Lafarge. The project seeks a roadmap to a world in which buildings are zero-net energy, producing as much energy as they consume. The three-year EEB project encompasses Brazil, China, Europe, Japan, India, and the U.S. Read more [17]
• As an EPA Climate Leaders [18] partner, UTC pledged and exceeded the goal to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 16 percent per dollar of revenue from 2001 to 2006.
• In 2005, UTC won an EPA Climate Protection Award [19] for its “leadership, dedication and achievements in protecting the Earth’s climate.”
• In 2004, Hamilton Sundstrand, Sikorsky and two UTC environment, health and safety professionals won GreenCircle Awards [20] from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection for their pollution prevention, waste reduction and other projects promoting natural resource conservation and environmental awareness.
• UTC is a founding member of the Pew Center’s Business Environmental Leadership Council, a group of companies committed to responding to climate change challenges, and the U.S. Green Building Council, a coalition of companies promoting the use of green building practices.
• In 2004, Global Green U.S. awarded UTC the "Corporate Design Award" for their Sustainable Cities environmental grant and volunteer effort to advance environmentally responsible building systems in urban areas.
• UTC Power joined with the EPA as part of CHP Partners [21], a public-private partnership committed to providing clean, efficient power and thermal energy and reducing pollutants and greenhouse gases.
• On the state level, UTC is active with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multi-state effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and Governor Rell’s Connecticut Climate Change initiative.
• UTC also frequently partners with suppliers to help them improve their environmental performance. For example, Hamilton Sundstrand provides training for its suppliers to help them attain UTC environmental levels. And, Pratt & Whitney is a corporate sponsor of EPA’s Strategic Goals Program under which large companies share with suppliers their best practices in environmental management systems, pollution prevention and waste minimization.

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