IBM made strides in reducing energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, material sent to landfill and hazardous waste, according to the company's latest corporate responsibility report.

The firm also made modest gains in purchases of renewable energy and recycling of non-hazardous waste. And while slipping slightly in the areas of water conservation in microelectronics manufacturing and use of recycled plastics, IBM nevertheless exceeded its performance targets in those categories.

Released today, IBM's new corporate responsibility report covers 2008 and early 2009. It charts the company's progress toward a number of goals involving the environment, supply chain, governance, community engagement, its employees and public policy.

With a record revenue of $103.6 billion in 2008, a gain of almost 5 percent compared to 2007, IBM said it made progress in several areas it considers key performance indicators. Highlights in the environmental categories include:

• Energy Conservation -- Conservation projects yielded savings equal to 6.1 percent of the company's total energy use for 2008; the corporate goal was 3.5 percent. As a result, IBM avoided using 235 million kilowatt hours of electricity and 6.3 million gallons of fuel -- the savings avoided the equivalent of 215,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions and $32.3 million in energy costs.

The company said it made steady headway in this category by using its mobile measure technology -- which the company likens to a CT scan for data centers -- to locate hot spots that need attention and by consolidating servers. Nineteen data centers consolidated server operations; those moves saved 10 million kWh of electricity and $1 million energy costs.

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions -- After reducing energy-related CO2 emissions by 40 percent from 1990 to 2005, IBM set a stretch goal of further reducing energy-related greenhouse gas emissions 12 percent by 2012, using 2005 performance as the baseline. Last year's energy conservation efforts plus the purchase of 450 million kWh of renewable energy, an amount equivalent to 8.6 percent of IBM's global use of electricity for 2008, reduced energy-related CO2 emissions by 1.6 percent, the company said.

• PFC Emissions -- Perfluorocompounds are released during IBM's semiconductor manufacturing operations, and the company wants to reduce these emissions 25 percent by 2010, compared to 1995. By the close of 2008, IBM's PFC emissions in CO2 equivalent were 241,900 metric tons or 30.4 percent below the 1995 baseline.

• Product End-of-Life Management -- Worldwide, 42,302 metric tons of end-of-life products and product waste were processed by IBM's PELM operations in 2008. Only 0.6 percent was sent to landfills or incineration facilities; the rest was reused or recycled. The figure tops performance in 2007, when 0.8 was disposed of. No more than 3 percent of the total amount of PELM processed goods is to be sent to landfill or incinerators, according to company goals.

IBM's performance in other environmental areas included:

• Use of Recycled Plastics -- In 2008, 10.3 percent of the plastic the company used was recycled, compared to 10.6 percent in 2007. The annual goal is 5 percent.

• Water Conservation in Microelectronics Manufacturing -- Conservation came to 4.6 percent of the total amount of water used for this process. The goal is an average of 2 percent over any given five-year period. In 2007, the company saved about 6 percent compared to total water use for microelectronics manufacturing.

• Hazardous Waste Reduction -- The company reduced hazardous waste by 10,900 metric tons in 2008, compared to 8,400 metric tons in 2007.

• Non-hazardous Waste Recycling -- Seventy-nine percent of the total amount of non-hazardous waste generated was recycled in 2008, compared to 78 percent in 2007. The goal is 75 percent.

In the report, IBM Chairman, President and CEO Samuel J. Palmisano characterized the first decade of the 21st century as a “series of wake-up calls” to society about the way the world and its increasingly integrated systems function -- and malfunction.

Throughout its 43-pages, the report underscored IBM’s transformation to a global outlook that emphasizes integration on multiple levels and a business portfolio that now favors services, software and solutions, compared to the hardware-heavy portfolio of bygone years.  

The report features synopses of several projects around the world including IBM’s Corporate Service Corps, now in its second year; disaster relief assistance; waterway preservation and work to create smarter energy, traffic, crime-fighting and buildings in communities.

The report is available in full and in excerpted sections here.

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