Environment
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Amphenol is acting to reduce our operational energy use and minimize our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through the application of lean production processes and capital investments in energy-saving equipment, which have allowed us to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions intensity. Our renewable energy strategy and GHG reduction efforts led to a 19% decrease in our revenue-normalized Scope 1 and 2 (location-based) emissions compared to 2018, despite the addition of 74 manufacturing facilities during this same period. These actions allowed us to meet our goal of reducing our revenue-normalized Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 10% versus 2018 levels.
The use of renewable energy is an important part of our GHG emissions reduction strategy. Over the past few years, the renewable electricity portion of our total energy purchased has increased. We plan to further expand our use of renewable energy in our facilities and have developed a new goal to support SDG 7.2 Affordable and Clean Energy. By the end of 2030, Amphenol will increase our use of renewable energy to 50% for energy used at our facilities.
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Reducing our Carbon Footprint
Throughout 2022, several Amphenol facilities installed on-site solar panels to increase their renewable electricity consumption and decrease their dependency on fossil fuels. During the extreme energy cost fluctuations seen in Europe during 2022, these installations helped provide a continuous and stable source of energy for these facilities. Combined, these installations have begun to produce almost 600 MWh of energy, with significant increases expected in 2023, which will be their first full year of operation. In addition, these successful solar installments have inspired other Amphenol facilities to consider increasing their renewable energy consumption, with more sites planning to commence or expand existing installations in 2023.
Water Use
Amphenol’s manufacturing processes do not require a significant amount of water, however we do strive to be as responsible as possible with the water we use. In order to reduce our overall water usage, we pursue water optimization projects across our facilities and have invested in systems to reuse and reclaim our wastewater. Through our continued actions and investments, we were able to reduce our water withdrawal intensity by 11% in 2022 versus the prior year. Since 2017, our actions have resulted in our water withdrawal intensity declining by 34%, an 8% compound annual reduction over this five-year period.
We plan to continue to explore new opportunities for improvement in our water usage across our global footprint. To support our commitment, we have set a goal under SDG 6.4 Clean Water and Sanitation. By the end of 2030, Amphenol will reduce total water withdrawal of our top 20 facilities by 15% versus 2021 levels.
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Water Reuse in Action
Mexico experienced a drought throughout 2022, increasing local water stress and limiting water supplies for businesses. Our team at our Monterrey facility implemented a creative solution to this problem by capturing condensate from their HVAC systems and reusing it for non-potable applications. Through this process, the team collects approximately 4,000 liters of water per day, enough to meet roughly 25% of their daily needs. This process has significantly reduced the facility’s reliance on third-party water supplies and continues to increase engagement of our on-site employees in supporting sustainability initiatives.
Waste Disposal
Limiting our use of resources and minimizing our waste remain a core component of Amphenol’s operational management culture. Our operations employ a number of methods to limit our waste, with some examples including utilizing recycled packaging for connectors, regrinding thermoplastics as appropriate to supplement virgin material feedstocks, composting organic material from our employee cafeterias and reducing our paper usage. As a result of our efforts, we were able to reuse, recycle or recover 64% of our total waste in 2022. We will continue to look for new ways to minimize our material use as we work to further reduce our waste production and deliver more sustainable products to our customers.
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Reducing our Waste
As a manufacturer of highly diversified products that require customized packaging solutions, we have initiated packaging reuse initiatives at several of our facilities to mitigate our waste footprint. As one example, our Times Fiber business in Canada has introduced multi-use plastic boxes to replace single-use packaging materials that would otherwise be sent to the landfill. As another example, our Advanced Sensors business in Mexico is reusing plastic boxes that are durable enough for multiple uses for our product parts. As a result of these partnership initiatives and many others around Amphenol, our global teams continue to minimize the amount of packaging waste entering the value chain.