Keysight Reports on the Company’s Environmental Sustainability
Originally published in Keysight's 2021 Corporate Social Responsibility Report
Key Fiscal Year 2021 Highlights
- Committed to and began planning toward our goal to achieve net zero emissions in company operations by end fiscal year 2040, in alignment with the Paris Agreement’s preferred goal to limit global warming to 1.5°C
- Committed to the SBTi to develop approved science-based targets in relevant scopes
- Published key topic briefs including water stewardship, response to climate change, and our Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) commitment, and updated the company’s EHS policy to highlight current priority focus areas
Keysight’s environmental programs span global operations with the intent to conserve natural resources, reduce emissions, minimize waste, and prevent pollution. To achieve these objectives, we adopt innovative solutions for continual improvement in our operational and site management practices as well as our working relationships with suppliers and contractors.
Energy & Emissions Management
We plan to establish SBTs and work with our operations, suppliers, and customers to achieve our net zero and SBT ambitions. As part of this project, we have increased our data coverage of company operations from our largest nine sites that we previously reported on, to over 70 sites defined by our operational control. This gives us a better understanding of site-level interdependencies and impacts on our overall GHG footprint. As such, our baseline has now been recalculated to ensure that the performance across the now more than 70 sites is taken into consideration. The results of our new fiscal year 2019 baseline are presented in this report. In 2021, we prioritized our efforts on energy reduction and conservation projects, including HVAC retrofits, light-emitting diode (LED) installations, and air compressor repairs and replacement.
Water Management
While Keysight is not a significant user of water, we recognize the value of water as a limited and valuable natural resource. We are committed to acting in an environmentally responsible manner by maintaining and continually improving our sustainability and management systems, including water stewardship, to support our business and the communities where we operate.
Risks of drought and changing water quality exist, however, at this time, there is no substantive impact to Keysight business anticipated. Even still, we strive to conserve water consumption in our operations. We have implemented the necessary protocols to reduce our exposure to water-related risks through conservation efforts, water treatment, and reclaim facilities. As an example, in 2021 we installed contactless faucets at Keysight’s Boeblingen, Germany site, resulting in water conservation.
In addition, Keysight operates onsite wastewater treatment plants at three manufacturing sites: Santa Rosa, CA; Santa Clara, CA; and Colorado Springs, CO. An example of the treatment is a pH adjustment to within 5.5 - 12.5 before discharging to the municipality. Treated water is reused for landscape irrigation and in certain process systems, such as wet scrubbers. Our Santa Rosa headquarters and the Colorado Springs site have won multiple awards for their water efficiency programs, exemplified by approximately 15% of the water used at the Santa Rosa site being reclaimed and reused in fiscal year 2021.
Waste Management
Keysight focuses on continuous improvements to maintain incremental forwardprogress in creating greater sustainability across our global sites. We aim to consistently analyze our processes that generate waste and look at ways to continually improve. For example, steps are taken at every possible stage to reduce the amount of waste and identify alternate methods of use or disposal to limit the impact on the environment.
With this approach, we’ve had successes that range from diverting batteries from landfills, expanding our composting program, and increasing our employee environmental awareness, to subscribing to a circular economy model for our product lifecycle. Examples of our circular economy commitment are our takeback and trade-in programs that refurbish equipment and reduce the lifecycle impact on the environment.
Looking Forward in Environment
In fiscal year 2022, Keysight plans to further our efforts towards net zero emissions in company operations. To prepare the company for the related longterm and interim goals, Keysight will develop our global roadmap strategies for conservation and decarbonization in operations, renewable electricity procurement, and electrification of fleet vehicles. We aim to reduce our global energy consumption each year through continued execution of energy conservation initiatives.
In addition to our net zero goals, Keysight will complete a refined calculation of our Scope 3 emissions and plans to submit our Scopes 1 and 2, and Scope 3 SBTs for approval to SBTi. These SBTs will fortify our interim emissions reduction initiatives and support progress towards our long-term goals.
Keysight will also continue to evaluate water consumption in our global operations. Using the World Resource Institute’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, we will monitor the risk associated with each site and prioritize facilities in higher risk areas. We will maintain the wastewater treatment plants at three manufacturing facilities and audit additional material sites to identify new opportunities to conserve water.
On the waste management front, Keysight will continue to achieve operational excellence through the use of LEAN principles — an ongoing company practice that defines the way we approach and act on our operations. We use this process, among other efforts, to continuously identify and eliminate waste where possible.
Read more in Keysight's 2021 Corporate Social Responsibility Report