Elbit Systems Ltd. is an international defense electronics company engaged in a wide range of programs throughout the world. We are committed to meeting leading  EHS standards.

Compliance and more At Elbit Systems, we are committed to complying with local and global EHS regulations, in all of our operations. In order to maintain leading compliance standards, we continually review global and local updates in EHS regulations and follow current legislative initiatives.

Operating as a global company demands that we embrace a broad perspective of compliance, which goes beyond regulatory requirements and meets the expectations and requirements of our customers and stakeholders.

Management approach to EHS Environmental – Elbit Systems recognizes the potential environmental impacts of our ongoing operations. We regularly conduct activities that advance environmental friendly practices, including measures to reduce electricity, fuel and water consumption, and maximize recycling of waste.

Elbit Systems has been certified under the ISO 14001 – 2015 for our environment management system.

Health – Elbit Systems employs thousands of employees globally. As a responsible employer, our goal is to ensure a healthy working environment for our employees. Mandatory health examinations are conducted routinely for employees that work under conditions that may pose potential health issues.
We offer all employees the opportunity to participate in designated health insurance programs.

Safety – Elbit Systems operations include a range of development, manufacturing, testing, logistics and support activities. Therefore we are committed to leading precautionary standards as well as implementation of emergency preparedness systems at all sites. We strive to enhance the safety of our employees, minimize risks, prevent hazards and maintain a safe  environment at each facility.

Elbit Systems has been certified under the ISO 45001 – 2018 for our occupational health and safety management system.

Policy Guidelines:

•  Comply with regulatory requirements, customer requirements and requirements of standards adopted by the Company.
•  Generate a safe and healthy work environment for employees in routine and emergency situations, and prevent accidents and occupational diseases, by identifying and evaluating risks and reducing them to an “acceptable level”.
• Maintain environmental resources, reduce ecological footprints and prevent environmental pollution, throughout the product lifecycle.
• Incorporate EHS issues into the Company’s business processes, and set proactive goals and plans for continuous improvement in performance and management practices.
•  Train and deploy EHS issues across all organizational levels, encourage employees and managers to report hazards, hazardous situations, accidents and near-casualties.
•  Maintain open and transparent communication channels between the Company and external stakeholders, as well as employee sharing and consultation processes on EHS issues.

   

To view our latest EHS public Report, Click here.

As part of Elbit Systems’ overall Sustainability Strategy – 2020, this report summarizes the key elements and achievements of our EHS (environment, health and safety) activities in 2019.

Global EHS Management System

Our global EHS management system covers 99% of Elbit System’s global business operations, which include sites where we have full operational control, as well as our activities at major customers’ sites (Scope 3). We facilitate compliance with applicable EHS regulations and our internal policies on EHS matters. We strive to improve our performance by collecting, analyzing and reporting indicators internally to management and to the board of directors and externally through our bi-yearly Sustainability Report. Our Company-wide system also provides us the opportunity to share learning across our global organization and engage employees throughout our operations in regular communications and activities.

Elbit Systems has established a Global EHS Policy endorsed by management, which guides our activities to advance environmentally friendly practices and to reduce the environmental impact of our operations. Our EHS Policy also supports our commitments to enhancing precautionary measures to protect our employees’ health and safety.

We maintain leading international standards on Environment and Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems. We are certified to ISO14001 and OHSAS18001 (in process of upgrading to ISO45001) at our main sites, covering 84% of our employees, and are in process of certifying additional sites.

Managing Our Environmental Impacts Throughout Our Operation:

Elbit Systems recognizes the potential environmental impacts of our ongoing operations. We have a robust climate change strategy, which is based on a multi-disciplinary Company-wide risk management process. A committee made up of senior management from different areas of the organization, including finance, business units, facilities, procurement, security and the Chief Operating Officer (COO), gather on a yearly basis to identify and assess the main EHS risks and opportunities for the organization, including climate-related issues. The evaluation covers short and long-term horizons, and as an output the team establishes action plans for the upcoming years.

We regularly conduct activities that advance environmentally friendly practices, including measures to reduce electricity, fuel and water consumption, and maximize recycling of waste.

We monitor key metrics and establish long-term goals in several areas as shown below. We note that the 2019 data proportionally increased due to the acquisition of IMI Systems Ltd. (IMI) in November 2018. The IMI acquisition resulted in an almost 27% increase of our facilities, a 12% increase in our workforce and had a corresponding impact on our EHS activities.

Our previous long-term EHS goals were set in 2013, with the same year as the baseline. In 2019, the global EHS team reviewed the targets and found that some of the targets were attained, and/or no longer reflected the Company’s activities, as well as assessed the impact of the acquisition of IMI. Therefore, we have refreshed targets for 2020 and also set additional ones, which were approved during the 2019 EHS Management Review presentation to our board of directors. The following description of our EHS targets presents both our previous targets and the updated targets for 2020.

1. Energy Efficiency

Our recent projects throughout the organization globally, such as improving air conditioning and lighting controls, LED lighting replacements and consistently maintaining our manufacturing operations to achieve maximum efficiency, have shown the following results on energy efficiency:

Energy consumption in MWh

TOTAL ELBIT
These columns self-calculate

The target previously established was to decrease direct energy consumption (Scope 1 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions) by 7% until 2020 using 2013 as the base year. The new goal established for GHG emissions efficiency is 12% reduction of emissions per employee in comparison with the average from 2016 – 2018.
For electricity purchase, the target previously established was to decrease electricity consumption by 5% until 2020 using 2013 as the base year. The new target established for electricity efficiency is a 4% reduction of kwh per employee per square meter (area) in comparison with the average from 2016 – 2018. In addition, we set a new goal to start generating 2.5MW of renewable energy in 2021 through the implementation of solar panels.

2. Water and Waste Generation Efficiency

Elbit Systems is committed to avoiding environmental pollution, primarily water and soil pollution. In addition, our continuous improvement to achieve minimum waste of resources and maximum operational efficiency, has led us to adopt numerous activities to improve water and waste management. For example, these measures include smart metering to detect water leaks and monitor consumption, implementation of processes of water recycling and water efficient installations in washrooms, waste reduction at source, re-use of packaging materials and recycling programs covering all waste streams. We note that IMI uses proportionally more water in its production process and also generates more waste in comparison with our other facilities. That is why there was an increase in water consumption and waste generation in 2019.

The water consumption target previously established was to decrease water consumption by 5% until 2020 using 2013 as the base year. The new target established for water efficiency is a 20% reduction of m3 per employee in comparison with the average from 2016 – 2018.

All water consumption at our operations is drawn from municipal water supplies.

Waste disposal information collection, particularly non-hazardous waste, has been a challenge in previous years. We have streamlined our global efforts to obtain and report precise information. We also are regularly enhancing our recycling programs, which cover several waste streams: paper, plastic, cardboard, metals, oils, emulsions, wood and electronic waste. A small amount of waste is classified as hazardous, and we dispose of it safely and in accordance with applicable regulations.

With a solid 2019 database, we have decided to establish 2020 goals, to reduce by 5% absolute hazardous and landfilled waste generation, and increase by 5% our recycling rates.

3. Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Efficiency

We have divided our global GHG activities into 3 scope levels:

• Scope 1 (direct emissions) – emissions are those from activities owned or controlled by our organization:
  – LPG consumption emissions
  – Gasoline consumption emissions
  – Aviation fuel consumption emissions
  – Diesel consumption (for diesel generators) emissions
  – Fuel consumption (for cars – business travel) emissions
• Scope 2 (energy indirect) – emissions released into the atmosphere that are associated with our consumption of purchased electricity, heat, steam and cooling:
  – Electricity (generation factor)
• Scope 3 (other indirect) – emissions that are a consequence of actions that occur at sources we do not own or control and are not classified as Scope 2 emissions:
  – Electricity T&D and WTT (associated with grid losses, the energy loss that occurs in getting the electricity from the power plant to the organization).
  – Water use
  – Paper consumption
  – Fuel consumption (for cars – employee commuting) emissions
  – Waste disposal – landfill
  – Waste disposal – recycling (paper, WEEE and batteries)

This is the first year we are reporting Scope 3 emissions.

UK Government conversion factors for greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting were used in all calculations, except from CO2 emission factors of electricity generation and T&D, that were based on information provided by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and electricity generation from DURAD, a private company in Israel. In order to report GHG emissions, we used location-based emission factors from the IEA.

The target previously established was to decrease GHG emissions (Scopes 1 and 2) by 7% until 2020 using 2013 as the base year. The new target established for GHG emissions efficiency is a 12% reduction of emissions per employee in comparison with the average from 2016 – 2018.

As a result of our increased efforts to avoid GHG emissions in 2017 and 2018 at our Israeli operations, we achieved a reduction of approximately 25% per year on Scope 2 emissions. This was due to electricity consumption from a private supplier, who sources electricity based on natural gas, instead of the national grid that is primarily coal-sourced.

Sustainable Innovation in Our Products and Services

Elbit Systems has significant ongoing investment in breakthrough technological solutions that help protect the environment.
We implement a clear sustainable innovation methodology in our development processes, mainly in the choice of materials and components, energy use, weight, quality and other relevant factors. Some of those processes have a direct impact on environmental aspects, for example:

• Building materials – source the lightest and most durable materials, for example fiberglass – which allows greater time and distance propulsion and corresponding energy efficiency.
• Building materials – some UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) parts are produced by three-dimensional printing, for example aluminum parts, reducing both the UAS’ fuel consumption as well as waste generation.
• Lead-free structural walls – a dedicated model was implemented for airborne lead-free platforms with the understanding that in the near future lead-based materials will not be allowed to be used.
• Propulsion – hybrid engines
• Motion – Hydrogen Energy – hydrogen production cells for propulsion

Additional examples of sustainability innovation projects being developed by technology start-ups in which Elbit Systems has invested include:

• Development of a way of increasing the energy storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries by 15-30% using nano carbon tubes. The batteries have been tested successfully and help users to reduce the environmental impact of lithium-ion batteries.
• Creation of a “gel-fuel” that has environmental advantages in comparison with the regular fuel (hydrasin). This gel is a green fuel in accordance with European standards.
• Development of a technology to replace generators fueled by regular hydrids that require additional protection against explosions. The new “fuel cells” created (based on magnesium hydrid – H2) only expel water, which reduces pollution and does not require additional protection for the generators.

All the factors above reduce GHG emissions for our customers, and therefore can be considered as low carbon products.

We monitor the use and performance of our sustainable innovation products at our customers’ facilities. Also, there is an ongoing effort to upgrade the mid-life of the products, thus maintaining their efficiency and improving performance.

Sustainable aspects of end of product life also is managed. We often “re-purchase” the product for reuse or recycle of the product as a whole or its raw materials. In cases where products cannot be returned to us, we support implementation of the best disposal alternatives in compliance with local regulations.

Occupational Health and Safety

Elbit Systems operations include a range of development, manufacturing, testing, logistics and support activities. Protecting our employees through consistent attention to occupational health and safety is fundamental to the way we work. As a responsible employer, our goal is to maintain a healthy working environment for our employees. Therefore, we are committed to leading precautionary standards as well as implementation of emergency preparedness systems at all sites. We strive to enhance the safety of our employees, minimize risks, prevent hazards and maintain a safe environment at each facility.

We closely monitor all accidents and safety-related incidents at our operations, for both contractors and employees. Lost-time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) is calculated by the number of lost-time injuries / total hours worked in a fiscal year. We are pleased to note that we had no fatalities for the reported years.

Elbit Systems employs thousands of employees globally. As a responsible employer, our goal is to provide a healthy working environment for our employees. Mandatory health examinations are conducted routinely for employees that work under conditions that may pose potential health issues. We offer employees the opportunity to participate in designated health insurance programs. Until 2018, occupational illnesses were reported as part of overall injuries. Beginning in 2019, we decided to separate our reporting of occupational illnesses and overall injuries to better understand and prevent such events.