At Raytheon, stewardship starts in the workplace but extends far beyond. We show respect for our external environment—eliminating pollution and waste, minimizing the use of water and other natural resources, maximizing reuse and recycling and working steadily to reduce our carbon footprint. We work regularly with customers, suppliers, partners, industry and government leaders, academic researchers and neighbors to devise and implement solutions that work for the business and protect the world around us. We strive to integrate energy efficiency and environmentally friendly behavior into the daily practice of every Raytheon business.

Pollution Prevention and Waste Reduction

In our companywide effort to prevent pollution and preserve natural resources, we continue to work toward zero waste generation and the recycling or reuse of waste we cannot eliminate. Since 1998, Raytheon has reduced hazardous waste by 85 percent per billion dollar of revenue. In 2007 alone, we reduced hazardous waste by 20 percent to 45 tons per billion dollar revenue. We generated approximately 1,200 tons of hazardous waste, of which 82 percent was recycled, blended into fuels, treated or incinerated.

Since 1998, Raytheon has reduced its solid waste per billion dollar of revenue by 50 percent, with an 11 percent reduction last year. In 2007, we generated approximately 19,550 tons of solid waste and recycled 58 percent, or 11,300 tons. By recycling that waste rather than placing it in landfills, we saved approximately 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (using the Environmental Protection Agency's “Waste Reduction Model”). We continually seek ways to reduce waste. For example, we are currently working with dining centers at our major locations to develop waste reduction and recycling plans. We have partnered with our dining center supplier to implement organic waste recycling programs at several New England locations. We intend to expand this partnership across the company. Waste metrics are collected monthly and reported quarterly to our Board of Directors.

Climate and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Climate change and the role of GHG emissions are important environmental, economic and social issues that have gained worldwide attention. Raytheon has been tracking its GHG emissions since 2002 and has taken actions to reduce them. In 2002, Raytheon joined the U.S. EPA’s Climate Leaders program as a charter member. Climate Leaders is a voluntary industry/government initiative that requires participating companies to set long-term GHG reduction goals and develop comprehensive GHG inventories based on standards developed by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Raytheon set an aggressive goal to reduce GHG emissions by 33 percent from 2002 to 2009, normalized by revenue. By the end of 2007, we achieved a 28 percent reduction toward this goal. Since 2002, we have avoided cumulatively over 140,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent GHG emissions.

Environmental Sustainability Projects

To encourage environmental sustainability activities throughout the company, we established a companywide goal to perform over 160 environmental sustainability projects during 2008. Information regarding the projects will be collected monthly and reported quarterly to senior management and our Board of Directors.

There are many types of sustainability projects, including:

  • Procurement of green products (recycled paper, eco-friendly cleaning supplies, computers, etc.)
  • Reducing the use of GHG chemicals
  • Improving fuel efficiency
  • Increasing the use of alternative fuels