Company Overview

General Electric (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate with its headquarters at Boston in
Massachusetts. The company operates in the following segments: Aviation, Healthcare, Power,
Renewable Energy, Digital Industry, Finance and Lighting. The company has been at the forefront of
technological innovations for about 125 years.

Sustainability

Overview

The company focuses on working with highest integrity, compliance and respect for human rights
while also decoupling their technological advancements from their environmental footprint. The ESG
(Environmental, Social and Governance) strategies are integrated into the overall strategy and risk
management for the firm. GE focuses on the following priorities: Integrity & Compliance, Human
Rights and Climate & Energy.

The journey of ESG reporting

Until 2018 there was no separate Sustainability Reporting by the firm. The sustainability parameters
and results were included as Business Responsibility Report within the Annual Financial Report. The
details were provided as an annexure to the directors’ report.

Since 2018, the firm has started reporting the ESG results separately and the same is available under
the ESG section of their reports. The major components whose designs have incorporated social and
environmental concerns, risks and opportunities are Extra high Voltage (EHV) Current Transformer
and Extra high Voltage (EHV) Circuit Breaker. These include reduced consumption of oil, wood, steel
and aluminium. Process efficiency achieved through lower electricity consumption in the production
process. The company also has a well-defined supplier selection and purchasing process for
sustainable sourcing. The supplier onboarding process is subject to stringent guidelines set by the
compliance team.

The average net profit of the company during the last three financial years was ₹ 918 million. Thus,
the prescribed CSR expenditure was ₹ 18.4 million. The company actually spent ₹ 20.1 million in FY-
2018. The main projects are- Villages Development (including promoting livelihood, education and
health, water and sanitation facilities), community development through provisioning of safe
drinking water, improving school infrastructure and building facilities fir disabled children and
improving facilities in primary health care centres. So far, the company has spent ₹82.1 million in
CSR activities from 2014-15.

The company started reporting a separate Environmental, Social, and Governance Results since 2018
onwards. The GHG emissions have been declining from 3.83 (million metric tons of CO 2 equivalent) in
2016 to 2.80 in 2018 as against the baseline of 3.64. Through 2018, the company has reduced
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their operations by 23% from the adjusted 2011 baseline. The
company is focusing more and more on the usage of renewable energy sources with the investments
yielding approximately 12.6 million metric tons of avoided emissions in offsets from renewable
energy projects. Through 2018, the overall freshwater use was reduced 18% from the adjusted 2011
baseline.

Overall, GE is emphasising on the standardisation of reporting its sustainability initiates. There is an

enhanced focus on classifying the interventions on the basis of sectors and measuring their impact
accordingly.