Investor Overview / Sustainability / Our Environmental Commitment

Our Environmental Commitment

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH & SAFETY (EHS) MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The Hexcel EHS Management System is a set of policies, processes, and expectations applied to our day-to-day operations to ensure that we systematically meet compliance commitments and continuous improvement goals. Through this system and a commitment to maintaining a safe workplace, Hexcel works to continuously improve EHS performance, its operating systems, and overall safety conditions, while also reducing waste and costs without compromising performance or service. This robust system represents to our customers and stakeholders that we not only are a committed partner with reliable systems in place to sustain their supply chains, but that we also recognize our responsibility to be a good corporate citizen in the communities where we live and work. More than 75% of our sites are ISO 14001:2015 certified, and we are working to add the remainder under our Hexcel Corporate ISO 14001:2015 umbrella certificate. In addition, about half of our sites are ISO 45001:2018 certified, and we are working to add the remainder under our Hexcel Corporate ISO 45001:2018 umbrella certificate.

We monitor the environmental commitment of our supply chain and have implemented procurement practices to recognize and differentiate suppliers by their commitment to the environment and their implementation of robust, continuously improved EHS management systems. To illustrate, majority of our largest suppliers, representing over 80% of our annual raw material purchasing spend, reported ISO 14001:2015 certification for all or most of their sites. We expect this level of certification to grow as it is a key criteria in our supplier selection and oversight program.

EMISSIONS

Hexcel tracks Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions for all Hexcel sites globally. Since tracking began in 2015, the overall trend for both Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions has been reducing, after normalizing for sales growth. Emissions increased temporarily in 2017 reflecting the start-up and qualification of our new operations in Roussillon, France and Casablanca, Morocco, as well as expansions at other sites globally. Overall, from 2015 to the end of 2019, emissions decreased approximately 15% when normalized for sales.

This emissions reduction was accomplished through a variety of methods outlined below, including changes to our procurement and manufacturing processes.

RENEWABLE ENERGY PROCUREMENT

Consistent with the favorable environmental impact of our composite lightweighting products, we seek to minimize the environmental impact of our operations, including the use of renewable power for generating approximately 20% of our global power consumption needs.

Solar Power

We manufacture honeycomb core in Casa Grande, Arizona, in a 443,000 square foot facility. As part of our initiatives to optimize energy usage and sourcing, we entered into a power purchase agreement (PPA) for more than 1.1 megawatts of solar power from the local electric utility. This PPA led to a reduction in energy costs overall for the facility.

Our facility in Neumarkt, Austria manufactures composites for the Industrial market including wind energy, automotive and recreational applications. Through a PPA, the local utility installed solar panels on the roof of the facility, and we purchase the renewable power generated at a lower cost than grid-delivered power.

These are two of many examples of Hexcel’s renewable power adoption globally as we continue to evaluate cost-effective solutions to further increase our utilization of renewable power while simultaneously reducing our power costs.

OPERATIONAL INITIATIVES TO REDUCE EMISSIONS AND CONSERVE ENERGY

Hexcel has achieved significant energy savings by reducing energy consumption, leveraging our scale to reduce the price we pay for electricity and natural gas and sharing energy management best practices across our organization. Project examples include:

  • Installation of heat recovery exchangers to recover energy from our production processes and reduce consumption of electricity and natural gas
  • Retrofitting existing facilities with low-energy LED lighting and incorporating the latest energy efficiency standards in new facilities
  • Modifying our start-up and shut-down processes for individual product lines in a manner that reduces energy consumption

We use industrial-scale ovens to manufacture carbon fiber and honeycomb composites.

  • Hexcel gathers real-time emissions data from these ovens using portable emission analyzers, which enables us to fine-tune the burner systems, leading to three key benefits: (1) minimizing CO2 emissions; (2) reducing natural gas consumption; and, (3) ensuring compliance with internal and regulatory standards. We have achieved very favorable results at a number of our facilities with these analyzers and have expanded this initiative to optimize operations at all of our oven-using facilities.
  • Hexcel is transitioning to the use of high temperature electric-powered oxidation ovens instead of natural gas ovens when ovens are replaced or new ovens are needed. When combined with our growing use of renewable power sources, this use of electric ovens is helping to reduce our emissions and usage of natural gas.

RECYCLING AND WATER RE-USE

We have been recycling our waste for a number of years and continue to increase the percentage recycled each year.

  • Approximately 25% of Hexcel’s total waste is recycled, including paper, cardboard, metal, plastics, oil, solvents, and production scrap. We recycle over 80% of the dry carbon fiber waste generated by our European and U.S. operations.
  • We made a strategic investment in Carbon Conversions Inc. (CCI), a composite recycling firm that reclaims dry, wet and cured carbon fiber to repurpose. This total lifecycle approach provides an environmentally-friendly recycled product for aerospace and industrial applications with product characteristics and performance that meets our high standards.
  • Water reuse and reclamation programs at our Decatur, Alabama, manufacturing facility reduced water consumption by 30%.
  • Wastewater from our Salt Lake City, Utah carbon fiber facility is reclaimed and supplied to a neighboring golf course for re-use.
  • We utilize re-usable plastic shipping pallets for shipments between many of our facilities.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Each year, Airbus Defence and Space recognizes just a few select suppliers that have achieved excellence in sustainability through initiatives that support its business. In November, 2022, Hexcel was recognized, and received the Airbus Defence and Space annual Sustainability Award. This award recognizes a Hexcel collaboration announced in 2021 with Fairmat to recycle carbon fiber prepreg composite cutoffs from Hexcel European operations and its customers. The cutoffs are reused in manufacturing composite panels sold into commercial markets.

Our Burlington, Washington facility was recognized in 2019, 2018 and 2017 as a Clean Air Winner by the Washington State Northwest Clean Air Agency. Winners must comply with all applicable air quality regulations for at least three years and employ additional clean air practices in at least two of the following categories: energy efficiency, emissions reductions, air pollution prevention practices, and transportation. This facility won gold awards in 2019 and 2017 and was honored as the sole Platinum Award winner in 2018. Learn more at NW Clean Air Alliance business award winners.

In 2019, Hexcel’s Dagneux, France facility received an award for its outstanding culture of safety and sustainability. The award was presented by the Departmental Commercial Chambers as part of a new program aimed at recognizing industrial sites that exhibit excellence in EHS throughout France.

Our Kent, Washington facility recycles approximately 80% of its solid waste by volume and as a result received Leader Level recognition from the multi-state EnviroStars™ Green Business program in 2018 and 2017. Our Kent facility was recognized under the predecessor program each year from 2013-2016 by being named to the Best Workplaces for Waste Prevention and Recycling list compiled by the King County (Washington) Solid Waste Division. Learn more - Greenbiztracker - Hexcel Kent.

INNOVATIVE HEXCEL ADVANCED COMPOSITES – Helping our Customers Reduce Emissions

Our scientists created a composite prepreg with a surface finish that is ready-to-paint for wind blades and marine applications straight from the mold. This innovative surface treatment eliminates emissions by avoiding a gel-coat surface treatment. Moreover, our customers benefit by eliminating at least two hours of surface preparation for wind blade production, and they can reduce materials costs.