Download SP Metrics 9-16-03 Conference call minutes

Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP)
DRAFT Performance Metrics Work Group Conference Call Summary
September 16, 2003
2:00pm EDT
Mr. Brad Strohm, Delphi Corporation, called the conference call to order at 10:00am EDT with the
following individuals participating on the call:
Pat Beattie, GM
Sandy Brewer, GM
Amy Goldman, SP
Steve Hellem, SP
Tim Phillips, SP
Kregg Salvino, Motorola, Inc.
Scott Stanley, Guardian Automotive
Roger Strelow, Federal-Mogul
Kristin Zimmerman, GM
Mr. Strohm, Delphi, welcomed and thanked everyone for participating in the call. Ms. Goldman, SP,
reviewed the SP antitrust guidelines and asked participants to indicate in their notes that they had been
reviewed.
Mr. Strohm reviewed the draft document, “Suppliers Partnership for the Environment: Environmental
Performance Reporting.” It was agreed that the term “environmental performance reporting” should be
replaced by “environmental metrics” throughout the document. Ms. Brewer, GM, raised the issue of
legality with regards to allowing non-members to participate in the metrics project. It was agreed that the
SP metrics program would only allow participation by SP members.
Ms. Strohm reviewed methods of measuring SP’s progress with the metrics project. The issue was raised
as to SP’s reporting method, whether to report aggregate data from all SP companies, or to report
individual data from each company. Mr. Strelow, Federal-Mogul, stressed the need for some type of
overall reporting to demonstrate that SP companies are not simply showing individual metrics in which
their progress was improving. The group emphasized the goal of the metrics project was not to provide a
simple overall performance improvement number to be published each year, but to measure progress in
specific metric categories. Mr. Strohm emphasized the importance of sharing all environmental
successes, but qualifying all data by saying that any reports in no way represent the total progress of each
member company.
Ms. Zimmerman reviewed the Energy Metric Category. It was suggested that the categories listed –
electricity (kWh), natural gas (mcf), coal (tons) and liquid fuels (gals) – be the minimum number of
reported categories by participating companies, but by no means the only categories to be examined. Mr.
Strohm suggested that companies refer these measurements to their respective ‘energy guys’ to assist in
gathering data. Mr. Strelow suggested the use of an aggregated metric in terms of total equivalent energy
used, i.e., Total Energy Consumed in kWh. Ms. Zimmerman will develop the introduction and language
to the Energy Metrics section.
Ms. Brewer discussed the Waste Metrics Category. The scope of waste reporting was raised, as Ms.
Brewer suggested companies restrict their reports to U.S. operations. Mr. Strelow stressed the importance
of not mandating that companies only report U.S. data, but also conveying that SP is not discouraging
solely U.S.-based reports.
DRAFT SP Performance Metrics Work Group
Conference Call Summary
September 16, 2003
Page 2 of 2
Ms. Pierre, EPA, briefly reviewed Materials Usage Reductions. She will discuss this issue with NIST,
specifically to determine how to use this category to appeal to Tier II or Tier III suppliers. Ms. Pierre will
contact Mr. Strohm with more information after she speaks with NIST and others at EPA.
Ms. Beattie discussed Toxics Emissions Reduction. The sensitivity to reporting the use of specific toxic
substances was raised, and the group agreed that reporting areas where toxics use has been reduced could
alleviate these concerns. Ms. Brewer suggested that each company report their five most abundantly used
toxic substances, to use as a standard when measuring reductions. The group agreed that keeping reports
more open at the beginning of the project could help to gain a better picture of the best method of
reporting toxics reductions.
Mr. Strohm reviewed Normalization of data reported in the metrics project. The general consensus of the
group was that as long as each company presents their absolute data, and also provides their specific
methods of normalization, the group as a whole should have no problems aggregating the overall data.
Ms. Pierre agreed to call Mr. Dan Luria, NIST, to determine their method of data normalization. Mr.
Strohm will create a draft of the absolute value portion of the normalization section.
ACTION ITEMS:
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Ms. Zimmerman will draft changes to the Energy Metrics Category to develop a new introduction
and accommodate for aggregated data.
Ms. Pierre will discuss Materials Usage with EPA and contact Mr. Strohm with information.
Ms. Pierre will contact Mr. Luria regarding NIST data normalization practices.
Mr. Strohm will create a draft of the absolute value section of data normalization for SP Metrics
Mr. Strohm will make changes to current Metrics draft and send to Ms. Goldman.
Ms. Goldman will distribute draft memo to SP membership detailing the Metrics project and what
information SP is asking members to provide.
The next Performance Metrics Work Group call will be held on October 10 at 1:00pm EDT.
The call was adjourned at 3:30pm EDT.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Goldman
Director