Bechtel has published the company’s first sustainability report, which showcases the positive impacts the global engineering, project management, and construction leader has on the communities and countries where it works.
“Protecting people and the environment, promoting local economic development, and partnering with communities and society are an integral part of how we do business,” said Bechtel President and CEO Bill Dudley. “Given the scale of our projects, we have an incredible opportunity to make a difference in a meaningful way, and we believe it is the right thing to do.”
“We incorporate sustainability across the life cycle of our projects, from concept to completion,” said Tam Nguyen, Bechtel’s global head of sustainability. “We are not just delivering a physical asset to our customers and communities, but also creating an enabling environment that will benefit them in the long term.”
Notable examples highlighted in the report include:
- Spending more than $18 billion worldwide last year on procurement and other contracts.
- Creating a comprehensive sustainability program for the Crossrail project in the UK, where nearly 100 percent of excavated material was reused or recycled, serving as a model for future large-scale rail projects.
- Awarding more than $250 million in contracts for goods and services to local firms in Gabon, where Bechtel and the government are executing a pioneering national infrastructure initiative.
- Hiring more than 400 apprentices in Australia to work on the company’s three liquefied natural gas projects on Curtis Island, Queensland—the largest single hiring of apprentices in the nation’s history.
- Maintaining a strong safety record by achieving a global lost-workday-incident rate 97 percent less than the projected U.S. construction-industry average.
- Partnering with five key nonprofits to inspire the next generation of engineers and improve the quality of life in areas where the company works, including projects that improved access to water, electricity, and sanitation for nearly 130,000 people.
Committed to promoting sustainability around the world, Bechtel collaborates with governments, leading business associations, and nongovernmental organizations to exchange knowledge, good practices, and practical experience. In addition, the company is co-leading U.S. business efforts to advance the post-2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
