Company Profile
Boeing protects, connects and explores our world and beyond. As a leading global aerospace company, Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. As a top U.S. exporter, the company leverages the talents of a global supplier base to advance economic opportunity, sustainability and positive community impact. Boeing's diverse team is committed to innovating for the future and living the company's core values of safety, quality and integrity.
The company continues to expand its product line and services to meet emerging customer needs, including developing more-efficient commercial airplanes; designing, building and integrating military platforms and defense systems; creating advanced technology solutions; and arranging innovative financing and services for customers.
Boeing employs a diverse, talented and innovative workforce across the United States and in more than 65 countries.
Our operations occupied 86 million square feet (8 million square meters) of floor space as of Dec. 31, 2020, of which approximately 93% was located in the United States.
Our enterprise also leverages the talents of hundreds of thousands of skilled people working for Boeing suppliers worldwide.
Primary Business Units
Boeing Commercial Airplanes designs, builds and delivers airplanes that bring superior design, efficiency and value to our customers. Today, the company manufactures the 737, 747, 767, 777, 787 Dreamliner and Boeing Business Jet families of airplanes. Our airplanes fly farther on less fuel, reduce airport noise and emissions, and provide passenger-preferred comfort while delivering superior performance to operators. The company also offers the most-complete family of freighters, and about 90% of the world's cargo is carried on board Boeing planes.
Boeing Defense, Space & Security offers leading and innovative solutions for global defense, government and commercial customers across a portfolio that includes mobility and surveillance aircraft, fighter jets, military rotorcraft, human space exploration programs, satellites, autonomous systems, strategic deterrence and weapons systems. Through strategic investments in research and development, Defense, Space & Security is focused on providing the most digitally advanced, simply and efficiently produced solutions to our global customers.
Boeing Global Services customers rely on Boeing teammates around the world to connect passengers, deliver cargo and accomplish the mission. With unparalleled access to industry innovators, agile execution and a global presence, Global Services provides efficient, off-the-shelf and tailored products, programs and services across every stage of the aviation life cycle. The solutions we deliver help solve complex challenges; improve customer outcomes in life-cycle cost, readiness, safety and reliability; and enable customers to grow and realize new business and mission objectives.
Sustainability Approach
In October 2020, Boeing appointed Chris Raymond as its first Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), a Boeing Executive Council position. Raymond is responsible for advancing Boeing's approach to sustainability, focusing on priorities, stakeholder-oriented reporting and company performance. The CSO leads the Global Enterprise Sustainability organization, designed to sharpen our focus on key environmental, social and governance efforts through dedicated leadership alignment in these areas. Additionally, a Chief Engineer was appointed to advance Boeing's expertise in sustainability technologies as well as future mobility applications, and a new Global Sustainability Policy and Partnerships leader strengthens our company focus on sustainability outside of the United States.
Reinforcing our commitment and enterprise approach, a Global Sustainability Council composed of global leaders from across our business units and functions was established to provide executive leadership, advocacy and partnership with the sustainability organization to advance our objectives and strategy.
We have organized our sustainability efforts around four key pillars: People, Products & Services, Operations and Communities. Our sustainability priorities and enterprise initiatives are managed through these pillars, with key goals and metrics monitored by company leaders. (See examples of key metrics in the report Appendix, Page 72.)
Collaboration
Boeing assesses and manages sustainability opportunities, challenges and risks under each pillar in collaboration with functional leaders. The Board of Directors and senior leaders have the responsibility to ensure we identify and mitigate the many strategic, technological, operational and compliance risks we face, all with our core values of safety, quality and integrity at the forefront. The company's robust approach to risk management is achieved through our Enterprise Risk Management processes (further described on Page 21).
Our communities matter to us.
We focus on global partnerships and programs that inspire our future through education, honor our heroes and strengthen our homes.
Sustainability Priorities
As an international aerospace and defense leader seeking to protect, connect and explore our world and beyond, Boeing has many diverse global commercial and government market stakeholders. Our key stakeholders include our communities, customers, current and future employees, the flying public, investors, regulators and suppliers. In the normal course of business, we regularly engage these groups to discuss and understand their interests. This dialogue and collaboration informs our approach, goals and actions to drive sustainable, long-term value for our stakeholders.
In 2020, we reflected on our company values, the current state of our business and global conditions as we set out to define our sustainability priorities. We considered stakeholders' interests and multiple sustainability frameworks to identify and prioritize the most relevant issues.
We have defined key sustainability priorities and aligned them with responsible and inclusive business practices to enable a positive global impact. Our 11 priority areas reflect stakeholder insights, refreshed objectives, and balanced risk and opportunity across environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics. These priorities inform the focus of this report, align to our pillars, and include short- and long-term strategic approaches to sustainability. As our sustainability journey and learnings progress, we plan to expand stakeholder engagement and mature our priorities assessment over time.
Reporting Approach and Alignment
To address the diverse interests of our stakeholders, we have brought together a comprehensive view of our ESG activities and data in this report and are providing indexes with alignment to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (U.N. SDGs) in the Appendix. We support the goals of the Paris Agreement and consider climate change to be an urgent issue. We demonstrate the importance of climate considerations to the company by aligning our governance, strategy, risk management, metrics and targets to the TCFD core elements. To supplement this report, we publish additional information at boeing.com/sustainability.
Sustainability Goals
To reflect our ambition, Boeing has set six 2030 goals to advance sustainable aerospace in alignment with our key sustainability priorities and stakeholder interests.
We are laser focused on these ambitions today and are in the process of developing waypoints and metrics to demonstrate progress, hold ourselves accountable, and push ourselves to be and do better. We will share our metrics and waypoints to 2030 in our next report.
Ethical and Compliant Business
At Boeing, we believe that how we do our work is just as important as the work that we do. Safety, quality and integrity must be at the forefront as we design, build and service our products. And we live these priorities by holding ourselves to the highest standards in our work, how we do it and how we treat one another.
Across our global enterprise, Boeing employees are united by a shared commitment to our values including transparency, accountability and respect, which serve as the guiding principles for all we do. We believe that compliance and ethical behavior are everyone's responsibility. Seek, Speak & Listen Boeing's Global Compliance organization, led by Uma Amuluru, Chief Compliance Officer and Vice President of Global Compliance, enables compliant company performance across all geographic locations, strengthens integrity and transparency, and demonstrates our commitment to fair and ethical business practices. She works closely with the Board of Directors, senior company leadership and external stakeholders to advance Boeing's compliance and ethics culture throughout the company. She also co-chairs the Compliance Risk Management Board and is a member of the Executive Council.
Starting at the Top: Boeing's Board of Directors Champions Ethical Guidelines
Boeing's Board of Directors, referred to as the Board in this report, recognizes that the long-term interests of the company are advanced when they are responsive to the concerns of communities, customers, employees, public officials, shareholders, suppliers and other stakeholders.
The Board oversees our compliance and ethics programs through regular meetings with our Chief Compliance Officer, periodic reviews of program metrics and other key indexes of how we are shaping our values and meeting our commitments. This oversight is conducted by both the Audit Committee and the full Board.
Our Board commits to a code of ethics, which serves as a source of guiding principles and identifies key areas to foster ethical decision-making, including a focus on compliance with laws, rules and regulations; confidentiality; avoiding conflicts of interest; and reporting of illegal or unethical behavior. Directors are encouraged to bring questions about particular situations to the attention of the chair of the Governance & Public Policy Committee.
Boeing Employees Reaffirm Annual Commitment to Our Values, Code of Conduct
Inspired by our values, all Boeing employees are guided by the Boeing Code of Conduct. New employees sign the Code when they join the company, and each year all employees reaffirm their commitment to do their jobs in a fair, ethical and compliant manner.
Compliance is everyone's responsibility at Boeing, and employees must hold themselves — and each other — accountable to following all rules and regulations and to doing what is right.
For almost two decades, Boeing has held annual training for all employees to recommit to our company values. In 2020, Boeing used this training to emphasize the:
– Importance of transparency with all stakeholders, including government regulators and customers.
– Significance of creating an accountable workplace.
– Need to treat co-workers, customers, regulators and stakeholders with the utmost respect.
– Obligation of everyone to speak up when something does not align with our values.
The training features leaders and employees sharing insight about what is working and where the company can improve, to ensure mistakes are not repeated.
When Employees Speak Up, Boeing Listens and Takes Action
At Boeing, we know that in order to improve we need to be open to new ideas, concerns and criticism. To foster an open and accountable workplace culture and candid conversations, we are doing the following:
OFFERING MULTIPLE CHANNELS
TO REPORT CONCERNS
Reinforcing our Seek, Speak & Listen habits, Boeing encourages employees to have open and candid conversations with managers and leaders at every level. If employees feel uncomfortable speaking up, the company also offers confidential and anonymous reporting channels.
These channels include the Ethics U.S. domestic and global reporting hotlines; Ethics portal; a team of Ethics Advisors; and the Speak Up website, where employees can go to report issues or concerns regarding product or service safety or quality, workplace safety or ethics.
PROTECTING THOSE WHO SPEAK UP
We have seen the serious consequences our entire company faces when we don't seek, speak and listen. It is our individual responsibility to hold ourselves and one another accountable to support an environment where employees feel empowered to raise concerns without fear of reprisal. Boeing enforces a strict non-retaliation policy, reinforced by annual training and recurrent employee communication.
Understanding Ethical Concerns With Data
We are improving our ability to analyze available reporting data to identify areas of concern, understand the root cause of the problem and address any issues. The chart below demonstrates Boeing's efforts to respond to ethical concerns. Additionally, our anonymous reporting rate is lower than other published benchmarks, which suggests employees generally trust management to address their concerns and do not fear retaliation.
Why Compromising Boeing's Values Is Not an Option
Boeing has zero tolerance for bribery and corruption of any kind, and we remain committed to competing globally with transparency and honesty. We believe that businesses should compete on the basis of quality, price and service and in compliance with applicable anti-corruption laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and equivalent global laws.
Anti-Corruption Program
To ensure compliance, Boeing has a robust anti-corruption program that includes extensive controls, rigorous policies and procedures, and an annual risk assessment to ensure effectiveness and identify potential enhancement opportunities.
Additionally, retaliation against reporting parties is strictly prohibited, and appropriate action is taken against violators of anti-retaliation policies. Boeing also ensures that employees are aware of their federally protected whistle-blower rights, which are designed to protect employees against retaliation for reporting potential wrongdoing by a U.S. government contractor or subcontractor.