Boeing Huntsville Site Earns Environmental Certification

Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced that its Huntsville site has earned International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certification, a global benchmark of an organization’s commitment to understand and continuously improve its environmental performance.

Boeing is working to have all of its major manufacturing facilities certified to the ISO 14001 standard by the end of 2008.

Independent auditors from Det Norske Veritas, an accredited certification body of quality, environmental and safety management systems, audited the Missile Defense Systems site Sept. 30-Oct. 3 to ensure an established environmental-management system exists and that employees understand their roles in protecting the environment.

The auditors commended the site for its communications, community outreach and conservation efforts, as well as its 5S (sorting, simplifying, sweeping, standardizing and self-discipline) procedures for reducing and eliminating waste.

“Our employees and Environment, Health and Safety organization worked energetically and diligently to achieve certification,” said Tony Jones, Huntsville site leader for Boeing. “They engaged leadership and employees, reached out to the entire community and helped all of us to understand how we could make a difference as individuals and as a team.”

The site’s employee-led “Green Team” works frequently with the Huntsville community to protect and improve the local environment through community outreach. Earlier this year, the City of Huntsville Air Pollution Control Board recognized the site for its air pollution control and air quality education efforts. The site reduced its electricity consumption and associated regional emissions from power generation by installing high-efficiency light fixtures and programmable controls, timers and motion sensors throughout the facility.

Huntsville joins Auburn and Everett, Wash.; Exmouth, Bankstown and Fishermans Bend, Australia; Kennedy Space Center, Fla.; Long Beach, Calif.; Mesa, Ariz.; Philadelphia; Portland, Ore.; Salt Lake City; San Antonio; St. Louis; Sylmar, Calif.; and Winnipeg, Canada, as Boeing sites that have achieved ISO 14001 certification.

The Boeing Company is committed to pioneering environmentally progressive technology and relentlessly reducing its environmental footprint. Since the introduction of the first Boeing jetliner, airplane emissions of carbon dioxide have been reduced by around 70 percent and noise footprints have been reduced by approximately 90 percent. Boeing targets improving fuel efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide emissions of each new generation of commercial airplane by at least 15 percent compared with the airplanes they replace. Boeing has set aggressive targets to increase solid-waste-recycling rates and energy efficiency by 25 percent and to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions intensity by 25 percent at its major manufacturing facilities by 2012, with a comparable goal for hazardous-waste reduction. For more information, visit the company’s 2008 Environment Report at www.boeing.com/environment.