SASB
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Framework
Intro
WM (WM.com) is North America’s largest comprehensive waste management environmental solutions provider. Previously known as Waste Management and based in Houston, Texas, WM is driven by commitments to put people first and achieve success with integrity. The company, through its subsidiaries, provides collection, recycling and disposal services to millions of residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers throughout the U.S. and Canada. With innovative infrastructure and capabilities in recycling, organics and renewable energy, WM provides environmental solutions to and collaborates with its customers in helping them achieve their sustainability goals. This report was prepared following the SASB Waste Management Sustainability Accounting Standard, Version 2018-10, using the reporting entity described in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022. All data is as of December 31, 2022, for calendar year 2022, unless otherwise noted.
2023 SASB Report
The Company, from time to time, provides estimates of financial and other data, comments on expectations relating to future periods and makes statements of opinion, view or belief about current and future events, which may be identified by the use of words such as “target,” “plan,” “expect,” “forecast,” “future,” “commit,” “intend,” “potential,” “estimate,” and similar expressions that contemplate future events. Except for historical information contained herein, the statements in this report are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Examples of forward-looking statements in this report include, but are not limited to: sustainability and business goals, including those relating to measuring and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, recycling, renewable energy, energy efficiency, diversity & inclusion, safety, community engagement and giving and environmental justice; plans and strategies to achieve such goals; future execution of and planned, projected or estimated investments and capital expenditures in strategic priorities, including sustainability projects; timing, outcomes, including production increases and capacity expansions, and benefits from investment in strategic priorities and sustainability projects; business and growth plans; and any other future events, performance or results. You should view these statements with caution. They are based on the facts and circumstances known to the Company as of the date the statements are made. Forwardlooking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from those set forth in such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to failure to implement our optimization, automation, growth, and cost savings initiatives and overall business strategy; failure to obtain the results anticipated from strategic initiatives, investments, acquisitions or new lines of business; failure to identify acquisition targets, consummate and integrate acquisitions; environmental and other regulations, including developments related to emerging contaminants, gas emissions, renewable energy and ESG performance and disclosure; increasing attention to ESG matters and heightened scrutiny of ESG disclosures, including potential allegations that such claims are misleading or overstate ESG benefits, which could lead to increased litigation risk related to our ESG efforts; significant environmental, safety or other incidents resulting in liabilities or brand damage; failure to obtain and maintain necessary permits due to land scarcity, public opposition or otherwise; diminishing landfill capacity, resulting in increased costs and the need for disposal alternatives; failure to attract, hire and retain key team members and a high quality workforce; increases in labor costs due to union organizing activities or changes in wage and labor related regulations; disruption and costs resulting from extreme weather and destructive climate events; failure to achieve our sustainability goals or execute on our sustainability-related strategy and initiatives; public health risk, increased costs and disruption due to a future resurgence of pandemic conditions and restrictions; macroeconomic conditions, geopolitical conflict and market disruption resulting in labor, supply chain and transportation constraints, inflationary cost pressures and fluctuations in commodity prices, fuel and other energy costs; increased competition; pricing actions; impacts from international trade restrictions; competitive disposal alternatives, diversion of waste from landfills and declining waste volumes; weakness in general economic conditions and capital markets, including potential for an economic recession; instability of financial institutions; adoption of new tax legislation; fuel shortages; failure to develop and protect new technology; failure of technology to perform as expected; failure to prevent, detect and address cybersecurity incidents or comply with privacy regulations; negative outcomes of litigation or governmental proceedings; and decisions or developments that result in impairment charges. Please also see Waste Management, Inc.’s filings with the SEC, including Part I, Item 1A of its most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, and any subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, for additional information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties applicable to its business. The forward-looking statements in this report speak only as of the date of the preparation of this report, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, including financial estimates and forecasts, whether as a result of future events, circumstances or developments or otherwise.
Many of the assumptions, standards, methodologies, metrics and measurements used in preparing this report continue to evolve and are based on management assumptions believed to be reasonable at the time of preparation, but should not be considered guarantees. There are inherent uncertainties in providing such information, due to the complexity and novelty of many methodologies established for collecting, measuring, and analyzing ESG and sustainability-related data.
Unless otherwise provided, the information contained in this report is expressly not incorporated by reference into any filing of the Company made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or any other filing, report, application, or statement made by the Company to any federal, state, tribal, or local governmental authority. We may have used definitions of materiality in the course of creating this report that do not coincide with or rise to the level of the definition of materiality for the purposes of U.S. federal securities laws.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
| SASB Code | Sustainability Metric | Unit of Measure | Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| SASB Code: IF-WM-110a.1 | Sustainability Metric:
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Unit of Measure:
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Response:
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| SASB Code: IF-WM-110a.2 | Sustainability Metric:
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Unit of Measure:
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Response:
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| SASB Code: IF-WM-110a.3 | Sustainability Metric: Discussion of long-term and short-term strategy or plan to manage scope 1 and lifecycle emissions, emissions reduction targets, and an analysis of performance against those targets | Unit of Measure: n/a | Response:
WM has set circularity and climate impact goals to reduce our carbon footprint. We are making meaningful investments in landfill gas capture and landfill emissions measurement, as well as continuing to transition our fleet to run on alternative fuels. Additionally, we help enable our customers to reduce their own emissions through recycling, renewable energy and sustainability services. The goals we have set to support our climate objectives include:
WM has committed to a near-term carbon reduction target to achieve 42% reduction in direct scope 1 and 2 emissions from our operations by 2031. Our near-term climate target has been approved and validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). GHG emissions from landfills represent more than 80% of our total emissions, and therefore is the primary focus to meet our climate impact target. Alternative fuels in our collection fleet, and increased renewable electricity usage at controlled facilities, provide complementary emission reduction opportunities. To realize emission reductions from our landfills, we are making sizeable investments to increase the amount of landfill gas captured and beneficially reused. Key activities and investments include expansion of existing gas collection systems, construction of new gas collection systems, installation of automated wellheads, acceleration of landfill capping activities and enhancement of measurement and reporting capabilities across our landfill network. Renewable Energy WM is a leader in beneficial use of landfill gas and has long-term growth potential to further this opportunity. We develop, operate and promote projects for the beneficial use of landfill gas through our WM Renewable Energy business. Landfill gas is produced naturally as waste decomposes in a landfill. The methane component of the landfill gas is a readily available, renewable energy source that can be gathered and used beneficially as an alternative to fossil fuel. As of December 31, 2022, we had 135 landfill gas beneficial use projects producing commercial quantities of methane gas at our owned or operated landfills. The beneficial use of captured landfill gas has long-term growth potential. Landfill gas can be captured and used to fuel vehicles or electrify homes. WM beneficially used 45% of captured landfill gas in 2022. WM has announced plans to make significant, multi-year investments in our landfillgas-to-energy projects over the next several years. In 2022, renewable energy generated from WM’s landfill gas-to-energy program resulted in 54,504,000 MMBtu of renewable energy and avoided almost two million metric tons CO2e. By 2026, we expect the result of these investments to be operational, with over 20 renewable natural gas facilities expected to generate an estimated 28 million MMBtu per year. Fleet WM continues to reduce emissions associated with our collection fleet by converting our conventional fleet to alternative fuel vehicles. WM has focused primarily on transitioning more than 60% of our entire collection fleet to alternative fuel vehicles, including lower emission compressed natural gas vehicles, and allocating renewable natural gas to 47% of those alternative fuel vehicles. Material Recovery WM managed over 14.8M tons of materials for recycling in 2022, which has the potential to avoid over 25 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent. Capturing more recyclable materials will help reduce the use and sourcing of virgin materials, ultimately reducing lifecycle emissions generated from processing virgin materials. For the coming years, WM has announced over 40 planned recycling infrastructure projects to develop new material recovery facilities or upgrade existing facilities with automation. To continue to increase the amount of material we manage, we are investing in automation technology which can help capture additional materials for recycling and has potential to produce higher quality recyclables through improved sorting. *The target boundary includes land-related emission and removals from bioenergy feedstocks. |
Fleet Fuel Management
| SASB Code | Sustainability Metric | Unit of Measure | Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| SASB Code: IF-WM-110b.1 | Sustainability Metric:
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Unit of Measure:
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Response:
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| SASB Code: IF-WM-110b.2 | Sustainability Metric: Percentage of alternative energy vehicles in fleet | Unit of Measure: Percentage (%) | Response: 61% |
Air Quality
| SASB Code | Sustainability Metric | Unit of Measure | Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| SASB Code: IF-WM-120a.1 | Sustainability Metric:
Air emissions of the following pollutants:
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Unit of Measure: Metric tons (t) | Response:
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| SASB Code: IF-WM-120a.2 | Sustainability Metric: Number of facilities in or near areas of dense population | Unit of Measure: Number | Response:
122 active or closed landfills within an urbanized area, 146 within 5 km of an urbanized area,
181 outside of an urbanized area.
Environmental Justice data is updated bi-annually. Last update Sept 2021. See the Environmental Justice section of our ESG Resource Hub. |
| SASB Code: IF-WM-120a.3 | Sustainability Metric: Number of incidents of non-compliance associated with air emissions | Unit of Measure: Number | Response: 3 |
Management of Leachate and Hazardous Waste
| SASB Code | Sustainability Metric | Unit of Measure | Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| SASB Code: IF-WM-150a.1 | Sustainability Metric:
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Unit of Measure:
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Response:
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| SASB Code: IF-WM-150a.2 | Sustainability Metric: Number of corrective actions implemented for landfill releases | Unit of Measure: Number | Response: Our modern landfill liners continue to perform as designed, not allowing releases through the liner that would require corrective action to clean up groundwater under neighboring properties. |
| SASB Code: IF-WM-150a.3 | Sustainability Metric: Number of incidents of non-compliance associated with environmental impacts | Unit of Measure: Number | Response: 7 formal enforcement actions and 6 reported spills in 2022 |
Labor Practices
| SASB Code | Sustainability Metric | Unit of Measure | Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| SASB Code: IF-WM-310a.1 | Sustainability Metric: Percentage of active workforce covered under collective bargaining agreements | Unit of Measure: Percentage (%) | Response: 17% |
| SASB Code: IF-WM-310a.2 | Sustainability Metric:
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Unit of Measure:
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Response:
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Workforce Health & Safety
| SASB Code | Sustainability Metric | Unit of Measure | Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| SASB Code: IF-WM-320a.1 | Sustainability Metric:
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Unit of Measure:
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Response:
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| SASB Code: IF-WM-320a.2 | Sustainability Metric:
Safety Measurement System BASIC percentiles for:
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Unit of Measure: Percentile (%) | Response:
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| SASB Code: IF-WM-320a.3 | Sustainability Metric: Number of vehicle accidents and incidents | Unit of Measure: Number | Response: SASB methodology for this metric does not align with industry practice for safety reporting; please refer to the safety section of our Sustainability Report and ESG Data Center for more information. |
Recycling & Resource Recovery
| SASB Code | Sustainability Metric | Unit of Measure | Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| SASB Code: IF-WM-420a.1 | Sustainability Metric:
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Unit of Measure:
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Response:
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| SASB Code: IF-WM-420a.2 | Sustainability Metric:
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Unit of Measure: Percentage (%) | Response:
Recycling Services: Commercial = 29% Industrial = 9% Residential = 73% Organics Services: Commercial = <1% Industrial = <1% Residential = 39% Commercial, industrial, and residential customers served under municipal contracts are included in the above categories. |
| SASB Code: IF-WM-420a.3 | Sustainability Metric:
Amount of material
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Unit of Measure: Short tons (t) | Response:
Tonnage reported reflects managed materials at WM owned and operated facilities. Composted includes organic material composted, mulched or processed in CORe® facilities. |
| SASB Code: IF-WM-420a.4 | Sustainability Metric:
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Unit of Measure:
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Response:
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Activity Metric
| SASB Code | Sustainability Metric | Unit of Measure | Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| SASB Code: IF-WM-000.A | Activity Metric: Number of customers by category:
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Unit of Measure: Number | Response:
The scope of “residential” shall only include those residential customers that have direct contracts with the entity. For the purposes of this disclosure, residential customers serviced through contracts with a municipality shall be considered in the “municipal” category. |
| SASB Code: IF-WM-000.B | Activity Metric: Vehicle fleet size | Unit of Measure: Number | Response: 18,545 collection vehicles 11,307 alternative energy vehicles |
| SASB Code: IF-WM-000.C | Activity Metric:
Number of
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Unit of Measure: Number | Response:
This includes WM owned and operated facilities. |