Environment

Making a Meaningful Impact for Climate & Customers

In a world of increasing transparency, it’s more important than ever to commit to delivering positive outcomes for both our people and the planet. To that end, Belden is focused on four key areas where we believe we can make the biggest difference—energy consumption, water use, waste management and environmentally-friendly products.

We're proud of what we do and pay attention to the outcomes of our solutions with an equal focus on performance, human health and environmental impacts.

Climate & Energy

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Across Belden, we are committed to improving the environmental impact of our operations, reducing cost through energy efficiency gains and optimizing energy consumption wherever possible. 

By understanding how our own activities impact the environment, we can seek opportunities for improvement. Belden measures energy use at all Belden manufacturing and distribution facilities and we now publicly disclose data on Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from these operations. 

Energy-Use Improvements at Belden Facilities

Nogales, Mexico

At our Nogales, Mexico manufacturing location, we launched a project to partner with a more sustainable electricity supplier and began this transition in early October of 2020. 

Syracuse, NY

At our facility located in Syracuse, NY, we’re working to improve our own energy efficiency by automating all HVAC controls and installing new equipment to balance air flow and optimize ventilation throughout our site.

We’ve also improved our energy consumption with the installation of external LED lighting, motion-controlled lighting systems, and low-energy consumption air compressors.

Suzhou, China

At our manufacturing plant in Suzhou, China, we've implemented an onsite solar panel project reducing Scope 2 GHG emissions by 85,250 tons and extending the facility's roof lifespan by an estimated 8 years.

Water & Waste Management

We are committed to reducing waste production and water consumption at our facilities through recycling and waste management initiatives. 

Water Use

Belden manages water use at its facilities to reduce environmental impacts and cost, including re-using process water whenever possible. Water use and management is now an enterprise-wide metric we track to measure our progress in optimizing our water use. Although Belden operates in areas of low water-stress, we continue to find ways to enhance water efficiencies as we scale. 

Hazardous Waste Disposal

Belden EHS standards mandate recycling and proper handling and storage of hazardous waste prior to disposal. Hazardous waste management is audited on a continuous basis at Belden manufacturing and distribution locations.

Over time, we've moved from solvent-based to laser printing at cable manufacturing sites significantly reducing generation of solvent-based hazardous wastes.

• In 2020, only 13% of waste generated was classified as hazardous waste and—of that—95.6% was recycled or used in energy production. 

Recycling

To date, several onsite recycling systems have been established at Belden facilities, including metrics and standard work requiring teams to recycle waste over disposal whenever possible. Data and information on our recycling efforts is collected for our manufacturing and distribution sites and reviewed annually.

• In 2020, 87.5% of all waste generated was recycled. 

EHS Management Systems

Our global Corporate Environmental Health and Safety management system (EHSMS) based on ISO 14001 and OHSAS18001/ISO45001 was implemented in 2009 at all Belden manufacturing and distribution locations. The Belden EHSMS provides a structure for implementing proactive and sustainable business practices to drive continuous improvement while meeting our environmental, health and safety management objectives. 

Additionally, some of our global locations are third-party certified to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems standard and current certificates are available upon request.  

Product Compliance

Belden is committed to designing products that have minimal contaminants and that comply with all environmental laws in the markets where we sell our products, including all applicable International product environmental regulations. We work with customers and suppliers to ensure compliance with these requirements including, LEED, RoHS, China RoHS and REACH.

For a full list of all relevant certificates and declarations, please contact Belden Customer Service. 

Responsible Business Fundamentals

We are humbled to work with customers around the world to create shared value while also addressing environmental challenges. In addition to sharing our commitment to sustainability, our partners are an important part of a sustainable supply chain, and we work proactively to minimize environmental impacts wherever possible.

Our network of customers have the scale to make significant impacts, and through our partnerships, we are proud of the roles our products play in connecting people to, and protecting, meaningful alternative energy initiatives.