Performance summary

Employees

Learning

We continue to empower IBMers with personalized learning. Your Learning, a digital platform powered by Watson, integrates formal, informal and social learning sources and customizes content for each learner. Users can access training anytime and in their preferred format, gaining control and continuously developing their skills in a faster and more efficient way.

Learning	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Investments worldwide ($M)   KPI	525	482	484	498	425
Total hours worldwide (M)	40	25.8	25	26.7	23.7
Hours per employee   KPI	82	62.5	58.3	56	59

Volunteering

IBM supports employees and retirees in skills-based volunteering in their communities worldwide. Since 2003, our volunteering enablement initiative has logged over 20 million hours of service.

Volunteering	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Worldwide retiree/employee hours (K)	1,496	1,532	1,195	1,248	1,205

Global illness/injury rate

Global illness/injury rate	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Total per 100 employees	0.30	0.42	0.33	0.30	0.25

Giving

IBM reports global corporate contributions by issue, geography and type of grant. The type of our giving — services, technology (including software) and cash — is what distinguishes IBM. We work collaboratively to transform approaches to societal challenges through innovative solutions that can achieve measurable outcomes.

Giving by issue reflects our goal to maintain education as our primary focus, although we maintain investments in human services, culture, health and the environment. We also remain flexible to address new initiatives and meet extraordinary external conditions such as disaster relief and recovery. The geographic distribution of our contributions reflects how IBM operates — in a global, fully integrated fashion. Some contributions are given on a globally competitive basis, so geographical distribution may vary due to the number and quality of applications. We do not set goals for percentage change in contributions year-to-year, nor for giving by geography or type of contribution. We focus on increasing the quality of our work with organizations on projects that use innovative solutions and can have significant, measurable impact on key social issues. Future contributions will reflect our goal of increasing their effectiveness.

Contributions by type ($M)   KPI	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Technology	100.2	104.4	109.5	171.7	261.1
Services	66.3	69.2	60	44.3	34.8
Cash	41.4	36.8	35.5	41.8	36.6
Total ($M)	207.9	210.4	205.0	257.8	332.5

...by issue ($M)   KPI	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Education	147.1	149.2	154.8	208.4	291.7
Human services	17.3	20.1	18.6	15.9	15.2
Health	3.5	3.7	3.6	5.2	9.8
Culture	3.0	3.6	3.4	4.0	4.0
Environment	5.0	3.1	0.6	3.5	2.7
Other	32.0	30.7	23.9	20.8	9.1
Total ($M)	207.9	210.4	205.0	257.8	332.5

...by geography ($M)   KPI	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
North America	83.5	84.7	65.4	99.2	132.2
Asia Pacific	37.5	40.3	42.6	39.3	52.1
Europe, Middle East, Africa	65.7	64.8	82.2	104.2	118.3
Latin America	21.2	20.6	14.8	15.1	29.9
Total ($M)	207.9	210.4	205.0	257.8	332.5

Supply chain

Global supplier spending was $24.8 billion in 2017, increased slightly from 2016 and distributed among categories and regions as shown below. See the full report for detail on our spending and programs including supply chain social responsibility, industry collaboration, supplier diversity and more.

Supplier spending by category ($B)	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Services and general procurement	22.1	21.6	20.3	20.3	20.0
Production procurement	9.7	7.8	4.7	3.8	4.2
Logistics procurement	1.0	0.9	0.8	0.6	0.6
Total ($B)	32.8	30.3	25.8	24.7	24.8

...by location ($B)	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
North America	11.8	11.2	10.8	10.6	10.6
Asia Pacific	11.4	9.9	8.0	7.3	7.5
Europe, Middle East, Africa	7.0	6.9	5.8	5.6	5.5
Latin America	2.6	2.3	1.2	1.2	1.2
Total ($B)	32.8	30.3	25.8	24.7	24.8

First-tier spending   KPI	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Total US ($B)	10.2	9.8	9.3	9.7	9.9
Diverse US ($B)	1.9	1.5	1.3	1.3	1.4
Diverse non-US ($M)	917	883	718	744	657

Environment

IBM maintains goals covering the range of its environmental programs including climate protection, energy and water conservation, pollution prevention, waste management and product stewardship. These goals and our performance against them are discussed in the environment section of this report.

Energy conservation

IBM again surpassed its goal by attaining a 4.2 percent savings from energy conservation projects in 2017. Our goal is to achieve annual savings equal to 3.5 percent of IBM’s total energy use in IBM-managed space.

Energy conservation   KPI	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
As % of total energy use	6.7	6.7	6.3	5.3	4.2

Renewable electricity procurement  

IBM’s renewable electricity procurement goal is to purchase 20 percent of our electricity consumption at IBM-managed space from renewable sources by 2020, over and above the quantity of renewable energy provided as part of the mix of electricity that we purchase from the grid. In 2017, IBM contracted with its utility suppliers to purchase approximately 779,000 megawatt-hours of renewable electricity, representing 22.9 percent of our global electricity consumption and once again exceeding our goal.

Renewable electricity procurement   KPI	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
As % of total electricity purchases	11.8	14.2	16.2	21.5	22.9

CO₂ emissions reduction

Our third-generation CO₂ emissions reduction goal is to reduce CO₂ emissions associated with energy consumption at IBM-managed locations 35 percent by year-end 2020, against base year 2005 and adjusted for acquisitions and divestitures. In 2017, IBM once again exceeded this goal having reduced its operational CO₂ emissions by 42.9 percent against the 2005 baseline.

CO2 emissions reduction   KPI	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
As % of 2005 baseline CO2 emissions	24.7	27.7	28.7	38.1	42.9

Water conservation  

IBM made further reductions in annual water withdrawals at 45 data centers and other large locations in water-stressed regions. The 2.9 percent reduction in 2017 again achieved our goal, established in 2016, of year-to-year reductions at these locations each year.

Water conservation   KPI				2016	2017
% annual reduction in water withdrawals at data centers and other large IBM locations in water-stressed regions				6.6	2.9

Nonhazardous waste recycling

Our goal is to send an average of 75 percent (by weight) of the nonhazardous waste generated at locations managed by IBM to be recycled. In 2017, we recovered and sent 87.8 percent of our nonhazardous waste to be recycled.

Nonhazardous waste recycling   KPI	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
% by weight sent for recycling of total generated*	86.0	85.9	85.2	86.3	87.8

Product energy efficiency   KPI

IBM’s product energy efficiency goal is to improve the computing power delivered for each kilowatt-hour of electricity used for each new generation of servers. In 2017, IBM released its POWER9-based Power Systems Accelerated Compute (AC922) server for high-performance computing analytics and artificial intelligence. When compared to comparable IBM POWER8 products, IBM POWER9-based servers have Server Efficiency Rating Tool (SERT) weighted geomean active efficiency scores up to three times higher — which represents three times the performance or work delivered without any increase in power use. The SERT was created by the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC). IBM also introduced its next-generation mainframe, the IBM z14 server, in 2017. On average, the IBM z14 server delivers 23 percent or more work per kilowatt depending on the choice of components and cooling method.

ENERGY STAR certified products   KPI

IBM has a goal to qualify its new server and storage products to the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ENERGY STAR program criteria where practical, and where criteria have been developed for the specific server or storage product type. In 2017, IBM certified select configurations of the IBM Storwize V7000 storage product to Version 1 of the ENERGY STAR data center storage requirements. None of the server products IBM released during 2017 was subject to ENERGY STAR criteria.

As of May 2018, IBM had five Power Systems servers and seven storage products certified to the ENERGY STAR requirements. The Power Systems servers meet the EPA’s requirements for power-supply efficiency, idle power limits or power management capability, and SPEC SERT metric data reporting. The storage products meet requirements for power-supply efficiency and reporting of the Storage Networking Industry Association Emerald Power Efficiency Measurement Specification results.

Product end-of-life management  

IBM’s goal is to reuse or recycle end-of-life IT products such that the amount of product waste sent by IBM’s product end-of-life management (PELM) operations to landfills or incineration for treatment does not exceed a combined 3 percent (by weight) of the total amount processed. In 2017, IBM’s PELM operations sent only 0.7 percent of the total processed to landfill or incineration facilities for treatment.

Product end-of-life management   KPI	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
% by weight of total processed sent by IBM’s PELM operations to landfill or incineration for treatment	0.3	0.5	0.7	0.6	0.7