Planet and Climate - SBTi

“Climate action can prevent the most impactful effects of climate change and serve as a lever to enhance the competitiveness of our sustainable business offering and value creation. In recent years, Leonardo has reduced direct and indirect emissions from operations by over 40% and is now focusing on measures to cut Scope 3 emissions. In line with this strategy and our decarbonization targets validated by SBTi, we will enhance the sustainability of our supply chain and the development of low-carbon products and solutions.”

Roberto Cingolani, Leonardo Chief Executive Officer and General Manager

“Sustainability is one of the enabling factors of our new Industrial Plan. Through efficient data collection, digitalisation, and enhanced computing capacity, we develop innovative solutions, technologies, and know-how to pursue our commitment to climate action.”

Raffaella Luglini, Leonardo Chief Sustainability Officer

The triple crisis - climate change, loss of nature and biodiversity, pollution and waste - geopolitical crises and inequalities are defining the challenges of our time. As Leonardo supports institutional and private sector clients in providing security tools, there is a need to integrate climate, environmental, and development strategies to support resilient and inclusive business growth.

Leonardo has consolidated an environmental strategy based on the decoupling concept between business growth and resource consumption for its business, leveraging technological innovation, allowing to contain its environmental footprint and preserve ecosystems in the territories in which it operates.

LEONARDO'S CLIMATE COMMITMENT

Leonardo, in line with major industry peers, is committed to strengthening its leadership in security and technology that can promote sustainability and climate action. The latter aims to avoid the effects of climate change and to be a lever to increase Leonardo's sustainable business proposition competitiveness. The Group is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions throughout the value chain. Direct and indirect emissions (Scope 1 and 2) are lowered mainly through increased operations efficiency and energy efficiency initiatives.

The Group also works to reduce other emissions (Scope 3) by playing an active role in supporting suppliers' decarbonization roadmap and developing products with reduced impact on climate and ecosystems. As part of its climate strategy, Leonardo has defined three “near-term” emissions reduction targets, which have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in 2024. These targets, aligned with the Paris Agreements to limit global warming, reflect the company's tangible commitment to a transition to more sustainable operating and production models.

LEONARDO'S SBTi TARGETS AND DECARBONIZATION ROADMAP

Leonardo tackles climate change with an integrated approach involving all emission categories (Scope 1, 2 and 3). The company is committed to improving energy efficiency in its operations, transforming production processes through lower environmental impact solutions and accelerating the adoption of renewable energy, a commitment that, over the past four years, has enabled the Group to achieve the following results:

- 43%

reduction in direct and indirect emissions (Scope 1 and 2 market-based) compared to the 2020 baseline

21%

of suppliers (in terms of Scope 3 Cat. 1&2 emissions) involved, over the target, to develop and set science-based decarbonization targets by 2028

- 36%

reduction in Scope 3 emissions (cat 3 to 8 and cat 11) per flight hour equivalent compared to the 2020 baseline

Leonardo promotes decarbonization along the supply chain with supplier engagement and support initiatives, and developing innovative, more efficient and alternative fuel compatible products and services.
In addition, Leonardo, contributes to climate change adaptation through advanced technological solutions. It provides helicopters for Search And Rescue (SAR) and Emergency Medical Services (EMS), as well as satellite systems for extreme events monitoring such as floods, fires, and tornadoes. To support decision makers and operators in managing climate change risks, the Group offers global monitoring technologies that integrate satellite data, radar, sensors, secure communication systems and drones, as well as operational command and control rooms.

DECARBONIZATION
Scope 1 and 2 Decarbonization Levers:

Resulting from an organic decarbonization strategy, based on four basic pillars that are translated into several concrete initiatives.

Energy efficiency
- More efficient use of energy, reducing waste including through, for example, the Full Potential Lighting Programme included in the Sustainability Plan to replace lighting systems with LED technology.
Energy transformation plant and process efficiency
- Infrastructures, technologies and processes optimization.
  Thanks to the Thermal Energy Consumption Efficiency program, the efficiency analysis of thermal power plants installed at major Leonardo sites has been launched.
Energy mix rebalancing
- Progressive electrification and substitution with lower global warming potential (GWP) energy sources, reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Integration of certified electricity from renewable sources with the goal of lowering operations related emissions. Objective also pursued through the Energy Self-Production Programme, for the construction of photovoltaic plants.
Other projects
- Use of SAFs for Internal Testing and Acceptance Flights, through which Leonardo confirms its commitment to reducing its products' emissions, selection of electric and hybrid cars for the company fleet, and virtualisation through advanced simulation systems for pilot and operator training.
Scope 3 Decarbonization Levers:

In line with SBTi validated target, Leonardo is active in reducing Scope 3 emissions by promoting innovative solutions, such as the use of alternative materials and latest generation fuels replacing fossil fuels, virtualisation solutions, and other actions related to employee mobility.

Virtualisation
- Over the years, virtualisation has grown in both pilot training and aircraft maintenance personnel activities, significantly reducing the need for flights on real platforms, allowing, from 2018, to reduce emissions by 372 Ktons CO2e.
Reducing emissions during aircraft operation
- Use of alternative fuels, reduction of aircraft weight, and development of hybrid electric propulsion systems. Major initiatives to reduce these emissions include: the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and electric or hybrid platforms, containing activities related to cutting-edge technology studies.
Sustainable mobility of employees and shipping
- Through the implementation of several initiatives to encourage more sustainable employee mobility, and through the implementation of the Transportation Control Tower to make the Group's shipping management more efficient by decarbonizing its logistics.
Learn more:

Sustainable supply chain

Leonardo for Climate Action

NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND BIODIVERSITY

Responsible use of natural resources, monitoring and management of waste produced, as well as protection of biodiversity are the drivers of Leonardo's sustainable business strategy aimed at mitigating risks and seizing opportunities by leveraging the efficiency of its processes, products and services, and by the digitalization. The Group, through its continuous operations improvement program is implementing a standardized management model that enables the reduction of emissions, of water and energy consumption, and of waste generation. In addition, Leonardo pursues the implementation of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to both production processes and products, also aimed at eco-design implementation.

WATER RESOURCE AND WASTE MANAGEMENT

Leonardo's sites are located on different continents, resulting in different operating environments, and some of them are in areas defined as water-stressed. Water is a significant component of Leonardo's production processes, therefore, the Group has initiated functional projects to reduce water withdrawals and increase the volumes of recovered and reused water, to reduce the amount of waste produced, and to increase the amount of waste to be sent to recovery operations, in a circular economy perspective. Thanks to these projects, by 2024, the Group has reduced water withdrawals, from aqueduct and well, by 21% and waste produced by 15%, compared to the 2019 baseline.

SOIL AND AIR EMISSIONS

Leonardo implements several activities to reduce pollutants emitted into atmosphere and soil through the application of new technologies and more efficient abatement systems. These include elimination or reduction of diffuse and/or fugitive pollution in the atmosphere, elimination or reduction of wastewater emissions to soil and water bodies, and elimination of emission sources. These activities contribute to the avoidance or total elimination of relative emissions, including NOx, SO2, and VOC emissions.

Cover image: Poyang Lake, China DEIMOS-2 Image © Deimos imaging an UrtheCast Company

HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE MANAGEMENT

Leonardo, whose business is at the end of the supply chain, is committed to managing, consistent with the REACh Regulation and the RoHS Directive, chemicals and blends considered harmful to human health and ecosystems through material procurement and supplier qualification phases. The Group has identified hazardous substances used in industrial processes, initiated a rationalization of purchased substances, and provided mitigation plans for each division, as well as specific targets for the reduction, and, where technically possible, elimination of hazardous substances from products, also using eco-design initiatives that allow the identification of lower-impact alternatives from the design stage. Leonardo targets the reduction of hexavalent chromium in processes for hard coatings of parts with high thermo-mechanical strength and a need for corrosion protection in very challenging environments. An analysis of the presence of PFAS (perfluoroalkyl substances), in the supply chain, present in paints or insulating and elastic materials has also been initiated for the progressive reduction of their use in its processes and products.

BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION

The relation between industrial activity and biome (fauna and flora) results in constant iterations with the environment in which the company operates through different drivers: pollution, water and land use, natural resource use, and climate change that require a holistic approach. There are therefore impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems associated with Leonardo's value chain, as well as the creation of certain dependencies on ecosystem services. The Group considers the protection of ecosystem resources a driver of its activities and has the ambition to reduce its environmental footprint by defining a strategy aimed at decoupling business growth from resources consumption. Leonardo considers the preservation of ecosystems to be a resilient element of its business and aims: on the one hand, to mitigate impacts and regenerate biodiversity, both locally, in the territories where industrial sites are located, and during the phases of use of its products and services in the global ecosystem; on the other hand, to seize possible business opportunities with regard to the provision of safety-oriented technologies and products that also find application in “natural capital” monitoring and regeneration . Leonardo implements many actions to protect biodiversity, with site-specific interventions with respect to the geographical area in which they are located. The main actions carried out by the Group include, forest reforestation with native species (as, for example, at the Cameri and Foggia sites), management of the runway at the Vergiate airport according to criteria for reducing impacts on birdlife, and specific development projects that make it possible to minimize the acoustic, luminous and electromagnetic impacts of electronic sensor and air transport domain products as well as the dispersion of harmful materials and substances.

Biodiversity Policy

Cover image: Sentinel-3-Copernicus Image © ESA-ATG MEDIA LAB

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

The transition to a circular business model, based on innovative technologies and responsible behavior, is another goal of the Group's sustainable strategy. This approach represents a competitive advantage and an improvement in the value proposition of its products. Leonardo's circularity strategy is based on four main, interconnected goals: to optimize the use and choice of materials right from the design stage (through eco-design and additive manufacturing); to dematerialize and virtualize by using digital platforms for industrial processes and solutions offered to the customer (through the adoption of digital twins) by implementing the product as a service; to extend the useful life of products by promoting by-product and predictive maintenance also through Artificial Intelligence; and to promote the recycling of materials by managing the product end-of-life.
Leonardo also aims to foster circularity of critical raw materials for its business, due to their scarcity in nature or geopolitical context, in favor of cost reduction and business resilience. Examples include aluminum, titan, and materials needed for the digital transition, such as semiconductors.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY ALONG THE VALUE CHAIN

The Group approach to the circularity covers the whole value creation (external and internal) starting from material inflow and product design phases with the introduction of Eco-design criteria, with the aim to reduce the dependence of the productions from raw materials (Critical Raw Materials - CRM) and leading in the long run to improved resilience, efficiency of the business and definitively to a cost reduction.