conflictminerals2022

SD 1 tm2316875d1_sd.htm SD conflictminerals2022

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

______________________

FORM SD

SPECIALIZED DISCLOSURE REPORT

______________________

ABB Ltd

(Exact name of the registrant as

specified in its charter)

Switzerland

(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation)

001-16429

(Commission file number)

Affolternstrasse 44

CH-8050 Zurich

Switzerland

(Address of principal executive

offices)

Richard A. Brown

Telephone: +41

-43-317-7111

(Name and telephone number,

including area code, of the person

to contact in connection with this report.

)

Check the appropriate box

to indicate the rule pursuant to which

this form is being filed:

☒

Rule 13p-1 under the Securities Exchange

Act (17 CFR 240.13p-1) for the reporting

period from January 1 to December

31, 2022.

☐

Rule 13q-1 under the Securities Exchange

Act (17 CFR 240.13q-1) for the fiscal year ended

_____.

Introduction

ABB Ltd is a corporation organized under

the laws of Switzerland. In this Form

SD and the attached Conflict

Minerals Report (included as Exhibit

1.01), “ABB”, the “Company”,

“we”,

and “our” refer to ABB Ltd

and its consolidated

subsidiaries. ABB is a foreign private

issuer as defined under Rule

405 of Regulation C under the Securities

Act of 1933 and

Rule 3b-4 under the Securities Exchange

Act of 1934. Our shares are

listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange,

the NASDAQ OMX

Stockholm Exchange and, through May

22, 2023, on the New York Stock Exchange (in the form of American

Depositary

Shares).

Conflict minerals are defined as cassiterite,

columbite-tantalite and wolframite, and their

derivatives, which are

limited to tin, tantalum and tungsten,

as well as gold (3TG). The functionality

of a substantial portion of our global

product

portfolio relies on the use of direct

materials, especially electronic components,

which include amounts of tin, tantalum,

tungsten or gold (

necessary conflict minerals

). For example, tin, tantalum,

tungsten and gold are each contained

respectively

in weld wire, capacitors, electronic

contacts and electrical connection

coatings, each of which are components

in many of our

products. Our operating businesses

and their products are described in more

detail below.

In 2022, we operated our business

through four Business Areas which

are aligned based on products

and services.

The Business Areas were:

Electrification, Motion, Process Automation,

and Robotics & Discrete Automation.

We also have

certain

insignificant business operations relating

to our remaining engineering, procurement,

and construction (EPC)

contracts, which are being wound down

and managed in a separate business

unit outside of those businesses.

The description

of our businesses

and their main products in 2022

is as follows:

●

Electrification:

manufactures and sells electrical products

and solutions which are designed to

provide safe, smart

and sustainable electrical flow from

the substation to the socket. The portfolio

of increasingly digital and

connected solutions includes electric

vehicle charging infrastructure, renewable

power solutions, modular

substation packages, distribution automation

products, switchboard and

panelboards, switchgear, UPS solutions,

circuit breakers, measuring and sensing

devices, control products, wiring

accessories, enclosures and cabling

systems and intelligent home and building

solutions, designed to integrate and

automate lighting, heating,

ventilation, security and data communication

networks.

●

Motion:

designs, manufactures,

and sells drives, motors, generators

and traction converters that are driving

the

low-carbon future for industries,

cities, infrastructure and transportation.

These products, digital technology

and

related services enable industrial customers

to increase energy efficiency, improve safety and reliability, and

achieve precise control of their processes.

●

Process Automation:

develops and sells a broad

range of industry-specific, integrated

automation,

electrification

and digital systems and solutions,

as well as digital solutions, lifecycle

services, advanced industrial

analytics and

artificial intelligence applications

and suites for the process, marine and

hybrid industries. Products and solutions

include control technologies, advanced

process control software and

manufacturing execution systems,

sensing,

measurement and analytical instrumentation,

marine propulsion systems and turbochargers.

In addition, the

business offers a comprehensive range of services

ranging from repair to advanced services

such as remote

monitoring, preventive maintenance,

asset performance management,

emission monitoring and cybersecurity

services.

●

Robotics & Discrete Automation:

delivers its products, solutions

and services through two operating

divisions:

Robotics and Machine Automation. Robotics

includes industrial robots, autonomous

mobile robotics, software,

robotic solutions, field services, spare parts,

and digital services. Machine Automation

specializes in solutions

based on its programmable logic controllers

(PLC), industrial PCs (IPC), servo

motion, transport systems and

machine vision. Both divisions offer engineering

and simulation software as well

as a comprehensive range of

digital solutions.

As ABB files reports with the U.S. Securities

and Exchange Commission under

Section 13(a) of the Securities

Exchange Act of 1934, and is a user of

necessary conflict minerals

to produce its manufactured products,

ABB is subject to

Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer

Protection Act of 2010 (17 CFR Parts

240 and 249b).

ABB’s Policy on Conflict Minerals can be found at https://global.abb/group/en/about/supplying/material-

compliance/conflict-minerals-policy.

The content of any website referred

to in this Form SD is included for

general information only and

is not

incorporated by reference in this Form

SD.

Section 1 - Conflict Minerals Disclosures

We have concluded that during the 2022 calendar year:

based on an analysis of our global product

offering, we manufactured products containing

conflict minerals and

have determined that the use of these

minerals was necessary to the

functionality or production of these

products.

ii.

based on the Reasonable Country of

Origin Inquiry (RCOI) conducted

(see below), we have reason to

believe that a

portion of the Company’s

necessary conflict minerals

originated or may have originated

in the Democratic

Republic of the Congo (DRC) or

an adjoining country

(collectively the “covered

countries”) and may not be from

recycled or scrap sources.

Description of RCOI

We are a large organization and have manufacturing facilities located around

the world. In 2022, we manufactured

products in more than 500 product lines

and had

approximately 40,000 unique direct

material suppliers.

To assess whether the

necessary conflict minerals

in our products originated from

the covered countries, we

performed a RCOI by identifying direct

suppliers of products likely to contain

3TG and surveying a sample of these

suppliers

using the Conflict Minerals Reporting

Template (CMRT) as developed and issued by the Responsible Minerals Initiative

(RMI) of the Responsible Business Alliance

(RBA) and the Global eSustainability

Initiative (GeSI).

During 2022, we focused on increasing the

quality of responses from the sample

of suppliers selected for surveying.

We used customized systems to track the link between the components

purchased from our suppliers

and our products

allowing us to make a focused selection

of the relevant suppliers of 3TG.

To be considered valid, supplier responses had to

meet certain quality standards to be

accepted without further follow-up.

The final response rate from

our suppliers was more

than 90% in both 2022 and 2021 as we

executed

a structured due diligence process and

provided

training to our suppliers

where needed. During 2022, we performed

certain due diligence procedures on

our products containing cobalt

and included

this material in the scope of our supplier surveys

although the results of this are not within

the scope of this Form SD.

In 2022, we selected approximately 3,000

suppliers to be surveyed based

on the identification of components

containing 3TG within ABB products.

We believe our current RCOI and the number of surveyed

suppliers provides a

sufficient level of coverage to allow us to appropriately

assess the conflict status of our products.

__________________________________

Adjoining countries of the Democratic

Republic of the Congo are:

Angola, Burundi, Republic of the Congo,

Central African Republic,

Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania,

Uganda and Zambia.

As part of our RCOI, suppliers provided

us the names of the original smelters/refiners

used to process 3TG

contained in their products. Based

on the list of processing facilities

we have compiled and based on smelter/refiner-specific

country sourcing information we

have received through our membership

in the RMI, we believe that some

of the

necessary

conflict minerals

in our products may have originated

from the covered countries and were

not from recycled or scrap

sources. Although most suppliers who

responded to our survey were

able to provide us with a list

of the original

smelters/refiners that they identified as

being used to process 3TG contained

in their products, most of our suppliers

were

unable to identify and represent which

smelters/refiners were specifically

used for the 3TG in the products or

materials

supplied to ABB. Therefore, the lists of

smelters/refiners provided

by suppliers may contain facilities

that were not used to

process 3TG contained in the components

they provided to us.

Disclosure of this Form and the Conflict

Minerals report

In accordance with Rule 13p-1 under

the Securities Exchange Act of

1934, this Specialized Disclosure

Form (Form

SD) and the associated Conflict Minerals

Report are available on our website

at https://global.abb/group/en/investors

under

“Reporting”, “SEC filings”.

Section 2 - Exhibits

Exhibit 1.01 -

Conflict Minerals Report

as required by Items 1.01 and 1.02

of this Form.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities

Exchange Act

of 1934, the registrant has duly caused

this report to be signed on

its behalf by the duly authorized undersigned.

ABB LTD

By:

/s/ T

IMO

HAMUOTILA

Date: May 25, 2023

Name:

Timo Ihamuotila

Title:

Executive Vice President and

Chief Financial Officer

By:

/s/ R

ICHARD

ROWN

Date: May 25, 2023

Name:

Richard A. Brown

Title:

Group Senior Vice President and

Chief Counsel Corporate & Finance

SEC Form SD filed by ABB Ltd