Siemens champions sustainability

Siemens’s Sustainability Report 2011 said that this achievement included a reduction in Siemens’ carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of 22 per cent on a revenue-adjusted basis, compared to fiscal 2006. The target for emissions reduction was 20 per cent.

Compared to fiscal 2006, Siemens also cut its water consumption 33 per cent on a revenue-adjusted basis – considerably surpassing its 20 per cent target.

“Sustainability is our guiding principle and creates major business opportunities for our company,” said Barbara Kux, Siemens chief sustainability officer. “We’ve made significant progress in this respect, with regard to both our internal and our external targets.”

Sustainability is a key driver of Siemens’ business. In fiscal 2011, Siemens generated revenue of €30 billion ($39.9 billion) with its environmental portfolio, which is an amount equal to around 40 per cent of the company’s total sales and a nine per cent increase over fiscal 2010.

Siemens is now one of the world’s largest suppliers of ecofriendly technology. By the end of fiscal 2014, the company intends to increase revenue from the products and solutions in its environmental portfolio to at least €40 billion ($53.2 billion).

According to Siemens, Siemens also clearly surpassed its target for reducing customers’ carbon emissions. The company originally planned to cut annual CO2 emissions at its customers by roughly 300 million tonnes by the end of fiscal 2011.

The actual reduction totaled about 320 million tonnes, which was an amount equal to the total annual CO2 emissions of Berlin, Delhi, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, New York, Singapore and Tokyo combined.

“We owe these successes to the outstanding commitment of our employees and partners. As the impressive assessments of external observers also attest, we’re on the right track,” Kux said.

In fiscal 2011, Siemens further improved on its performance of the previous year to again capture the top spot in the diversified industrials category of the DowJones Sustainability Index. The company also won the 2011 German Sustainability Award for its sustainability strategy.