Siemens AG in Munich

Siemens AG is a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering. The company operates in the fields of industry, energy and healthcare, as well as providing infrastructure solutions for cities and metropolitan areas.

For over 165 years, Siemens has stood for technological excellence, innovation, quality, reliability, and internationality. Siemens is one of the world's largest providers of environmental technologies, with almost 43 percent of its total revenue stemming from green products and solutions. In the 2013 fiscal year, revenue from continuing operations totalled 75.9 billion euro and income from continuing operations reached 4.2 billion euro. At the end of September 2013, Siemens had almost 362,000 employees worldwide, on the basis of continuing operations.

As Siemens’ history shows, their understanding of sustainability is closely linked to their company values – responsible, excellent, and innovative. From the beginning, Werner von Siemens insisted that his company fulfils its responsibilities to its employees, to society and to nature. Siemens’ vision and challenge has always been to achieve excellence, capture leading positions in the markets of tomorrow, and develop innovative technologies that help ensure the future viability of modern civilization. Acting responsibly for a successful environmental future, Siemens provides innovative products and solutions to improve both their own ecobalance and that of their customers and suppliers. In the area of business, Siemens focuses on long-term value creation. In terms of society, they foster their own employees and strive to be good citizens in all communities in which they are active. The three areas of sustainable development – environment, business, and society – govern all their activities. The goals and activities of Siemens’ Sustainability Program are focused on the three fields of “Business opportunities”, “Walk the talk”, and “Stakeholder dialogue”.

The Green Talents will visit Siemens’ headquarter in Munich and the laboratories of the company’s Corporate Technology Department. Globalization, demographic change, urbanization and climate change are placing tremendous pressure on society. Industry, the public sector and governments all face similar challenges: More than ever, environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions are needed. Developing innovative technologies which conserve resources, reduce costs and increase energy efficiency is therefore of key importance to Siemens. It also brings multiple benefits: for the customers, for the environment and for the company. In fiscal year 2013, Siemens helped their customers to cut their CO2 emissions by 377 million metric tons.

Honoring the success in integrating sustainability into the company activities, Siemens has been ranked Industry Group Leader in the renowned Dow Jones Sustainability Index with 93 out 100 points in 2013.

Short summary of the visit at Siemens in Munich, 27. October 2014

This year’s Green Talents – International Forum for High Potentials in Sustainable Development 2014 began in Munich. Beside the world famous Oktoberfest the city is also host to numerous national and international authorities, major universities, museums and theatres. Furthermore the headquarters of the global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering - Siemens - is located here. As winner of the Down Jones Sustainability Indices and major manufacturer of green technology in Germany, Siemens was the ideal starting point for this year’s Green Talents Forum.

Dr. Roland Busch, Member of the Siemens Managing Board, Chief Sustainability Officer and member of the 2014 Green Talents expert jury, personally welcomed the 25 Green Talents at the Siemens headquarter. His introduction was followed by presentations about sustainability at Siemens, recycling and sustainable material management as well as the corporate technology section, held by the respective in-house experts. Furthermore, the group had the chance to visit the technical archive of Siemens where they learned about more than 100 years of innovation.

Well prepared, the Green Talents continued on to a guided tour through the Siemens laboratories. Here, they learned about the newest development of High-Temperature Materials for Energy, Materials Analytics and Non-destructive Testing. In a questions-and-answers-session this very impressive first day for the Green Talents came to an end.