Siemens is investing around up to €100 million until the end of 2012 to make its factories greener. The company is currently analyzing the environmental performance and energy efficiency of its some 300 most important sites worldwide. The goal is to reduce energy and CO2 emissions by 20 percent by the end of 2011. Siemens is also offering the green test to its suppliers. In the next two years they are to check their companies’ energy and environmental efficiency. “We want to be the first industrial enterprise in the world with an entirely environmentally friendly supply chain,” said Barbara Kux, member of Siemens’ Managing Board and Chief Sustainability Officer. It is estimated that the company’s 1,000 most important suppliers alone could reduce their CO2 emissions by 1.5 million tons a year and their energy costs by around €170 million.
Siemens and its employees have already collected over €1 million in donations for the victims of the flood catastrophe in Pakistan. In order to help the approximately 20 million people affected by the disaster, Siemens will match every euro that its employees donate by September 30, 2010 to a special account established at the Bank für Sozialwirtschaft in Germany. The aid collected will then be transferred to the German Red Cross.
With training programs for 10,000 apprentices and university students, Siemens is one of Germany’s largest private educational institutions. This fall 2,300 school graduates will begin training at 40 different Siemens locations. Once again, all training positions at the company have been filled. “Qualified young people are our most important asset for the future. That’s why we’ve made the fostering of young talent a top priority. We’d be very pleased if even more young women would apply. They have long since proven that they can pursue a successful technical profession,” said Günther Hohlweg, head of Siemens’ training programs. For the third year in a row, the company has provided 250 training positions nationwide for disadvantaged young people. At 28, the number of trainees with severe handicaps is higher than ever.
The Siemens Festival Night wants to win youngsters for tomorrow’s opera public with its program on August 21, 2010 in Bayreuth. To attract the young, the public viewing event at the Volksfestplatz will first feature a children’s program. Prior to the live broadcast of The Valkyrie from the Festspielhaus at 4:00 p.m. for adults, the day will start off with the screening of the Wagner Festival premiere of Tannhäuser for Children. Following this playful version of the opera, budding young opera fans will enjoy a special series of activities related to what they have just seen. Drama instructor Ursula Gessat, working with the Siemens Stiftung, developed the Wagner experience concept and transformed it, with a team of helpers, into an imaginative program for children.
Siemens is helping victims of the catastrophic floods in Pakistan and is appealing for donations to aid people in the affected region. The company has pledged to match every euro that charitable Siemens employees donate by September 30, 2010 to a special account established at the Bank für Sozialwirtschaft in Germany. The aid collected in Germany will then be transferred to the German Red Cross (DRK). In addition, Siemens is also making €100,000 available for the use of mobile healthcare centers.
Siemens is participating in the development of two ecofriendly combined-cycle power plants – one in the German state of Brandenburg and the other in Hungary. The project has a total value of roughly €1.5 billion and will employ up to about 1,000 people in the Wustermark region of Brandenburg as well as in the Hungarian city of Szeged during the three-year construction period. Once in operation, each location will provide jobs for about 50 highly qualified personnel on a long-term basis.
Siemens AG and employee representatives have reached agreement on a reconciliation of interests regarding the workforce adjustments that have been announced for Siemens IT Solutions and Services (SIS). Under the agreement, a comprehensive package of voluntary measures will ensure that the reduction of 2,000 jobs in Germany is implemented in a socially responsible manner. The negotiated reconciliation of interests still requires approval by Siemens’ Central Works Council. This approval is expected next week.
Siemens is ending all reduced working-hour arrangements at its facilities in Germany. “The German government’s provision to extend funding for reduced working hour schemes helped us weather a difficult economic phase,” said Walter Huber, head of Human Resources for Germany. “The show of unity on the part of politicians, trade unions and the company enabled us to keep our employees’ expertise at the company. Now demand is on the rise again, and we’re ideally equipped in terms of personnel,” Huber continued.
We released our third quarter results for fiscal 2010 on July 29, 2010. The conference call was broadcast live on the internet.