Why environmental protection?
Product-related environmental protection and environmental protection in corporate operations
At Siemens, we are concerned about our environmental protection performance on two fronts. First, we are well aware of our responsibility for the environmental compatibility of the products we produce. Second, we take pains to ensure the greatest possible resource efficiency and the lowest possible emissions in our operations. To those ends, we engage in systematic environmental management.
Product-related environmental protection
Siemens accepts responsibilty for its products and places great importance on their environmental performance. We make high demands on the environmentally compatible design of our products, systems and services.
At Siemens, product responsibility encompasses a wide range of actions. An environmental management system that has been in effect since 1993, coupled with a well-organized internal network, forms the basis for our actions aimed at ensuring compliance with our environmental protection guidelines around the world. In our internal guideline “Product-related Environmental Protection,” the generally applicable, worldwide “Environmental Protection and Technical Safety Principles” are specifically extended to cover the environmental compatibility of our products.
Product optimization across the entire life cycle
In product-related environmental protection, we optimize products across their entire life cycles – at least to the extent that we can influence them. This is especially important as the manufacturing process constitutes only a very small part of the overall environmental impact over the entire lifecycle of many electronic and technical products. The main environmental impact of products is determined during the use phase which we can influence in the product planning and development stages.
Therefore, every product development at Siemens is governed by the binding, company-wide standard SN 36 350 “Environmentally Compatible Products and Systems.” This standard defines 20 guidelines for products and 12 guidelines for systems, to ensure the integration of environmentally compatible product development. In addition, we conduct Life Cycle Assessments in order to quantify the environmental impact across the entire life cycle of our products. This data basis gives us the ability to draw conclusions regarding the manufacturing processes and compare different manufacturing processes regarding their environmental impacts. It enables us to clearly state the environmental benefits of our products in the usage and disposal phase for the benefit of our customers.
In the Environmental Product Declarations, which we produce for many of our products, we provide a detailed overview of the environmentally relevant factors. Thus, our customers receive a concise summary of the environmentally relevant data of a given product or solution.
Our environmental portfolio of energy-efficient products and solutions, renewable energies and environmental technologies helps our customers reduce their CO2 footprint, lower their life cycle costs and protect the environment. Our environmental portfolio generates a threefold benefit: greater economical efficiency for our customers, higher quality of life for society and above-average growth for Siemens.
Additional information about the environmental portfolio.
Besides complying with all the legal requirements pertaining to its products, Siemens goes far beyond those provisions in some cases. At Medical Devices, for example, new developments are subject to the rules aimed at reducing the usage of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (Directive 2002/95/EC, “RoHS”), even though medical devices are currently not covered by the scope of the RoHS directive.
For more than five years, the Siemens business unit Refurbished Systems has refurbished used medical equipment, ranging from ultrasound machines to computed tomography machines and heart catheter laboratories. This practice goes far beyond the requirements of Directive 2002/96/EC (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, WEEE).
In an in-depth refurbishing process, Siemens' business unit Refurbished Systems remanufactures used medical equipment.
Industrial environmental protection
Industrial environmental protection is a constant source of new challenges for Siemens. Besides steadily improving environmental performance at manufacturing locations with well-established environmental management systems in place, we are also continuously implementing our environmental policy at newly acquired manufacturing sites and aligning processes with rapidly changing international requirements. Processes are also undergoing change, creating new environmental requirements that must be met.
The complex challenges of a wide product range
Siemens’ locations are as varied and diverse as its product and service portfolio. They range from small offices and assembly plants to highly complex factories with on-site glass melting and metal foundries, each with its own unique environmental footprint. As our operations have shifted into and out of industry sectors, so has our overall environmental relevance as a company. Since we acquired US Filter’s systems and services business to form Siemens Water Technologies, for example, water has a new, increased importance for us.
Significant environmental issues at company level are energy and water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and waste. These are reflected in our targets for improved environmental performance.