Holistic environmental protection Siemens governs all relevant ecological considerations Siemens’ environmental objectives and ambitions are through our Environmental Protection Standards. These embedded in our Eco Efficiency @ Siemens environmental policies enable us to oversee and improve environmental program, the DEGREE sustainability framework, and other management at our sites and to involve our suppliers, service environmental initiatives. The respective targets are detailed providers, and contracting partners through the Siemens in the Environmental chapters that follow. Group Code of Conduct for Suppliers and Third-Party Inter- mediaries. With these policies and activities, we extend Actions and results environmental protection beyond our own business opera- tions. Our environmental policies also include a commitment Environmental management standards and to increasingly mitigate the environmental impact of our systems products, systems, solutions, and services. Our environmental management is based on the ISO 14001 WEBSITE ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION and 50001 standards for energy-intensive business units and on the IEC 62430 norm for the environmentally compatible Evaluating sustainability aspects is integral to our due diligence design of products, systems, solutions, and services. guidance. This means considering environmental protection in decisions about corporate mergers and acquisitions. Our own mandatory standard aims to ensure the implemen- tation of these norms, stating that all Siemens’ sites are Our environmental policies require our sites to avoid activities required to have an environmental management system in that have negative impacts on local biodiversity, conduct accordance with ISO 14001. Sites must also operate in com- water risk analyses, and implement water protection mea- pliance with existing local environmental regulations and sures. These factors are particularly important in vulnerable our internal environmental guidelines. Internal environmen- areas. The policies also include mandatory regulations for tal audits are conducted at least once per year to assess and handling and reducing CO2e emissions and waste, especially monitor environmental protection at our sites. landfill waste. As a result, all of our sites have an environmental manage- Lastly, we drive environmental awareness with our Business ment system in place. At least 182 of them, of which 180 Conduct Guidelines and Supplier Code of Conduct, which have been audited by external auditors, have environmental include environmental protection requirements. management systems that are certified according to the SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN PRACTICES COMPLIANCE AND ETHICS ISO 14001 standard. This certification requires, among other things, that all employees whose work has an impact on the Targets environment at these sites be trained in personnel- and We strive to go beyond legal requirements by managing the location-specific environmental protection topics. environmental impact of our business activities throughout the value chain. We are also aiming to increase our align- Training on environmental protection ment with economic, ecological, and social requirements. We are continuously working to increase and improve the This helps us to increase our customers’ competitiveness, knowledge and awareness of our employees of environmental while simultaneously supporting the environmental compat- protection. To this end, Siemens has implemented mandatory ibility of our business. In collaboration with our business awareness trainings on environmental topics for all employees partners, we plan to steadily reduce the environmental as it is covered in the Siemens Business Conduct Guidelines. impact of our products, systems, solutions, and services. We do this by creating options for repair, reuse, recycling, and Our information campaigns on World Environment Day and refurbishment and by minimizing our own use or consumption Earth Overshoot Day aim to raise awareness of environmen- of energy, materials, and supplies – while also minimizing tal protection in a global context. As part of the “Thank You” emissions. campaign, we recognize employees who have made excep- tional contributions to environmental conservation, and we share their portraits and success stories on our Siemens World internal information platform. SIEMENS SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2023 56