Siemens 2009 Annual Report Download - page 12

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Urbanization and sustainable development
With their economic importance on the rise, cities have become the growth engines of the future.
However, this development is creating serious challenges for urban centers as municipal infrastruc-
tures are being pushed closer and closer to their limits. In addition, cities consume vast amounts of
natural resources: they account for 75 percent of the world’s total energy consumption and gener-
ate 80 percent of its greenhouse gases. Sustainable, energy-efficient infrastructures for buildings,
transportation, power supply and water supply are urgently needed to preserve the quality of urban
life, ensure competitiveness, conserve natural resources and protect the environment.
www.siemens.com/urbanization-sustainabledevelopment
With the world’s population burgeoning and life expectancies increasing, demographers are predicting that
the earth will be home to eight billion people by 2025. One of our greatest challenges today is to create
infrastructures capable of supporting billions of people while conserving the world’s diminishing supplies
of natural resources and satisfying humanity’s increasing need for mobility – all without damaging the
environment or exacerbating the greenhouse effect. What’s more, as societies age, the demand for medical
services is mounting even as healthcare costs worldwide are soaring. To establish healthcare systems that
can perform effectively over the long term and to make medical services affordable for all, we’ll need inno-
vative technologies that enhance the quality of care while cutting costs – enabling more and more people
to live longer, healthier lives.
www.siemens.com/demographicchange-healthcare
Demographic change and healthcare
2 Introduction 10 Our world 36 Our company
10 Our answers to the toughest
questions of our time
12 Demographic change and healthcare 18 Urbanization and sustainable development
www.siemens.com/answers