Siemens 2012 Annual Report Download - page 196

1 A. To our Shareholders
21 B. Corporate Governance 49 C. Combined Management Report
50 C. Business and economic environment
64 C. Financial performance measures
69 C. Results of operations
82 C. Financial position
93 C. Net assets position
95 C. Overall assessment of the economic position
96 C. Subsequent events
97 C. Sustainability
111 C. Report on expected developments and
associated material opportunities and risks

quantity of reduced carbon dioxide emissions attributable to
such products, systems, solutions and services. Accordingly,
revenues from our Environmental Portfolio and the reduction
of our customers’ annual carbon dioxide emissions may not be
comparable with similar information reported by other compa-
nies. Furthermore, we subject revenues from our Environmen-
tal Portfolio and the reduction of our customers’ annual carbon
dioxide emissions to internal documentation and review re-
quirements that are less sophisticated than those applicable to
our financial information. We may change our policies for
recognizing revenues from our Environmental Portfolio and
the reduction of our customers’ annual carbon dioxide emis-
sions in the future without previous notice.
As in previous years, we again commissioned an indepen-
dent accounting firm with a limited assurance engagement
to review the reported results for our Environmental Portfolio
for fiscal . This review was conducted in accordance
with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements
(ISAE) , Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or
Reviews of Historical Financial Information. Nothing came to
the attention of the independent accounting firm that would
cause them to believe that the section Siemens Environmen-
tal Portfolio  of the Environmental Portfolio Report
 – containing the revenues generated by the Environ-
mental Portfolio and the annual customer reduction of
carbon dioxide emissions attributable to it – has not been
prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the
defined reporting principles.
.. Environmental performance
   
Year ended September ,
 
Energy efficiency improvement
compared to baseline in fiscal  8% 4%
Waste efficiency improvement
compared to baseline in fiscal  6% 10%
Waste for disposal reduction
compared to baseline in fiscal  4% (3)%
Carbon dioxide efficiency improvement
compared to baseline in fiscal  12% 5%
1 Continuing operations.
...   
Siemens’ EHS (Environmental Protection, Health Management
and Safety) management system lays down principles and
standards intended to ensure that we meet today ’s global eco-
logical challenges responsibly. It helps our Company Units to
comply with applicable laws and regulations, satisfy our cor-
porate requirements properly and achieve our Siemens-wide
environmental targets according to our environmental pro-
gram. Our EHS Management rules are generally binding for
continuing operations of Siemens. We conduct regular internal
audits to review our performance and progress and create a
loop of continuous improvement.
...  
One of the most important things we do in the context of envi-
ronmental protection is to monitor and optimize our energy
and resource efficiency. For this reason, in fiscal , Siemens
has launched Serve the Environment, a new enterprise-wide
environmental program. We committed to the following main
program targets:
> to continue systematically our effort to improve energy
efficiency, which shall also lead to an improvement of our
carbon dioxide efficiency;
> to increase our waste efficiency by % annually by fiscal
; and
> to reduce our waste for disposal by % annually by fiscal .
Furthermore, Siemens uses a new approach to water resources
management developed in . In locations where there are
particular risks about water (for example as a result of aridity,
high waste-water loads or poorly developed technical infra-
structure), we define targets matched to local conditions and
thereby effectively reduce risks and negative impacts on the
environment. Finally, our environmental program also ad-
dresses air pollution, defining alternative solutions for any
ozone-depleting substances still in legally permissible use and
generating a complete solvent balance sheets – even those
we use in quantities below statutory minimum thresholds. We
achieve the implementation of our program targets by inte-
grating local targets and measures at our sites into our existing
environmental management systems.
We measure environmental impact and the results of our envi-
ronmental program using an IT-based environmental informa-
tion system. We calculate our key performance indicators
(KPIs) for all office and production sites of environmental rele-
vance using environmental data gathered quarterly. The base
year to which all year-on-year comparisons relate is fiscal .
We calculate environmental performance on a portfolio-adjust-
ed basis. This approach enables us to survey and compare our
environmental performance over time, regardless of acquisi-
tions and disposals.
We have recently refined the methodology employed to deter-
mine our energy efficiency. We now use a single KPI which incor-
porates weighted calculations of the primary energy input for all
of the energy sources used at our sites. This KPI takes into