Siemens 2013 Annual Report Download - page 211

253 D. Consolidated Financial Statements
357 E. Additional Information
245 C.0 Compensation Report, Corporate Governance
statement pursuant to Section 289a of the
German Commercial Code, Takeover-relevant
information and explanatory report
246 C.11 Siemens AG ( Discussion on basis of
German Commercial Code)
250 C.12 Notes and forward-looking statements

Siemens Sustainability Advisory Board, composed of eight
eminent figures in science and industry from a range of dis-
ciplines and regions of the world. None are employees of
Siemens. The Board meets at least twice a year, and through pro-
fessional exchanges and practical initiatives has already contrib-
uted to the further development of our sustainability program.
Furthermore, assigned Sustainability Managers in the Sectors
and regional units ensure that sustainability measures are im-
plemented throughout the Company.
In our Sustainability Program we focus on targets and activi-
ties in three areas: “Business opportunities,” “Walk the talk,”
and “Stakeholder engagement.” In the first area, we turn our
approach to sustainability into concrete business opportuni-
ties. “Walk the talk” means we are committed to embedding
sustainability throughout our organization and operations. In
the third area, we focus on collaboration with all relevant
stakeholders. We regularly refine the underlying targets and
activities based on internal and external input, such as from
our dialogue with stakeholders.
C... COLLABORATING FOR
SUSTAINABILITY AND PERFORMANCE
Our sustainability efforts are based on our Business Conduct
Guidelines, which provide the ethical and legal framework
within which we conduct our business activities. They contain
the basic principles and rules for our conduct internally and
externally. Specific issues, such as those relating to the envi-
ronment, are covered in more detailed regulations and guide-
lines. The Business Conduct Guidelines are binding for all com-
panies controlled by Siemens.
Furthermore, we believe that close collaboration with stake-
holders supports us in addressing complex, interlocking sus-
tainability challenges and topics. Maintaining an intensive dia-
logue with partners along the supply chain and with external
stakeholder groups and organizations is important for us:
Siemens is actively engaged with leading global sustainability
organizations, such as the World Business Council for Sustain-
able Development (WBCSD) and the World Resources Institute
(WRI). We also liaise every two years with a broad group of
stakeholders on key sustainability issues, and track their most
significant concerns in a materiality matrix that helps guide
our sustainability program.
In addition, we are committed to international standards and
guidelines for sustainability. For example, we signed on to the
United Nations Global Compact in 2003 and became a signato-
ry to the Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate in 2008; since
fiscal 2011, we are a member of the steering committee of the
Global Compact’s “Caring for Climate” initiative. We regularly
report on our sustainability performance using the guidelines
(G3.0) of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which aim at
high transparency and comparability for corporate sustain-
ability reporting.
Siemens has been part of the widely respected Dow Jones
Sustainability Index for 14 consecutive years. Within the
Index, we were ranked as Industry Leader in 2013 for Industrial
Conglomerates for the sixth time in a row, and as Industry
Group Leader for Capital Goods for the second time. We also
earned high ratings on a number of other indexes and rank-
ings, including those created by the prestigious CDP (Carbon
Disclosure Project). Siemens had one of the top scores in the
world for the sixth time in a row.
C.8.2 Research and development
C... RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT –
ORGANIZATION AND STRATEGY
In fiscal 2013, we continued to focus on the following areas in
research and development (R&D):
(1) ensuring long-term future viability,
(2) enhancing technological competitiveness, and
(3) optimizing the allocation of R&D resources.
Our R&D activities are geared toward ensuring economically
sustainable energy supplies and developing software solu-
tions, which are essential to maintaining the long-term com-
petitiveness of our Sectors. Accordingly, major focus areas in-
clude:
> increasing the efficiency of renewable and conventional
energy sources for power generation,
> improving low-loss electricity transmission systems,
> developing new solutions for smart grids, carbon dioxide
separation systems for power plants, and technologies for
storing energy from fluctuating renewable sources,
> making medical imaging, in-vitro diagnostics, and health-
care IT an integral part of outcome oriented treatment plans,
and
> further development of industrial software to accelerate
processes at every point along the value chain.