Siemens Ltd., China - Siemens Caring Hands - Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development

Background to the casestudy

Initial situation

Nowadays, CSR becomes a vital factor to company Image and indirectly influences Customers’ Loyalty. The Chinese Government considers enterprises not only profit producers but also social responsibilities takers. Therefore, CSR in China is essential for doing business there. The current economy and natural imbalance in China has gradually motivated companies to engage in CSR activities to contribute to the society. For example, the development of healthcare solutions for rural China is of key importance for China. Since rural healthcare improvement has become one of the top priorities of the Chinese Government, Siemens as a leading global healthcare solution provider, with its strengths and competences in this field lends a helping hand to reach this important goal. Siemens kicked off US$10 million rural healthcare project and started its roll-out in China.

In this project, Siemens will equip the county-level hospital with a full range of appropriate diagnostic imaging equipment – including ultrasound, X-ray and CT. Since medical experience is crucial in the healthcare delivery process, Siemens will meanwhile provide relevant medical and application training to support the education of the physicians in the hospital. Beside that, the company will also install water treatment equipment to prevent health threats to the environment from the hospital's wastewater. With all these contributions, the county-level hospital will be modeled into a Rural Center of Medical Excellence.

Relationship to core business

We use the technique and Know-How from our core business and have also volunteerism with our employees, which are indirect from the core business.

Siemens’s early corporate citizenship activities in China can be traced back to the 1930ies, when Mr. John Rabe, then Siemens business representative in Nanjing and Chairman of the Nanjing International Safety Zone, provided humanitarian aid and shelter for over 250,000 Chinese refugees at Siemens’ property in Nanjing during the “Nanjing Massacre”.

Intension of corporate citizenship

Description of the issue

In November 2007, Siemens kicked off a three-year "Green Village" program in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province committed to provide safe daily water and energy saving solutions to improve the living conditions in the needy countryside. Under the program, Siemens will commit at least RMB 3 million (336 200 Euro) to help needy villages to resolve the environmental problems seriously affecting daily lives of the villagers.

In April 2007, on the occasion of Tongji University's refurbishment of its historical architecture "Wenyuan" building into Eco-building, Siemens donated RMB 2 million (224 100 Euro) worth of energy-saving building automated management system and lighting products for the refurbishment. The renovated Wenyuan Building, which is expected to be a model case for refurbishment on old buildings with leading energy-saving technologies in China, will re-open on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of Tongji University in May 2007.

In October 2007, the "Environmental Care Campaign" is jointly launched by Siemens, Zhejiang TV Station and Hangzhou Civilization Office to encourage people to use environmentally friendly cotton bag instead of plastic bag in daily life. Local kids are also invited to join a painting competition for the cotton bag design. Be it only a small change of city life, the campaign is purposed to enlighten people's strong awareness on environmental care through individual behavior. By involving children's participation to paint for the bag, it is also a perfect chance to input the seed of environmental care in the hearts of the next generation. The campaign witnesses another visible sign of Siemens' strong commitment to environmental care and sustainable development of Zhejiang Province.

In November 2007, Siemens signed a letter of intent with Yangpu District Government for partnership on energy-saving project for Shanghai Yangpu Government Office Building. This is the first time for Siemens to establish partnership with district government to equip local office building with innovative "green" technology. Such partnership is not only purposed to establish win-win partnerships between MNC and local government in terms of energy-saving constructions, but also aims to realize the EXPO 2010 theme "Better City, Better Life" through joint efforts. With a total investment of RMB 710 million (80 Mio. Euro), the "Siemens Center Shanghai" will not only help integrate and optimize the whole value chain of Siemens business in its world's third largest operation base (in terms of employees), but also considered as a new "Green Landmark" of Shanghai to showcase Siemens' advanced technologies in energy-saving and environmental protection for commercial buildings.

Target group

Our target groups for all CSR activates under two of our aforementioned umbrella programs range from people in the poverty-stricken and disaster affected regions, Siemens Stakeholders, Society in general as well as Employees.

Implementation

Strategy

A strong commitment to good Corporate Citizenship is a core value of Siemens that is based on the recognition that the company’s activities have a wider impact on the society in which it operates, and that developments in society in turn impact the company’s ability to pursue its business successfully. Siemens therefore actively manages the economic, social and environment impact of its activities, and realizes long-term benefits by working with local communities, government organizations and other key stakeholders.

Resources

A variety of Siemens corporate citizenship activities are executed by utilizing the company competitive resources, i.e. the rural healthcare project with a total investment volume of USD 10 million (7,7 Mio. Euro) to provide help to sustainably improve healthcare in rural areas of China; the “Green Village Program” committing at least RMB 3 million (336 200 Euro) to provide safe daily water and energy saving solutions to improve the living conditions in the needy countryside.

Challenges

As a result of the political and social climate of the Chinese society, it has become crucial for multinational companies to become involved in CSR projects in compliance with local government’s CSR initiatives, i.e. Chinese government environmental protection initiatives and energy saving schemes. Therefore, the company has been activity seeking any potential opportunity arisen in this area to tackle the increasingly concerned social and global environmental problems.

Achievement

Siemens kicked off a three-year "Green Village" program in Guangdong Province in 2007 committed to provide safe daily water and energy saving solutions to improve the living conditions in the needy countryside. Under the program, Siemens will commit at least RMB 3 million (336 200 Euro) to help needy villages to resolve the environmental problems seriously affecting daily lives of the villagers.

Its first pilot project is implemented in a village located in the Xinjiang town of Shaoguan City. Due to the insufficient existing water supply system and financial difficulties of the local government, the villiagers have been drinking unsafe portable water for decades. The problem has seriously affected the life of the villagers and posed a potential risk to the people’s health. After several on-site investigation and discussions with relevant local authorities, Siemens decided to donate a set of water purifying solution, equipment and services to Shangba villiage. Currently, the project is being implemented in Shangba. Under the project, Siemens will renovate the filtration pool, build an equipment room and install power facilities, and then install the water purifying equipment. Moreover, after the project is completed, Siemens will also provide equipment maintenance and operation training for the villiage maintenance staff, organize an international employee volunteers to the villiage and provide water resources and environmental protection education for Children.

Lessons learned

Balance of different parties’ interest both internally and externally. I.e. how to consolidate efforts and provide most needed assistance to the needy group. We tried to understand and meet different needs of interest groups.