„The green economy is not a trend, but a necessity. Technology, digitization and innovation are the answer to creating a sustainable future. Companies that do not understand this will disappear from the global business map in a decade or two,” said the director of Siemens Serbia Medeja Lončar at this year’s Kopaonik business forum and reminded that European regulations and the financial market are making great strides in supporting “green projects”.
– From 2019 to today Siemens has reduced CO2 emissions by 46 percent in its facilities and factories
– The company invested 65 million euros in its own energy efficiency projects
– By applying Siemens technologies to customers and partners, the creation of CO2 emissions by 150 million tons in 2022 was avoided.
During the panel on the topic of circular economy financing, the director of Siemens emphasized that this company is competitive precisely because it is dedicated to innovation and operates sustainably. “My message to all businessmen would be identical to the one uttered 175 years ago by the founder of Siemens when he pointed out that he did not want to sell the future of the firm for short-term profit. That remains the direction and direction of development of our company, which does not think in the short term, and it is very relevant even today when we talk about sustainable development,” said Lončar.
The company that organized an environmental protection department 50 years ago, and presented its first environmental report 25 years ago, the forerunner of today’s sustainability reports, believes that digitization in industry and energy, the use of renewable energy sources, resource conservation and circular economy are , the only safe way for the planet. “We have to understand that sustainable development is not an expense, but an investment in the future. Even in difficult times, we should think sustainably and invest responsibly as well as invest in further modernization. For example, the implementation of Siemens technologies and solutions at our customers and partners avoided the creation of CO2 emissions by 150 million tons in 2022,” says the director of this company.
As she pointed out, Siemens is one of the pioneers in sustainable business, and every year it strengthens its activities in this area. “We are one of the first companies in the world that eight years ago committed to be carbon neutral by 2030. So far, we have reduced CO2 emissions by 46 percent in our facilities and factories, we have invested 65 million euros in energy efficiency projects, which resulted with about 13 million savings per year, and 78 percent of the energy in our business premises comes from renewable sources,” said Lončar in her address to the panel participants.
Sustainability has become an important criterion for business in all areas. “We have several influences at work: regulation like the EU taxonomy that directs the capital market towards sustainable projects; companies which, at the request of customers, ask their suppliers to respect the standards of responsible behavior as well as investor which require projects to have a clear green component. It is also increased there public scrutiny through activist movements, consumers looking for healthy products and employees who want to work for companies that do business responsibly,” Lončar pointed out.
When it comes to the state of the circular economy in our country, the director of Siemens said yes Serbia has a lot of potential in this area, but also a lot of work. As she pointed out, this is a marathon for Serbia and she needs good physical preparation. “The circular economy is an opportunity for the future development of a sustainable society in Serbia. It is estimated that by introducing a circular economy in Serbia, 30,000 new jobs can be created and the competitiveness of the economy can be further increased. In order for that to happen, we must work much harder to strengthen the knowledge of businessmen on the topic of regulation, economic profitability and the necessity of its introduction due to EU regulation. In this area, states and chambers of commerce, just like the German-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, can significantly help. Also, we should think about tax breaks for companies as well as additional financial support from the state for green projects,” said Lončar.
Source: Automatika.rs by www.automatika.rs.
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