Vaillant’s sustainability strategy S.E.E.D.S. among top three in Germany

Remscheid, 26 November 2013

• Rigorous orientation towards guiding principle sustainability convinces jury of experts

• Award honours the strategy’s fit to Vaillant core business

The Remscheid-based specialist heating technology company Vaillant is among the winners of the German Sustainability Awards 2013. A prestigious jury of experts placed the strategic sustainability programme S.E.E.D.S. in the top three in the category “Germany’s most sustainable future strategies (corporations)”. Vaillant, said the jury in explaining its selections, was pursuing a “sustainability strategy of exemplary consistency”, which was formulating “binding goals and specific measures along the entire value chain”. With energy supplier HSE in first place, the Vaillant Group and SAP AG share the second rank. The winners of the leading awards of their kind in Europe, for which some 600 companies applied, was announced on 22 November 2013 at an official awards ceremony. “The outstanding result of the Vaillant Group serves as a great motivation for the numerous projects underway to further enhance our sustainability performance,” says Dr Jens Wichtermann, who is responsible for sustainability management in the Vaillant Group.

The sustainability programme S.E.E.D.S.

Vaillant pools its sustainability activities within a strategic programme. Under the umbrella of S.E.E.D.S., which stands for “Sustainability in Environment, Employees, Development & Products and Society”, measurable goals are set and concrete projects are derived from them in the priority fields of the environment, employees, development and products, and society. The results achieved are assessed continuously on the basis of key indicators ascertained throughout the group. The company would like to increase gradually the proportion of its sales accounted for by high-efficiency technologies and products based on renewable energy sources to 80 per cent by 2020. In the same period, it plans to reduce its product portfolio’s greenhouse gas emissions by 15 per cent. Within the company it wants to reduce carbon emissions by 25 per cent and increase energy efficiency by 20 per cent. The company is also aiming to reduce its volume of waste and its water consumption by 20 per cent. “By reporting targets that apply throughout the group, we are showing our customers, employees, suppliers and other relevant stakeholders how important sustainability is to us,” explains Dr Jens Wichtermann. “For ultimately, sustainability is a corporate mission that cuts across all of the company’s divisions and can be realised successfully only through all of their efforts.”

About the German Sustainability Award

The German Sustainability Award recognises companies that combine commercial success with social responsibility and environmental protection in an exemplary manner and thereby promote, in particular, the notion of a society which is viable for the future. The focal points of this approach are rigorous sustainability management and sustainability topics in the branding field. The objectives of the award are to strengthen companies in their determination to pursue a sustainable course of action and to anchor the principles of sustainable development better in the public consciousness. The award is an initiative of the Stiftung Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitspreis e.V. foundation in cooperation with the German Federal Government, the Council for Sustainable Development, business federations, civic organisations and research institutions.