Vaillant’s sustainability strategy S.E.E.D.S. nominated for German Sustainability Award

Remscheid, 26 September 2013

• Rigorous orientation towards guiding principle sustainability convinces jury of experts

• Binding nature and complexity of the sustainability strategy along the entire value chain is praised as exemplary

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”. The winners of these, the leading awards of their kind in Europe, for which some 600 companies applied, will be announced on 22 November 2013 at an official awards ceremony. “The nomination is a very special honour,” says Dr Jens Wichtermann, who is responsible for sustainability management in the Vaillant Group. “Not only because it acknowledges the systematics and the persistency behind our sustainability strategy, but also because S.E.E.D.S. was developed with a great deal of commitment by our own employees to correspond precisely to the challenges of our core business.”

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 and suppliers 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.