Lifecycle assessments
Siemens makes use of lifecycle assessments as a tool to measure and improve the environmental impact of its products.
The assessment of the environmental impact of our products and systems throughout their entire lifecycle is one of the key activities of our internal environmental standard (formerly SN 3650-1). The results of our lifecycle assessments (LCAs) confirm time and again that areas for improvement are easier to identify if the lifecycle is analyzed as a whole, largely irrespective of which product in our diverse portfolio is being assessed.
We use specific software solutions and scientifically recognized databases to analyze and evaluate the "ecological rucksack".
We adopt the requirements of international standards ISO14040 and ISO14044 so that we can fully cover the complex subject of lifecycle assessment. In addition to detailed lifecycle assessments (full-scale LCAs), we make use, where appropriate, of simplified lifecycle assessments (screening LCAs) such as CO2 screening. Among other things, CO2 screening is also used as a selection and control criterion for Environmental Portfolio products and solutions.
In addition to our central Corporate Technology research department, our Divisions have established specific departments dedicated to dealing with this complex issue. They use either full-scale LCAs or screening LCAs as instruments to determine the environmental impact of our products and solutions. This allows environmental impacts during the use and recycling phases to be anticipated and avoided during the development process, thus closing the information loop. The life-cycle assessment gives us the opportunity to identify the potential for optimizing our products and thus to continuously improve the ecological impact of our products.
In particular the use phase is the most environmentally relevant for many of our products and solutions. We therefore focus particularly on resource and energy efficiency in the use phase of the products, thus improving the ecological impact of our customers. All this is documented in environmental product declarations to provide our customers with information on the environmental impact of our products.
Key performance indicators
The environment-related KPIs from lifecycle assessments and environmental product declarations are communicated on the basis of the revenues of our relevant Business Units. A Business Unit is regarded as relevant if it manufactures products or systems and must therefore meet the requirements of Siemens' internal environmental standard.
Up to now, we used the revenues of the Divisions as a basis for determining environment-related KPIs. To increase the transparency and quality of our declarations, we have decided to introduce an even more detailed approach to communicating key performance indicators.
The figures show an increase in the number of lifecycle assessments and environmental product declarations at Business Unit level, particularly from fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2011. In this period, the assessments were extended to major Business Units. It is also obvious from the figures that screening LCAs play a less prominent role than full-scale LCAs with their deeper-reaching approach.
2011-Mar-09 | Author
- Environmental protection - Facts & Figures
- Overview
- Environmentally compatible product design
- EP Standard
- Chemicals management
- Lifecycle assessments
- Environmental product declarations
- End of life
- Environmental management systems
- Energy consumption
- Climate protection and gaseous emissions
- Waste management
- Water and wastewater
- Nature and wildlife conservation
- Incidents and penalties