Corporate social responsibility

Value creation for the society

Actively fulfilling corporate social responsibility and focusing on creating values for the society is a core mission of Siemens. As a good corporate citizen, the company has made constant efforts to contribute to the public welfare in China, focusing on creating values for the society through its portfolio, innovations, local operations, people development and activities in corporate social responsibility.

In addition to monetary donations, Siemens provides relevant products and solutions to contribute knowledge, experience and technological assistance to entities in need. Siemens employees also actively participate in voluntary activities jointly organized by Siemens and non-profit organizations.

Siemens Employee Volunteer Association (SEVA) was launched in 2012 as a platform of volunteering and cooperation for the employees, the company and the society. By fiscal 2020, SEVA had organized 435 volunteering events in 17 cities across China, benefitting hundreds of thousands of people.

Over the years, the company has been actively engaged in a variety of corporate social responsibility activities with a focus on three areas: Access to Technology, Access to Education and Sustaining Communities.

Technology promotion

Starting from 2018, Siemens joined hands with partners to upgrade and retrofit power distribution systems of Yangpo Village in Guizhou to ensure electrical safety of the traditional village, creating value for the society in a responsible way.

The company is committed to aligning business activities with the interest of future generations. Siemens aims to become the world’s first major industrial company to achieve a net-zero carbon footprint by 2030. Between 2014 and 2020, the company reduced the carbon footprint of its own value chain by 54%, achieving its interim target of slashing its CO2 emissions by half.

Access to education

In 2016, Siemens renewed the MoU with the Ministry of Education in a bid to boost cultivation of innovation-oriented talents. By fiscal 2020, Siemens had built more than 400 laboratories in China through cooperation with schools, trained over 4,000 teachers engaged in frontline teaching, and published over 2 million copies of textbooks. The company sponsored “Siemens Cup” China Intelligent Manufacturing Challenge for 14 years and cultivated nearly 60,000 innovative engineering talents. Siemens also advocates the talent development concept “New Engineer” with partners to cultivate compound talents with multi-specialty and interdisciplinary in the era of digitalization. The company ranked No.1 among Industrial Engineering companies in the Most Attractive Employers in China ranking of Universum for seven consecutive years.

In the past over 10 years, Siemens has cooperated with about 90 universities and research institutes on about 780 R&D projects in Greater China. The Center of Knowledge Interchange (CKI) program represents Siemens’ top-level and long-term strategic collaboration with global universities in R&D and talent cultivation. In China, Siemens has built up CKI strategic ties with Tsinghua University to further promote the cooperation on scientific and technical exchanges and talent development. In October 2017, Siemens extended the Master Research and Development Agreement with Tsinghua University for another five years, leading the CKI collaboration into its third phase in China.

In June 2019, Siemens signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Shenzhen Technology University (SZTU) to deepen their partnership in cultivating talents in intelligent manufacturing, helping SZTU become an open, innovative and international applied university.

Every year, Siemens holds more than 30 technology lectures and career lectures, both online and offline, at universities countrywide. The company also holds Siemens Open Day events and establishes Siemens Student Circle at many universities. Meanwhile, Siemens provides full-time job opportunities for the graduates every year. A large number of graduates from top universities in China have joined Siemens trainee programs including Siemens Sales Trainee Program “Sales 100”, Siemens R&D Trainee Program “R&D 100”, Siemens Engineer Trainee Program “Engineer 30”, Siemens Graduate Program SGP, etc. In addition, Siemens has gradually established the Campus-Hub campus learning center and Talent Training Base in various universities across the country to cultivate intelligent manufacturing talents.

As for primary education, Siemens I-Green Education Program, launched in 2009, targets migrant children in primary schools in China to raise their awareness of environmental protection and help them better integrate into city life. By fiscal 2020, the program had been rolled out in 11 schools of migrant children in 10 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Kashgar, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Nanjing, Xi’an and Chengdu, benefitting over 24,000 migrant children. Nearly 2,800 Siemens employee volunteers devoted over 29,800 hours to this program.

As one of the core projects of China Education Support Project, Siemens I-Green Education Program - University Students Summer Project was officially launched in 2018. By fiscal 2020, the project had supported 751 student volunteers from 17 universities to teach classes at 52 sites in 27 provinces and autonomous regions across China. A total of 2,138 hours of Siemens I-Green classes held by student volunteers benefited tens of thousands of students and teachers in rural areas. Meanwhile, nearly 100 experienced Siemens volunteers who are passionate about public welfare were recruited as I-Green mentors to empower students with professional skills.

Sustaining community

Siemens commits itself to sustainable development of the society by taking initiatives including organizing various activities for environmental protection, supporting development of NGOs, providing social assistance to disadvantaged groups and providing immediate technological and humanitarian assistance in case of natural disasters.

In February 2020, Siemens China together with Siemens Healthineers China donated Siemens Healthineers medical equipment worth RMB 15 million in support of China’s efforts to combat against the COVID-19 outbreak. Over 6,200 employees from Siemens entities in China also jointly pledged a donation totaling RMB 2.2 million in support of China’s fight. The accumulated donation by the company and employees was used to purchase much-needed Siemens Healthineers medical equipment, and the donation was conducted through cooperation with Wuhan Youth Development Foundation.

In 2007, Siemens joined hands with Nanjing University, Consulate General of the Federal Germany in Shanghai and other partners to establish the John Rabe and International Safety Zone Memorial Hall, as well as the Development Fund for John Rabe International Research and Exchange Center for Peace and Reconciliation. For 15 consecutive years, Siemens sponsored the fund and made contributions to promoting John Rabe’s humanitarian and volunteering spirit.

Siemens’ long-term commitment to corporate social responsibility is widely recognized by the Chinese society. In May 2019, Siemens was honored “More Than A Market Award 2019” by the German Chamber of Commerce in China. With the outstanding performance of I-Green Education Program - University Students Summer Project, Siemens received three honors at the 4th CSR China Education Award in September 2020, including “CSR China Top 100”, “Youth Impact of the Year Award” and “Volunteer Service Honor Award”. The biennial award is a recognition of Siemens’ continuous effort in supporting education and fulfilling corporate social responsibility in China. In November 2020, Siemens China was honored the “Special Award - Excellence in managing the COVID crisis” at the 7th CSR Awards ceremony held by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. In January 2021, Siemens received the “Charity Driver Award 2020” at the 10th China Charity Festival, which was the sixth time in a row that Siemens had been awarded at the Festival. The award recognized Siemens’ dedication to corporate social responsibility and efforts of actively promoting social charity undertakings in the country.