The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are as ambitious as they are important. For our company, they serve as a cornerstone on the path to meeting our present requirements as well as those for a sustainable future.
With the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, the United Nations brought forward an important and ambitious agenda defining how we want to live in the future. All UN member governments thus pledged to solve global challenges in a sustainable manner. Central efforts are aimed at the international community achieving 17 economic, social, and ecological goals by the year 2030.
As part of the Viessmann sustainability strategy, we assessed the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) based on their relevance for the company group. This assessment resulted in the sustainability performance of processes and products being clearly assigned to eight relevant SDGs. The measurable indicators are of secondary importance here. People and their stories are put first. This allows efficiency and climate protection improvements to be made tangible and understandable, and it also encourages the same types of action to be taken.
This goal is about ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls, and protecting them from violence. In terms of our company, our focus is placed on the equal participation of women in the labor market and the reconciliation of work and family life for women and men by working toward a partnership-based division of tasks in family work.
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For the first time in its history, the UN has internationally defined which fields of action result from the fact that water is a scarce resource: access to clean drinking water, the improvement of water quality, the efficient use and sustainable withdrawal of water across all sectors, the implementation of integrated water resources management, the protection and restoration of water-dependent and water-related ecosystems, etc. are all considered here. As a company, we want to cover all these points in our production processes, and we have already integrated them into our environmental management system.
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One of the greatest transformations that we as humans on this planet will have to accomplish in the future is to convert the supply of energy to renewable resources. This means that we must now already use energy as efficiently as possible in order to conserve our planet’s resources and reduce the pressure on energy production. Viessmann energy systems are already based on these principles today. We work around the clock to make all our processes, products, and services as energy-efficient as possible.
Economic growth is the foundation for prosperity in the industrialized countries of the world. It ensures new jobs are created and serves as the basis for an efficient welfare state. We must aim, however, to decouple economic growth from the consumption of resources and energy in the future. Our day-to-day work at Viessmann concentrates on developing resource-saving technical solutions. We treat our employees fairly. They are part of the Viessmann family.
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More and more people around the world are living in cities. And even if cities only take up around two percent of the land area, more than 50 percent of the world’s population already live there. Cities thus act as central stages of sustainable development: they drive our economies, culture, and innovation. Inequalities in society, however, are also really brought to the fore here. Approx. 80 percent of carbon emissions are generated in cities. That’s why we need to pay special attention to the sustainable development of cities. At Viessmann, we make an important contribution to this with our technologies.
In short, it’s all about striking a delicate balance: on the one hand, to maintain and increase prosperity; on the other hand, to conserve the planet’s limited resources. It is extremely challenging to connect individual practices and behaviors with their worldwide effects and to consider the complexity of the global interdependencies. Our company endeavors to include sustainability in all its processes and tries to adjust administration, production, and sales activities accordingly.
Global climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. It does not stop at national borders and its impacts affect us all. Rapid and ambitious measures to reduce climate-damaging emissions and to adapt to the consequences of climate change are vital for global sustainable development. Viessmann has been dedicated to environmental protection for decades. For us, sustainability is tradition, which – now more than ever – defines our business on an operational level.
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It is up to politicians to ensure that we cooperate on a global scale to achieving the sustainable development goals. Nevertheless, companies can also try to participate in development work, for example, by partnering with players along the entire value chain. All 17 goals can ultimately only be achieved with the cooperation of many players around the world. Networking can create new partnerships, identify creative solutions, and disseminate best practices. Viessmann is also devoted to this goal.
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