Context
With over 175 years of history, Siemens has established itself as a global technological leader in engineering, innovation, and sustainability. Its operations encompass essential sectors such as smart infrastructure, power distribution systems, industrial automation, and the digitalization of manufacturing processes.
In an environment where decarbonization, resource efficiency, and transparency are no longer optional, Siemens has built its leadership through its unique approach to measuring, verifying, and communicating its sustainability impact with scientific precision.
The Challenge: Transforming Decades of Effort into Measurable and Communicable Impact
For decades, Siemens drove multiple sustainability initiatives across different areas and regions. The true turning point came in 2021, with the launch of DEGREE, a strategic framework that aligned all efforts under ambitious and measurable objectives.
The results have been remarkable:
Seven of the 14 DEGREE objectives were achieved one year ahead of schedule. In 2025, the company elevated its ambitions for 2030, committing to exponentially scale this transformation.
However, the main challenge was not just to act, but to demonstrate that impact in a verifiable way, to create metrics that reflect both the internal footprint and the “positive footprint” generated for customers, and to establish a common language with the market based on data, not promises.
“For Siemens, the main key is to make sustainability measurable. Our DEGREE framework is how we generate impact, guide performance, and integrate our values into everything we do.” Nina Bergmann, Head of Sustainability Siemens Spain
Sustainability Integrated into Business Strategy
Siemens has taken a decisive step by fully integrating the DEGREE objectives: sustainability is no longer a parallel initiative, but a fundamental part of the business strategy. This convergence translates into measurable guidance, clear resource prioritization, and transparency at every organizational level.
Its approach is structured around three pillars of impact:
- Decarbonization and energy efficiency – both in its own operations and in the solutions it offers to customers.
- Circularity and resource efficiency – from product design to end-of-life.
- Impact on people – encompassing employees, communities, and the entire value chain.
This strategic architecture allows Siemens not only to advance its own transformation but also to amplify that of its customers on a global scale.
Innovations in Measurement and Transparency: Two Emblematic Cases
1. Customer Avoided Emissions (CAE): Measuring the “Positive Footprint”
While many organizations focus exclusively on reducing their own emissions (Scopes 1, 2, and 3), Siemens has gone a step further by creating Customer Avoided Emissions (CAE), an innovative metric to quantify the positive climate impact of its technologies.
This metric measures the emissions that customers avoid by using Siemens products and solutions compared to conventional alternatives, through three mechanisms:
- Optimized energy efficiency
- Enabling renewable energies
- Accelerated electrification.
With a methodology aligned with the WBCSD and published in a technical Whitepaper, the CAE metric uses real-world comparisons against documented baseline scenarios.
2030 Target: Avoid over 1 billion metric tons of CO₂e.
2025 Result: Solutions sold in 2025 will avoid 199 million metric tons of CO₂e over their lifetime, exceeding the 155 metric tons that Siemens generated across its entire value chain. In other words: The “positive footprint” surpasses the negative footprint.
2. Siemens EcoTech: Rigorous Certification for Sustainable Products
In a market saturated with unsubstantiated environmental promises, Siemens EcoTech emerges as a certification system based on scientific evidence and external validation. This system provides clarity to customers, regulators, purchasing teams, and engineers through objective criteria and verifiable data.
To obtain the EcoTech declaration, a product must demonstrate environmental superiority in three dimensions:
- Sustainable materials
- Optimal use
- Value recovery
All supported by:
- Environmental Product Declarations (EPD)
- Standardized EcoTech Profiles (SEP) validated by third parties since 2025
- External validation by TÜV Rheinland according to ISO 14020 and ISO 14021 standards.
- Manufacturing in facilities with 100% renewable electricity
- Strict compliance with hazardous substance regulations.
In fiscal year 2025, Siemens doubled the number of products with an EcoTech declaration, demonstrating its commitment to verifiable and scalable sustainability across the entire portfolio.
“Our goal is to generate sustainable impact not only for ourselves but also for our customers. That’s why we recently introduced ‘Customer Avoided Emissions’ as one of our tangible goals.”
How Achilles Amplifies Siemens’ Credibility and Visibility
Our participation in Achilles and its ESG reviews directly reinforces our strategic positioning with our customers who are part of the Achilles communities.
Achilles helps differentiate Siemens in a highly competitive market by offering our customers transparency and traceability in ESG matters.
Thanks to the Achilles platform, we can demonstrate that our sustainability strategy is not merely declarative, but fully integrated into operational processes and supply chain management. This builds trust and reassurance for customers who must comply with demanding regulatory requirements such as CSRD or the European Taxonomy, and confirms that in Siemens, they will always find a reliable partner to help them reduce their ESG risks.
From a commercial perspective, Achilles allows us to speak the same language as our customers. Sharing international standards and external evaluations facilitates our customers’ decision-making in purchasing processes, approvals, and tenders, where ESG solvency is a decisive criterion. Thus, Siemens is perceived not only as a technology provider but as a strategic partner.
Furthermore, with the backing of Achilles, Siemens strengthens the central message of the DEGREE strategy: Siemens is prepared to accompany its customers in their own sustainable transformation, providing solutions with real and demonstrable impact across the entire value chain.
Together, Achilles consolidates Siemens as a reliable, rigorous, and advanced company in sustainability, reinforcing its reputation with current and potential customers and transforming its ESG strategy into a tangible competitive advantage in the market.
