The year after – A bumpy road but worth the efforts

Today is a date, I think about with a smile on my face. Because exactly one year ago, on September 28, 2020, Siemens Energy AG rang the bell on the trading floor in Frankfurt: Another Siemens company was created as an independent, public company. The listing, which came in the form of a spin-off from Siemens AG, completed the structural transformation of the Siemens conglomerate into three standalone Siemens companies – all of them operating in attractive growth areas and focused on their respective businesses and priorities.?

One year later, we can say that our strategy has paid off. The idea of restructuring the Siemens conglomerate by turning it into three focused and powerful companies has been a success story. With the “New Siemens AG”, Siemens Energy AG and Siemens Healthineers AG, all three companies of the Siemens family are now members of the DAX40. They are heavyweights in the German economy, serve global markets and operate in areas that are relevant for society – they are companies that serve a purpose. Through this realignment, we have also created value for our stakeholders, making the Siemens ecosystem the most valuable operating system in the DAX. We were able to demonstrate that the sum of three focused companies is worth significantly more than a mediocre one-size-fits-all conglomerate.?

While Siemens Healthineers has taken the lead and shown how to actively and successfully shape a transformation, the new Siemens AG has benefitted from a great first step of re-rating and a booming capital-goods cycle. This tailwind is a good opportunity to shape a convincing strategy for the next level in the years to come.

This leaves me with the birthday child: While being in the middle of a challenging and sometimes painful – yet necessary – energy transition toward renewables, “Team Purple” Siemens Energy needed to find its direction as an independent company – quite a bumpy road in an attractive industry yet challenging transition. In the midst of the Corona pandemic, our 91,000 employees provided the best possible support to customers around the world. They helped ensure that critical infrastructures were up and running. That is nothing short of a great accomplishment. While there is still a lot to do and not everything works perfectly yet, I am very proud of the team. They accomplished a lot and gave their best in a complicated and challenging environment. And it is worth the effort. Because they are helping to tackle one of the biggest – if not THE biggest – task of our time:

THE big issue of our time is the fight against climate change. The climate crisis is dominating election campaigns and political summits. Major environmental movements have rightly made their voices heard – not just on Fridays. Investors are demanding consistent ESG strategies from companies. It is safe to say: The issue of our time has arrived in our society – and indeed, it was about time. Take the?World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report ?which points to the “Top Global Risks by Likelihood” for 2021: #1 Extreme weather; #2 Climate action failure; #3 Human environmental damage; #5 Biodiversity loss.

In addition, the latest?IPCC report confirms that we have no time to lose. We must do everything we can to limit global warming, as agreed to in the Paris Climate Agreement. Because we don't have a Planet B, and a trip to Mars – at least for today – is not an option. And shouldn’t be necessary in the future.

We are at an inflection point. At this historic moment, we still have a chance to do the right thing. We need to transition to a carbon-neutral world which neither destroys wealth nor freedom and peace; which creates jobs in green technologies, replacing those that will inevitably be lost in conventional technologies; a carbon-neutral world that provides electricity to the more than 700 million people who still don’t have access to it today. We must do everything we can to preserve this one planet entrusted to us. Because future generations have a human right to grow up in a world worth living in. Yes, it is encouraging to see that more and more countries and companies have recognized the importance of net-zero goals. But it is crucial that we move from a multitude of declarations to proper execution. The time to get this done is now.

As a leading energy technology company, Siemens Energy is part of the energy-policy debates. But more importantly, it is part of the solution. Technologies such as highly efficient gas turbines, wind turbines, ultra-low-loss power transmission lines, storage facilities, electrolyzers to produce green hydrogen and technologies for synthetic fuels are key to the success of the global energy transition. It won't work without them.

Siemens Energy’s first year was a year of transition and about learning to be a standalone company in a tough space. The company has established itself on the market and shown what it is made of. Our colleagues worked extremely hard and have been doing a great job during this pandemic. Management is making progress in restructuring the company and investing in the future. Important decisions have been made, such as the exit from new business with coal-fired power plants. Of course, there is still quite some room for improvement in many areas. ?But thanks to an extremely dedicated and hard working team, we are off to a decent start – and the best is yet to come. I would like to thank our employees, our customers and partners and everyone who helped shape Year 1 of Siemens Energy. This has been a great team effort. And this will also be the recipe for future success: Nobody is perfect, but a team can be.

Happy anniversary, Siemens Energy! And all the best for the coming year!