PwC concludes review of Siemens’ portfolio

Leading auditing and consulting services firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has concluded its review of the Siemens’ Environmental Portfolio for the year ended 2007.

A press statement from Siemens Nigeria, endorsed by Head, Corporate Communications, Mr. Akinlabi Olusegun, said that this has been relevant because the issues of climate change has become firmly entrenched in public awareness.

According to him, the information regarding Carbon dioxide (chemical formula: CO2) CO2 emissions is no longer of interest to just a few eco-activists but is required by stakeholders across board: financial markets, consumers, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and governments all assess companies at least partly on the basis of such information.

The CO2 value for models are being registered since March 2001 when the first registration and licensing document began.

Defined as a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom, Carbon dioxide is a gas at standard temperature and pressure that exists in earth’s atmosphere in this state.

It is currently at a globally averaged concentration of approximately 387 part per million (ppm) by volume in the earth’s atmosphere, although this is increasing due to human activities.

The current focus of policy-makers rests with companies reporting their own emissions and setting individual emission reduction targets. But other stakeholders expect more comprehensive information about the CO2 balance, notably the emissions intensity of products or their ability to reduce emissions compared with similar products.

Against this backdrop Siemens AG, said it has created a “Siemens Environmental Portfolio”, consisting of selected products and solutions from its complete existing portfolio.

A definable quantity of CO2 emissions, the telco said, could be saved annually by customers using products from the Environmental Portfolio.

PwC’s global Sustainable Business Solutions partner, Mr. Thomas Scheiwiller, said, “An external independent review enhances the credibility of Siemens’ statements.

Moreover, it helps companies to identify further potential for optimization of processes and structures and enhances the companies’ steering capabilities.”
He noted that Siemens had asked PwC to perform a limited assurance engagement on selected data regarding the environmental portfolio 2007.

As reported in the Siemens publication “Energy Efficiency” the PwC engagement focused on the application of the reporting criteria that have been agreed by the Initiative Greenhouse Protocol (set out in the publication “A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard – Revised Edition”).

PwC also conducted its work in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000. Within the scope of this engagement, PwC looked into the following some core areas including application of the reporting criteria, baseline which entails evaluation of the procedures and systems used to determine the reference values.

Additionally, the report said that on environmental portfolio effect inspection was carried out on the figures for saved CO2 emissions and revenues from the sale of Environmental Portfolio products.

“And we checked the consistent application of baselines and reference values and compared the percentage of Environmental Portfolio revenues with total revenues,” PwC official said.


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