Wilo publishes its Sustainability Report 2019

Over the last few months, the coronavirus crisis has temporarily pushed socio-political discourse on global environmental and climate policy into the background. “As we know from the pre-coronavirus period, there are long-term developments that have a significant negative effect on climate and that will therefore rightly remain one of the top issues of our time at all levels of society in the future, too. This will continue to be the case for future generations even after the pandemic has been overcome,” says Oliver Hermes. He believes companies should play a leading role here: “In order to alleviate and correct the ecological, economic and social effects of climate change, a strong economy is necessary,” continues the President and CEO of the Wilo Group, who also sees opportunities presented by the pandemic. “Sustainable investments and innovations will ease the path towards a climate-neutral economy and make companies stronger than they were before the crisis.”

Orientation to the United Nations’ sustainability goals

With its sustainability strategy, which in turn is based on the corporate strategy, the Wilo Sustainability Report focuses on seven of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. With the sustainability goals “Clean Water and Sanitation”, “Decent Work and Economic Growth”, “Sustainable Cities and Communities”, “Responsible Consumption and Production”, “Climate Action” and “Partnerships for the Goals”, Wilo is primarily focusing on the values and goals defined in its own corporate strategy.

Making access to clean water easier

“We are convinced that our work with the precious resources of water and energy, as well as our approach to protecting the environment, requires in principle a sustainable mindset and actions,” explains Oliver Hermes. “As such we’ve formulated the core of our Wilo sustainability strategy as follows: to supply more people with clean water worldwide while at the same time reducing our environmental footprint.” Using concrete references throughout the report’s 72 pages, the Dortmund-based technology specialist Wilo documents the specific solutions it has been using to date to combat the challenges and also provides some insight into further ambitious goals: “Our goal as a climate protection company is to make access to clean water easier for at least 100 million people by 2025 through our innovative and smart products, intelligent systems, solutions and services.”