One hour for protecting the environment: MAN participates in Earth Day
- MAN motivates employees to reduce their carbon footprint
- Sustainability is part of the NewMAN strategy
- MAN Truck & Bus aims to achieve CO2-neutral production by 2030 with many individual measures
On 22 April, this year's Earth Day with the motto "Restore the World" is on the calendar of MAN Truck & Bus employees worldwide. As part of the Group-wide activities under the keyword #Project1hour, they are called upon to take one hour to reflect on their own CO2 footprint and develop ideas to reduce it.
"Sustainability is not only a key future field for MAN and a guarantor of long-term corporate success, but also part of our social responsibility," emphasises Holger Mandel, Executive Board member responsible for Procurement at MAN Truck & Bus and also responsible for the topic of sustainability on the Executive Board. "It is therefore a matter of course for us to participate in the VW Group's initiative for this year's Earth Day." For this, the company is providing the time and material.
"The interests of our MAN and the protection of the climate do not contradict each other. On the contrary: now is the time when we can manage to make our jobs long-term and future-proof - and at the same time preserve a world in which our children and grandchildren will enjoy living. There can be no 'business as usual'. The direction is clear: the future is driving without CO2. Because whether hydrogen or electric: emissions that are harmful to the climate will soon be a thing of the past. That's why it's important that people around the world and throughout the Volkswagen Group address this issue today. That's why I ask all colleagues to use this day to inform themselves about this topic and to be open to the future," emphasises Saki Stimoniaris, Chairman of the Group Works Council of TRATON SE and MAN Truck & Bus SE.
However, sustainability is not only of great importance to MAN on this day, but is also part of its strategy and is therefore reflected in many areas of the company. For example, MAN obliges all suppliers to comply with a sustainability ranking (Sustainability Rating) as a binding award criterion. With the introduction of the Sustainability Rating, MAN Truck & Bus is implementing an important component of the Corporate Responsibility Strategy 2025+ of the entire VW Group.
MAN is also setting itself ambitious targets at its production sites: By 2030, production is to be completely CO2 neutral. To achieve this, the company is relying on renewable energy and is investing in photovoltaics (Pinetown) and wind power (Salzgitter) at its plants, for example. Other ecological factors such as water consumption and waste are also being measured and halved by 2025.
"And of course we also have a major impact on the environment with the development of emission-free drives, so we pay a lot of attention to this," says Holger Mandel, naming another part of the corporate strategy. Here, too, the goal is clearly formulated: By 2050, all MAN vehicles on the roads should be emission-free. "On the way there, every single step and every contribution of our colleagues counts," says Mandel, "Together we contribute to restoring the world - not only on Earth Day."
