Dear employee, We are happy to deliver to you the new issue of Gmagazine. Bigger and maybe better than the last one. I will, of course, leave that for you to judge. For obvious reasons, the theme of this issue is the great climate chal lenge that the entire world is facing. COP15, the UN Climate Conference that will gather leaders from all na tions, will be held in a few weeks in Copenhagen. Here, an attempt will be made to reach a binding agreement on a substantial reduction of CO2 emissions, and the world leaders will join forces in their effort to make the future more environmentally friendly and climate friendly. The stakes are high for all of us. Grundfos has stepped forward, pre senting ourselves as a responsible company that – with our products and our conduct – wish to promote a greener agenda. By that we mean creating a sustainable world in which we do not overexploit the Earth’s resources. This calls for responsibility. Now. That is why we, during the past months, have called on politicians to reach a common understanding and make sure that everybody will adopt the new climate agreement. We have been actively involved with a number of activities that include the Copen hagen Climate Council, World Business Council on Sustainable Develop ment and our own campaign, Future Now, www.futurenow.com. It is and will be difficult to conclude a binding climate agreement. A number of countries, especially European ones, are worried and advocate a strict agreement making ambitious demands on every body. Other countries that emit large amounts of CO2, e.g. the US, China and Russia, are slightly more hesitant, while the developing countries are calling for action – on the condition, however, that it will not impede their opportunities for growth and wealth. As such, everybody is right. Now, we need to reach a common understanding and reach agreement on actions to which everybody can contribute. Grundfos has taken a stand. More than a year ago we launched Innov ation Intent, our vision for the future, and the key then was the climate challenge combined with higher growth. We have just launched our own climate strategy which requires us to meet more stringent demands. For example, in future we pledge not to emit more CO2 than we did in 2008. This is not easy to accomplish, as we expect to grow in future, and growth requires increased energy consumption. Speaking of growth, 2009 was at times a dramatic and sad year for us. The world economy is characterised by stagnation, and in certain markets sales have plummeted. We have all been affected by the fact that cost reductions have been achieved among other things by making cutbacks and laying off skilled colleagues. Nevertheless, we managed to make a small profit in our halfyearly results, and I expect a similar result for the full year. I would therefore like to thank you for the effort you have made during these hard times, and I wish you, your family and your colleagues a good and hopefully better 2010. Yours sincerely, CONTENTS Theme: The climate challenge Danish Minister for the Climate Connie Hedegaard: ”In effect, we have a golden, green opportun ity, which we shouldn’t allow to turn to dust.” 12 Denmark 4 Niels Due Jensen’s dream Group Chairman Niels Due Jensen has been living in and with Grundfos all of his life. Meet him in an exclusive interview. Carsten Bjerg CEO & Group President
Download PDF file
Cookie policy