SolarWorld receives awards for sustainability and marketing
Bonn / Hillsboro, April 29, 2008 - Sustainability and climate protection are elementary components of SolarWorld's corporate development. Among 200 stock-listed public limited companies, SolarWorld was awarded by the University of Münster, Germany, and the Deloitte management consulting firm for its sustainability reporting with the first place. A current study on the integration of non-financial performance indicators in the financial reporting of the 2006 fiscal year (the so-called Sustainable Development Key Performance Indicators / SD-KPIs) assessed SolarWorld AG as the best German company when it came to the reporting of these indicators. In the Management Report subject to statutory audit the company had primarily emphasized the importance of the sparing use of resources, energy efficiency and fair employee relations as the crucial criteria of successful company-wide economic management.
Increased attention in the capital market
The demands of Sustainable Development (SD) Management on industry and society have increased by leaps and bounds worldwide in the last few years. In addition to financial factors like sales and earnings figures non-financial performance indicators have increasingly been determining corporate success. Environmental and social factors are used more and more frequently by the capital market to assess the business situation, the expected development as well as the evaluation of the company’s risks and opportunities. Non-financial performance indicators like for example the energy and GHG intensity of production but also the quality of the working conditions for the employees may have substantial financial repercussions for the company.
Frank Asbeck: "Climate protection is a value contribution."
"SolarWorld AG has strategically committed itself to a sustainable corporate development. We view climate protection as a value contribution to society and to us as a company," says Dipl.-Ing. Frank H. Asbeck, Chairman and CEO of SolarWorld AG. "We pursue an integrated approach that takes the economic, ecological and social factors into consideration on an equal footing." For fiscal year 2007 SolarWorld AG even went one step further by publishing for the first time an integrated and audited Group Management and Sustainability Report which was prepared in line with the international standards for sustainable reporting (Global Reporting Initiative/ GRI). "Over and above this we as a company from an industrialized nation have responsibility for a fair social development also in poorer regions. Under the umbrella‚ Solar2World, we pool not-for-profit projects for the rural electrification with solar power. We will further sharpen our business profile in the future with our claim of a high level of environmental and social compatibility lastingly substantiating the economic success and value of SolarWorld AG at the same time."
SolarWorld marketing acclaimed
The value of a fair and sustainable business policy is also reflected in the marketing of a company. "The cultivation of customer communications is as much part of this as the permanent integration of market information. The objective is to permanently keep product quality and customer satisfaction at the highest level," says Dipl.-Wirtschaftsingenieur Frank Henn, Vice President Sales of SolarWorld AG. A joint study by the Chair of Innovative Brand Management of the University of Bremen and by BBDO Consulting has paid tribute to this strategy making SolarWorld AG the Number 3 of the most market-oriented companies in Germany among the 282 publicly quoted companies investigated within the framework of the Best Practice Marketing Award 2008. In this context business success and the quality of marketing were assessed together. BBDO explains the awarding: "SolarWorld convinces with top technology and quality leadership in all fields of application. The completely integrated solar value chain and the individual product labels strengthen the market position of the group."
About the SolarWorld group
The SolarWorld group (ISIN: DE0005108401) is a worldwide leader in offering brand-name, high-quality, crystalline solar-power technology. Its strength is its fully integrated solar production. From silicon as the raw material through wafers, cells and modules all the way to turn-key solar systems, including recycling, the group combines all stages of the solar value chain. The central business activity is selling quality modules into the installation and distribution trades and crystalline wafers to the international solar cell industry. Group headquarters are located in Bonn, Germany. Production sites are to be found in Germany, the United States and South Korea. The group’s largest production facilities operate in Freiberg, Germany and Hillsboro in the U.S. state of Oregon. Sustainability is the basis of the group strategy. Under the name Solar2World, the group supports care projects using off-grid solar-power solutions in emerging economies and developing countries, exemplifying sustainable economic development. Worldwide, SolarWorld employs more than 2,700 people. SolarWorld AG has been quoted on the stock exchange since 1999 and today is listed on, among others, the TecDAX, ÖkoDAX, Dow Jones STOXX 600 as well as in the sustainability indices DAXglobal Alternative Energy and NAI.
www.solarworld-usa.com
Media Contact:
Ben Santarris
Public affairs manager
SolarWorld
25300 N.W. Evergreen Road
Hillsboro, OR 97124
Mobile: 503 927 9858
Office: 503 693 5189
ben.santarris(at)solarworld-usa.com