Mercedes 2012 Annual Report Download - page 96

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€2.8 billion for environmental protection. Once again
in the year 2012, we intensively pursued the goal of preserving
resources and reducing all relevant emissions. We take the
effects of all our processes into consideration – from vehicle
development to production and to recycling and environmen tally
friendly disposal. Last year, we increased our spending on
environmental protection by 9% to €2.8 billion.
Far-reaching recyclability of end-of-life vehicles. In order
to increase the environmental compatibility of our vehicles,
we reduce their emissions and use of resources over their entire
lifecycles. We therefore consider the needs of recycling already
in the stages of design and development. All Mercedes-Benz
models are 85% material recyclable and 95% recoverable –
so we already fulfill the stipulations of the EU regulations that
come into force in 2015.
Proven elements of our recycling concept include the resale
of tested and certified used parts, the reconditioning of
so-called exchange parts, and the workshop disposal system,
MeRSy Recycling Management.
Extensive activities for environmental protection in produc-
tion. With the help of environmentally friendly production
methods, we have succeeded in recent years in reducing our
plants’ energy consumption, CO2 emissions, production-
related solvent emissions and noise pollution. For example,
from 2007 to 2012, energy consumption increased at a
much lower rate than the growth in production: by just 2.4%
to €10.9 million megawatt hours. During the same period,
total CO2 emissions decreased by 12% to 3.2 million tons due
to the changeover to energy sources with lower CO2. With
the energy-saving projects now running, we have been at least
partially able to compensate for the additional energy consump-
tion resulting from the growth in production and the start-up
of the two new plants in India and Hungary. Compared with the
prior year, energy consumption therefore rose only slightly
by 6% and CO2 emissions increased by only 0.5%. With resource-
conserving technologies such as circulation systems, we reduce
water consumption between 2007 and 2012 by more than
4%. Compared with the prior year, water consumption was
unchanged despite the increased production.
In the area of waste management, our guiding principle is that
avoidance and recycling are better than disposal. The recycling
and reuse of raw materials and manufacturing supplies has
therefore been standard practice in our plants for many years.
In order to avoid waste right from the start, we apply inno-
vative technical methods and an environmentally friendly pro-
duction planning system. Most of the waste that we cannot
avoid is reused; the average recycling ratio of waste from our
plants is above 92%. In some plants, nearly 100% of all waste
is recycled, so sending waste to landfills is almost completely
avoided.
We make use of comprehensive environmental management
systems in our efforts to make further progress in the field
of environmental protection. More than 98% of our employees
worldwide work in plants whose environmental management
systems have been certified according to ISO 14001 or EMAS
environmental standards.
The figures stated for the year 2012 are based on extrapo-
lations; the exact figures will be released with the publication
of the new Sustainability Report in April 2013.
w daimler.com/sustainability
Employment
Workforce growth. As of December 31, 2012, the Daimler
Group employed a total of 275,087 people. Due to the significant
increase in our business volumes, the workforce grew by
3,717 persons. While the number of employees in Germany
decreased slightly to 166,363 (2011: 167,684), there was
growth in the United States to 21,720 (2011: 20,702). At year-
end, 14,610 people were employed in Brazil (2011: 14,533)
and 11,286 in Japan (2011: 11,479). Our consolidated subsidiaries
in China employed a total of 2,730 people at the end of last
year (2011: 2,121). The number of apprentices and trainees at
the Group was 8,267 (2011: 8,499). The parent company,
Daimler AG, employed 149,644 people as of December 31,
2012 (2011: 148,651).
Employment at the Daimler Trucks and Daimler Financial
Services divisions increased significantly in the year under
review (+4% and +10% respectively). While there were slight
increases compared with the end of 2011 also at Mercedes-Benz
Vans (+0%) and in our sales and marketing organization (+2%),
fewer people were employed by Mercedes-Benz Cars (-1%) and
Daimler Buses (-3%).  3.28 Further information on the
development of employment and other personnel topics can
be found in the chapter “Human Resources” of this Annual
Report. E see pages 168 f
High level of profit sharing. Daimler’s Board of Management
and General Works Council had agreed that there would be
a high performance participation bonus for the successful year
2011. At the end of April 2012, an amount of €4,100 was paid
to each eligible employee of Daimler AG. This is a clear sign
of recognition of our employees’ hard work and commitment.
Employees by division
3.28
Mercedes-Benz Cars 98,020
Daimler Trucks 80,519
Mercedes-Benz Vans 14,916
Daimler Buses 16,901
Sales Organization 50,683
Daimler Financial Services 7,779
Other 6,269
Daimler Group 275,087
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