Siemens’ sustainability head on competing in an age of transition

The sustainability landscape is littered with bold claims, ambitious targets and a widening gap between rhetoric and reality. Against that backdrop, electronics giant Siemens AG presents a case worth examining — not because it declares itself a climate leader, but because it treats the climate transition as an operating constraint rather than a branding opportunity.

Eva Riesenhuber, Siemens’ global head of sustainability, is explicit about the forces shaping the moment. “We are in the middle of two transitions,” she told my co-host, consultant Solitaire Townsend, and me on the latest episode of our Two Steps Forward podcast — the energy transition and the emerging circularity transition — and “the business case for sustainability is very healthy.”

That’s a confident assertion, but it raises a question: Is Siemens ahead of the curve, or simply well positioned to adapt to a world whose regulations and market forces increasingly leave companies little choice?

Beyond circular aspirations

Circularity has long been a sustainability talking point. Siemens approaches it more like an engineering puzzle — though not one it claims to have solved.

Riesenhuber is blunt about the complexity: “Circularity as a topic is not easy. For a hundred years we optimized take, make, waste.”

The opportunity, however, is real. Electronic waste contains “about $90 billion [a year] worth of copper, rare earth, silver [and] gold,” materials Siemens argues can be recovered domestically to manage geopolitical risk.

But the company’s strategy still hinges on ecosystem coordination — a notoriously difficult task. Designing products for circularity is one thing. Getting them back, economically and at scale, is something else.

“We’re so good at selling,” she concedes. “How do you get a product back?”

For now, Siemens’ answer is partnerships, pilots and design decisions that may not show their results for decades. The logic is clear. The timeline is long.

Innovation or inflation?

Riesenhuber regularly returns to innovation as the mechanism for change: bio-based materials, industrial AI and new operating models. It’s not surprising: Prior to her sustainability role, she served as a general partner at Next47, the Siemens-owned venture capital firm.

The promise of innovation as a catalyst for sustainability is compelling, but it risks sounding like many corporate narratives: transformation just over the horizon.

Every part of the Siemens value chain has constraints, she said: “We can’t just replace steel. We need to make sure it still works for the design purpose.”

It’s refreshing realism in a field where slogans often outrun supply chains. Still, realism isn’t results. The company’s bets may pay off, but the hard yards lie ahead.

Biodiversity without the poetry

If circularity is daunting, biodiversity is even less defined. Siemens has begun articulating a position, not because it sits at the center of its business model, but because ignoring it is no longer tenable.

“It sometimes feels a little bit neglected,” Riesenhuber says of the topic, while noting that customers may feel the pressure directly, especially those dealing with water and land. But Siemens isn’t in the business of nature stewardship. Its contribution is selective and situational — which may be the most honest way to describe corporate biodiversity strategies at this stage.

When sustainability stops being a story

If there’s a thesis hiding in Siemens’ posture, it may be this: The company has no interest in treating sustainability as a separate initiative.

“If one talks about sustainability separate from really becoming more productive, more competitive, more resilient, then it’s still at the stage of being an add-on,” Riesenhuber told us. “And as an add-on, it will never be the value lever that it can truly be.”

That’s not triumph. It’s a warning — to Siemens and everyone else.

The company’s framing suggests a world in which sustainability either integrates into business systems or evaporates as soon as budgets tighten. Siemens appears to be choosing the former. But the real test will be whether these strategies hold when capital, pressure and supply constraints collide.

For now, Siemens isn’t selling climate heroism. It’s selling preparedness.

The Two Steps Forward podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and other platforms — and, of course, via Trellis. Episodes publish every other Tuesday.