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Joe Kaeser admitted in a short message shortly before Siemens Energy's first general meeting that he was a little nervous at his premiere as chairman of the supervisory board.
The manager, who recently resigned as Siemens boss, then openly sympathized with the demands of young people in his inaugural speech on the subject of climate change.
It is expressly to be welcomed “when the young generation organizes itself and formulates its demands”, said the 63-year-old.
However, he did not mention the "Fridays for Future" movement or its representative Luisa Neubauer.
Kaeser had offered the 24-year-old to work on a top committee of the energy company last year, which she refused.
When it comes to understanding young people, Kaeser nevertheless referred to the balancing act between climate protection and economic consequences for the energy company, which had been split off from Siemens AG in autumn 2020.
Kaeser said: “We don't have a planet B.” The challenge is to meet the continuously increasing demand for electricity and “at the same time to resolutely counteract climate change in an economically sensible and socially responsible manner”.
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While numerous climate activists were able to perform live at the annual general meeting of the traditional company Siemens last year, critical questions now landed at Siemens Energy.
Because of the corona protective measures, there was only one virtual general meeting.
The around 400 questions submitted in advance focused on climate change and the restructuring of the group.
Due to the profound changes in the energy markets, Siemens Energy recently announced that it would cut 7,800 jobs worldwide, including 3,000 in Germany, by 2025.
Siemens Energy is no longer participating in new tenders for pure coal projects.
The competitors General Electric (USA) and Toshiba (Japan) had announced similar steps.
For many climate protectors, however, this does not go far enough.
They are also calling for an exit from the business of natural gas powered power plants.
Kaeser's new position has a "treat"
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Siemens Energy boss Christian Bruch rejects this.
He sees modern gas and steam power plants as a necessary interim solution for the desired decarbonization.
By 2030, the gas power plants should also be able to run on hydrogen.
The group would like to help its customers with modern technology in the desired decarbonization, said Bruch, referring to global climate protection efforts.
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Bruch describes the announced job cuts as a necessary and inevitable intermediate step.
"It is a matter of first increasing the operational efficiency of Siemens Energy and thus gaining the financial leeway that it will need to shape the energy transition," he said.
There were numerous critical questions about Kaeser's role change, who now describes himself as independent of his ex-employer Siemens AG.
“The choice of Joe Kaeser has a lot to offer,” criticized shareholder representative Daniela Bergdolt from the German Association for Protection of Securities.
Siemens has too much power on the supervisory board.
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The traditional group is still a major shareholder in the split-off group with a good 35 percent, but wants to reduce its stake.
Kaeser emphasized that he had no intention of interfering in the operational business of Siemens Energy.
Nevertheless, it is possible that he could “visit customers at the request of the board of directors”.
Although Siemens Energy closed the 2020 fiscal year with sales of 27.5 billion euros due to enormous write-downs and one-off effects with a loss of 1.9 billion euros, the share price has risen by 44 percent since the initial listing at the end of September.
Against the background of the expansion of the DAX30 share top league to 40 members planned in autumn, Siemens Energy is considered a candidate for this share class.
CEO Bruch referred several times to the broad positioning of the energy company.
For example, with its stake in the wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa Renewable, the group could benefit from the EU initiative to expand offshore wind turbines.
However, against the background of the energy transition, the group must “become more efficient, agile and flexible,” said Bruch.
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