BMW GROUP IS WORLD LEADER IN SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION
10/28/2005

Munich. Guided by the "Clean Production" principle, the BMW Group is setting global standards with its ongoing improvement of environmental care in production. Yet again the BMW Group has taken the lead in the automotive industry category of the latest Dow Jones Sustainability Index. In Oekotrend's annual assessment, the BMW Group is certified as using the most eco-friendly production methods in the car manufacturing sector. One key aspect of this achievement lies in the considered use of natural resources. Average water consumption per manufactured car, for example, has dropped by over 80 percent since 1980. An important factor to this is the extremely eco-friendly powder-based clear paint technology which uses neither solvents nor water. The BMW Group is the only carmaker in the world to consistently use powder-based clear paints.
United Nations declaration on the environment: commitment to eco-friendly production
Environmental care has a longstanding tradition within the BMW Group. In 1973, BMW was the first carmaker in the world to appoint an environmental manager for the company with far-reaching, corporation-wide responsibility. "Since 2000, sustainability has been a firm constituent of the corporate philosophy based on a decision by the Board of Management," says Tobias Premauer, responsible for environmental matters at BMW. With this commitment, the BMW Group has been backing Kofi Annan's "Global Compact" from the start. By signing up to the United Nations' "Cleaner Production" environmental declaration in 2001, the company has dedicated itself to preventative, integrated environmental strategies in its manufacturing processes.

BMW Group, industry leader in sustainability
The BMW Group's leadership role in sustainability is confirmed by independent sources. Not only in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Review 2005 does the BMW Group set standards within the automotive industry, but it is the only company in the sector represented for the seventh time in succession in the leading Dow Jones, STOXX Limited and SAM Group sustainability indexes. The BMW Group is also listed as the sector leader in the Corporate Responsibility Ranking of Munich-based Oekom, the Carbon Disclosure Project and the FTSE4GoodEurope Index.

Beyond a responsible approach to the environment and natural resources, the safeguarding of safety and health standards and human rights also plays a crucial role in putting the concept of sustainability into practice.

Consistent global standards
How does this commitment manifest itself in practice? Today there are some 70 full-time staff working in the environmental affairs division of the BMW Group. At all locations, environmental management systems which far exceed legal requirements are in place to ensure environmental protection at the workplace. In 1999 the BMW Group was, moreover, the first carmaker in the world to uniformly certify all its production sites to international environmental management standards. In total, the company invested around 34.2 million euros in Germany alone in 2004 into product-related environmental protection.

Conserving the environment: steady reduction of the use of resources
A continuous reduction in the use of environmentally critical resources ensures not only ecological but also economical benefits. One example is the ongoing development of paint technology. By using the new powder-based clear paint technology, neither water nor solvents are used when applying the final clear coat. This method also eliminates any wastewater. The use of chemical detergents for cleaning the paintshop facilities is also a thing of the past. In addition there is a special spray application which, with the aid of direct material recycling within a "life-cycle"-led system, allows an almost 100 percent utilisation level of the powder. Since BMW's first powder-based clear paint line went on stream at the Dingolfing factory in 1997, the Regensburg and Leipzig plants have also been equipped with this technology.

Several other examples demonstrate the BMW Group's efficient resource management in its production processes. In the last five years alone, the company has succeeded in lowering energy consumption per manufactured vehicle by 3.16 MWh to 2.94 MWh, while residual waste has been cut from 349 kilograms per vehicle to 318 kg. The circumspect and farsighted planning in environmental matters has also benefited the BMW Group in the new European emissions trading scheme: thanks to a consistent reduction in CO2 emissions per manufactured unit - amounting to 30 percent over the last ten years - the company already indicates a good balance between the emission values anticipated for 2005 and the allocated emissions allowances.

Beyond this, further innovative and, in part, unconventional projects are aimed at improving environmental care. For example, the BMW Group's Research and Innovation Centre (FIZ) in Munich, in collaboration with the municipal utilities, has developed a concept for lowering CO2 emissions by harnessing the natural energy of cool groundwater. The cooling of the new FIZ project building using near-surface groundwater replaces conventional electrically operated cooling machines, thus avoiding up to 4,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year and saving some 7 million kilowatt-hours of electricity - equivalent to the annual consumption of more than 3,000 households.

BMW Group Sustainability Report: transparency for the public
It is a commitment of company reporting to regularly inform the public of all the environmental and social activities undertaken by the BMW Group. In the fifth Sustainable Value Report 2005/2006 just published, the BMW Group describes how sustainability is concretely implemented on an economic, environmental and social level. The report is available on the internet in English and German at
www.bmwgroup.com/sustainability