“EEW is one of the most successful companies in the waste management sector. And what is more: thanks to our outstanding work over recent years, we have become an integral part of the circular economy and we are making an effective contribution to the energy turnaround”, states the future CEO, Timo Poppe, as he surveys the Group’s achievements. “I thank Bernard M. Kemper for our close dialogue over the last few weeks, and I look forward to working with the new Supervisory Board Chairman.” Regarding the employees, Poppe says: “Each and every employee in this company contributes to our overall success. I am sure that together we will continue our journey on this successful path in the future.”
As the former chief representative of EWE AG and Chairman of swb AG in Bremen, Timo Poppe is a proven expert with detailed knowledge of the industry. He is intimately familiar with working in political circles as a result of his voluntary work, for example in the Association of Municipal Utilities (VKU), where he recently chaired the Digital Committee.
Bernard M. Kemper, former CEO, and Dr. Joachim Manns, member of the Management Board, also view the future with confidence. “In Timo Poppe, we have succeeded in recruiting an experienced helmsman for EEW who will keep the company on its successful course with the right blend of innovation and continuity”, Bernard M. Kemper states. “I will be delighted to support Timo Poppe and EEW as Chairman of the Supervisory Board.”
At the same time, Kemper and Dr. Manns express their thanks to the previous Supervisory Board Chairman. “In Jürgen Rauen we are losing a Supervisory Board Chairman who can look back on an unparalleled track record after ten years in this position.” Since 2013, EEW had experienced two changes of management without diverting from the path embarked on – characterised by organic growth, modernisation and diversification, they stated.
To this end, Jürgen Rauen and the Supervisory Board had approved investments totalling around two billion euros for forward-looking projects, he adds.
“Both we as employee representatives in the EEW Group and the employees at EEW knew that they always enjoyed Jürgen Rauen’s support. In all EEW’s transformations, all the growth projects and against the background of multiple challenges such as demographic change, the Supervisory Board Chairman was a guarantor of job and facility security”, explains Jörg Liebermann, Deputy Chairman of EEW’s Supervisory Board.
Jürgen Rauen thanks Bernard M. Kemper for nine sustainably successful years as CEO: “Under Bernard M. Kemper, EEW grew to become a prosperous company that taps new markets and realises projects to shape the future. Today EEW is excellently equipped for the future, primarily due to its superb, highly motivated and highly qualified staff.
In Bernard M Kemper’s time as CEO, EEW instigated decisive changes in the market for thermal waste recycling in Germany and neighbouring countries. As the Number 1 in the market in Germany, EEW today treats around five million tonnes of non-recyclable waste with environmentally friendly methods and provides households and industrial operations with environmentally and climate friendly heat and power.
“We thank Jürgen Rauen for more than 10 years of tireless commitment as the Supervisory Board Chairman”, said Xinhao Jiang, Executive Director and Vice Chairman of Beijing Enterprises Holdings Limited (BEHL) and member of the EEW Supervisory Board. “At the same time, we thank Bernard M. Kemper for his successful work as CEO and for taking over chairmanship of the Supervisory Board. We appreciate this continuity in the company and the innovative energy behind the entrepreneurial growth of EEW Energy from Waste. We are therefore convinced that we have the CEO in Timo Poppe who will use his experience and knowledge to lead the company to a sustainably successful future. We look forward to working with Timo Poppe and we will support the entire EEW management team in maintaining the company’s growth trajectory.
Bernard M. Kemper would like to express his thanks above all to the employees for a working relationship based at all times on trust. “EEW today is a company that offers solutions that keep pace with the times. We are able to do so because we have highly motivated and unbelievably dedicated staff”, Kemper explains. Kemper also addresses words of thanks to politicians and customers: “Establishing long-term relationships and working with suppliers, authorities and politicians in a spirit of trust have always been important concerns for EEW. Over the years, we have won the confidence of the market, authorities and politicians and we have always worked constructively with all our partners.”
Timo Poppe has announced that he wishes to continue this working relationship of trust with suppliers, municipalities, authorities and politicians and lead EEW to new heights. “Digitisation will change and shape the circular economy and with it thermal waste recycling. We will continue to play an active role in shaping this process in the future in order to achieve our corporate goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2030 and climate-positive by 2040”, Poppe explains. “To do so, we will successively refine our corporate strategy, thus ensuring growth and proactively meeting challenges such as the shortage of skilled workers”, the new CEO of EEW Energy from Waste GmbH states.
About EEW:
EEW Energy from Waste GmbH (EEW) is one of the leading companies in Europe in the field of thermal waste treatment and sewage sludge. EEW Energy from Waste is already making an important contribution towards protecting the climate and resources and is a key player in the circular economy. Our corporate group currently operates 17 sites that can process around 5 million tonnes of waste per year. The more than 1,400 employees at our plants ensure that the energy stored in waste is utilised, the volume of waste is reduced, the hazards caused by waste are eliminated safely and without negative impact, and that scrap metals and compound materials are recycled. Moreover, we efficiently utilise the energy contained in waste to generate process steam for industrial plants, district heating for residential areas and environmentally sustainable electricity. In line with our vision for the future, we have set a goal to be climate neutral by 2030 and climate positive by 2040. A key measure in addition to carbon reduction will be carbon capture at our facilities. The captured carbon will be partly stored underground or utilised as a valuable feedstock for chemical products in a carbon-neutral economy of the future.