ESG FAQ
Sustainability strategy
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For Schneider Electric “Sustainability” is about creating system value. It encompasses continuous improvement of environmental, social, and ethical dimensions across an organization's entire value chain and stakeholders. This holistic approach to sustainability allows the Group to greatly mitigate risks and also brings tangible value added through a greater attractivity to customers, new talents, and investors, while boosting innovation.
Sustainability is integrated in the processes and bodies that design and execute the Group’s strategy at board (Human Resources and CSR Committee), executive (Group Sustainability Committee) and operational levels.
Universal Registration Document 2022 - Pages 76 to 79 -
Schneider Electric’s short-term sustainability roadmap for 2025 is built on a consultation process involving external and internal stakeholders, called a materiality assessment, as well as dedicated internal governance mechanisms involving the Strategy & Sustainability team, employees, experts in the Group, the Executive Committee, and the Board of Directors, under the leadership of the Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer. In the medium (5-10 years) and long term (10-30 years), Schneider Electric aligns its strategy on key issues under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and global climate scenarios in coherence with its business model and global footprint.
The results of Schneider Electric’s 2020 materiality matrix showed that the most material topics for the Group are:
- Leading climate action in our ecosystem with our partners;
- Pioneering circular economy and being efficient with resources;
- Ensuring a fair transition and guaranteeing high ethical, social, and environmental standards along more local value chains;
- Leveraging digital in cyber secure solutions to boost the positive impact.
To cover all these priorities, Schneider Electric defined 6 long-term commitments (Climate, Resources, Trust, Equal, Generations, and Local) and our 2021-2025 Schneider Sustainability Impact and Schneider Sustainability Essentials programs to measure progress against them.
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Our Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI) is a scorecard demonstrating that rapid, disruptive changes for a more sustainable world are possible across diverse, complex topics. We are committed to taking urgent action to co-create a brighter future aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), consisting of 17 objectives and measuring our impact with transparency. The SDGs are about protecting the planet, alleviating poverty, and achieving worldwide peace and justice.
Since 2005, we have updated our SSI every three years. By tracking our sustainability performance and publishing quarterly results, we uphold our commitments to the SDGs and industry leadership in corporate social responsibility. Beyond our SSI, we also instill a culture around sustainability through performance incentives for employees and leadership.
Find out more about our contribution to all SDGs.
Universal Registration Document 2022 - Pages 77 to 83 -
As part of its Extra-Financial Performance Declaration, the Group presents the main risks and opportunities identified with respect to major societal challenges. To compile the list of risks for the Group every year, a panel of both internal and external tools is used to address the expectations of its stakeholders as best as possible. The Group Sustainability team leads the evaluation, working in close collaboration with the Group Risk Management function and with the Duty of Vigilance Committee.
The Group’s corporate governance bodies supervise the development of internal control and risk management systems. The Audit & Risks Committee has particular responsibility for following up on the efficiency of internal control and risk management systems and reports to the Board of Directors.
Internal tools:
- A regular stakeholder consultation (materiality assessment and matrix), at least once every three years (last exercise done in 2020);
- The Group risk matrix, led by the Group Risk Management function, updated every year;
- Specific committees (Carbon, Human Resources, Ethics, etc.);
- Vigilance risks matrix.
Continuous monitoring of external signals and international frameworks:
- Regulatory framework: the key topics listed under Article R. 225-105 of the French Commercial Code (Extra-Financial Performance Declaration);
- International institutions/organizations (United Nations Global Compact and SDGs);
- Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) rating agencies;
- Specific requests from investors and customers;
- Recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and various frameworks (SASB, GRI, etc.).
Each topic is monitored by the relevant departments and their management teams, or “Risk Overseers”, who are in charge of proper risk assessments and the implementation of mitigation and prevention actions.
Overall, the different governance bodies involved in the definition and monitoring of our Sustainability roadmap and programs (Schneider Sustainability Impact, SSI) are in charge of defining strategic mitigation programs in response to the risks and opportunities identified. Strategic programs defined at Group level are then cascaded into business divisions down to the sites for implementation. Each program of the SSI has a dedicated pilot in charge of driving the transformation and is sponsored at the Senior Vice President and Executive level to ensure management control and oversight.
Where appropriate, opportunities for growth are identified and translated into new products (for instance our unique SM AirSeT™ switchgear to avoid using SF6, or the creation of our new Sustainability Business).
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Schneider Electric uses a risk management model with central functions and experts that are independent of any business lines to oversee setting risk management mechanisms, establishing policies, and other activities, while the ownership of the risks belongs to the Business Units and Operating Divisions who are responsible for deploying the central framework to manage their risks.
A list of Key Risks, managed by different risk owners, are consolidated by the Risk Management Function and reviewed every year by the Board Audit & Risk Committee for disclosure, where the committee would have several dedicated sessions over each reporting year to ensure full details are examined.
Finalized results of ERM process is published each year in the Universal Registration Document and awareness promoting risk management is also promoted within the Group.
The Group has launched various trainings and campaigns targeting the board and all employees in order to further raise awareness on our risk management mechanisms. For the Board of Directors, the Group has started an initiative to enhance risk culture education across board members to ensure understanding of the Enterprise Risk Management framework. While for other employees, training sessions were organized to raise the maturity of risk owners and risk overseers through various communities. General employee awareness was also raised through videos and social media campaigns that communicates our risk management mechanisms.
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As a world corporate leader in sustainability, we believe that what makes Schneider Electric stand out today and tomorrow is that it is an Impact company through 5 guiding principles:
- Performance: we are convinced that to do good, we need to do well, and vice-versa. Our sustainability and business impacts converge to act for a climate-positive and socially equitable world.
- All stakeholders: we seek to address the needs of all stakeholders in its ecosystem, from employees to supply chain partners, customers, as well as local communities, and institutions.
- All ESG: to deliver sustainability in our entire value chain, we must combine a solid profitability with leading practice on all Environmental, Social, and Governance dimensions.
- Business: we have integrated sustainability at the heart of our business strategy to be the digital partner for sustainability and efficiency for all partners.
- Model & Culture: the company’s operating model is set up to impact on all of the above at global and local levels. Our culture builds on strong and practiced values with the right talent and processes to be a leading purpose-led company.
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Schneider Impact revenues are defined as offers that bring energy, climate, or resource efficiency to our customers, while not generating any significant harmful impact to the environment. Schneider Electric’s Impact revenues are split into four categories described thereafter. Activities included are:
- Energy efficiency architectures bringing energy and/or resource efficiency to customers. Offers include building management systems, power management systems, lighting and room control, thermal control, variable speed drives, Energy and Sustainability Services (ESS), and industry automation. Neutral technologies such as signaling, racks and enclosures, access control, or emergency lighting are excluded;
- Grid reinforcement and smart grid architectures contributing to electrification and decarbonization. This includes all technologies and architectures contributing to a New Electric World, helping grid and electrification come to life: smart grid and microgrid technologies, EV charging infrastructures, medium voltage systems to upgrade electricity distribution networks, low voltage connectable offers enabling smart grid management and energy efficiency, secure power and switches that enable security, and security of supply;
- Products with differentiating green performance, flagged thanks to our Green PremiumTM program. Green Premium products offer environmental transparency (with digital life cycle analysis and circular end-of-life instructions), superior compliance to stringent environmental regulations, and differentiating performance on climate, resources, or health (note: double-accounting with categories 1 or 2 is removed);
- Services that bring benefits for circularity (prolonged asset lifetime and uptime, optimized maintenance operations, repair, and refurbish) and energy efficiency (to maintain operational performance of equipment and avoid a decrease of energy efficiency over time).
Revenues derived from activities with fossil sectors and others are excluded, including Oil & Gas, coal mining, and fossil-power generation, in line with prevailing corporate responsibility reporting and sustainable finance practices, even though Schneider Electric’s technologies deliver resources and carbon efficiency in such sectors as well. In line with Schneider Electric’s strategy to phase out SF6 from offers by 2025, SF6-containing switchgear for medium voltage applications are also excluded. In addition, neutral technologies such as signaling, racks and enclosures, access control, or emergency lighting are excluded.
All revenues consolidated in financial accounts are taken into account. The calculation is based on revenues per line of business. The exclusion of fossil revenues is based on orders per customers’ end segment, with extrapolation to estimate the destination of transactional sales.
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Schneider Electric has been an early adopter of transparent disclosures on sustainable revenues, and created its own methodology of “Impact revenues” in 2019, covering offers that bring environmental efficiency to its customers, while not generating any significant harmful impact to the environment, and excluding revenues from carbon-intensive segments. Recently, the European Union (EU) has shown international leadership by being the first to develop a Regulation and Taxonomy aiming at driving investments towards environmentally sustainable activities, which the Group applauds. Both methodologies are somewhat aligned but currently differ in the scope of eligible activities, and in end-segments exclusions. The Group is supportive of a better alignment over the next years to provide its multinational stakeholders with standardized metrics and empower them to shape a more sustainable future for all.
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The methodology for calculating Taxonomy-eligible turnover, Capital Expenditure, and Operational Expenditure is detailed in the Group’s annual report. In a nutshell, regarding revenues, two main approaches are used:
- An offer-based (by nature of technology) approach, whereby workshops are conducted with offer management teams for each line of business to define whether products are in line with the definition of economic activities included in the EU Climate Delegated Act. For example, Building Management Systems (BMS) generally include energy efficiency systems, which are Taxonomy-eligible, and fire safety and access control systems, which are not. In this example, the analysis enables to account only for energy efficiency systems installed as part of a BMS.
- An end-segment-based approach, whereby commercial teams indicate for each product line the amount of revenues generated from Taxonomy-eligible end-segments (Green Transport and Renewables mainly). Double-counting between offer-based approach and end segment-based approaches are removed before consolidation.
ESG performance and disclosure
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Schneider Electric is regularly top-ranked by many ESG rating agencies. For instance, in 2022 the Group obtained a CDP Climate Change A rating and was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, both for the 12th year in a row. The Group is also part of Euronext Vigeo World 120, Europe 120, Eurozone 120, and France 20 indices. Schneider Electric obtained an Ecovadis Platinum medal (top 1%), is rated AAA by MSCI and Low risk by Sustainalytics. In January 2023, Schneider Electric has also been named the #7 World Most Sustainable Corporate according to Corporate Knights Global 100.
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The execution of the Group’s 2021-2025 sustainability strategy is tracked through quantitative Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), under two complementary tools: Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI) and the new Schneider Sustainability Essentials (SSE).
Another tool called Schneider Sustainability External and Relative Index (SSERI) measures the Group’s performance in 4 independent ESG ratings.
The numerous awards received (e.g. #1 Most Sustainable Corporation, RE100 Clean Energy Trailblazer, Financial Times top 50 Diversity Leaders, Gartner Supply Chain Top 25, etc.) and the Group’s leadership in the main ESG indices (e.g. Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, Euronext Vigeo Eiris World 120, etc.), confirm that Schneider Electric is headed in the right direction.
Read our reports to see our performance through the years.
Universal Registration Document 2022 - Pages 76 to 79 -
The SSI is the translation of our 6 long-term commitments into a selection of 11 highly transformative and innovative programs. Program results are published quarterly, audited annually, and linked to short-term incentive plans for the managers of the Group. A notable addition to the SSI in 2021 is the local aspect, aiming to deploy local actions in the 100+ markets where the Group operates in order to better empower all leaders and collaborators to unlock meaningful local impacts.
Another tool has been created to maintain a high level of commitment and transparency in the actions taken by the Group: the SSE. This new tool brings balance between the innovative transformation plans of the SSI and the need to keep progressing on other long-lasting programs. In that spirit of continuous improvement, and in a holistic vision of sustainability, the SSE tracks annual progress with 25 quantitative KPIs, and some additional qualitative programs. Collectively, the SSI 11 Global Impacts and its Local Impact, as well as the 25 SSE programs, are the Group’s short-term sustainability roadmap and our contribution to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
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Yes, annual short-term incentives for the Group’s executives and about 64,000 eligible employees are linked to the Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI) performance since 2011. From 2019, the weight of the SSI criteria has increased from 6% to 20% in the collective part of the annual incentive, highlighting further the importance of ESG on Schneider Electric’s business agenda. In France, since 2012, the SSI has also been included in the profit-sharing incentive plan for the French entities, Schneider Electric Industries, and Schneider Electric France. The reduction in the occupational accidents severity rate is also considered in the profit-sharing incentive plans of 24 other French entities.
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Yes, Schneider Electric’s long-term incentive plan offers share ownership opportunities to the Group’s key talents and critical roles to align their rewards with the interests and experience of Schneider Electric shareholders. Similar to the short-term incentive, a portion of the award under the long-term incentive plan is subject to the achievement of sustainability objectives. From 2020, the long-term sustainability performance is measured through the Schneider Sustainability External & Relative Index (SSERI), which accounts for 25%, a combination of external indices which cover a range of environmental, social, and governance indicators wider than and different from the SSI criteria included in the annual incentive plan.
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The Schneider Sustainability External and Relative Index (SSERI) measures the long-term sustainability performance of the Group in terms of relative performance, through a combination of external indices which cover a range of environmental, social, and governance indicators wider than and different from the Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI). The SSERI weighs 25% of the long-term incentives (LTI) performance criteria for about 3,000 Group leaders.
Using external indices ensures that the sustainability priorities governing the assessment of the long-term sustainability performance of the Group are at all times those which matter the most to the stakeholders.
As their content is dynamic and includes new and more relevant topics as they emerge, it forces participants to constantly anticipate the most demanding trends in global sustainability. The Board has selected some of the most challenging external indices which are objective, recognized, and independent, covering main geographies in line with the Group’s global footprint and which complement each other as they cover different sustainability dimensions:
- DJSI World which covers three dimensions: economic, environmental, and social;
- Euronext Vigeo which covers environment, community involvement, business behavior, human rights, corporate governance, and human resources;
- EcoVadis which covers four dimensions: environment, labor and human rights, sustainable procurement and ethics; and
- CDP Climate Change representing a major reference for climate change leadership globally.
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Yes. Our TCFD correspondence table can be found page 266 to 269 of our 2022 Universal Registration Document. Likewise, a SASB correspondence table is provided page 264 to 265. You can find more details in our reports.
Universal Registration Document 2022 - Pages 264 to 269
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Our long-term commitment is to act for a climate positive world, by continuously investing in and developing innovative solutions that deliver immediate and lasting decarbonization in line with our Carbon pledge.
Delivering a climate impact with EcoStruxure solutions
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As a global specialist in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, the Group places its expertise and solutions at the service of its customers to ensure that energy is safe, reliable, efficient, connected, and sustainable. The Group proposes an integrated offering of technologies and market-leading solutions tailored to customer needs, promoting the transition towards more electric, digital, decarbonized, and decentralized energy. Due to its business model, Schneider Electric is therefore uniquely positioned among the 1,000+ companies taking action for climate change because it acts on both sides of the equation:
- The solutions Schneider Electric brings to the market are directly linked to activities to mitigate, adapt, and improve humanity’s resilience to climate change;
- At the same time, Schneider Electric acts to reduce its end-to-end CO2 supply chain by 2050, with precise steps for 2025, 2030 and 2040
To demonstrate this positive impact, a new Schneider Sustainability Impact indicator was launched in 2018 to quantify CO2 savings delivered to customers through the use of Schneider offers (Scope 4). The Group is committed to helping customers save and avoid 800 million tonnes of CO2 by 2025 and already achieved 440 million tons of CO2 in 2022.
Detailed calculation rules are defined per offer, leveraging sales data, market expertise, and technical knowledge. The methodology is designed to become a shared industry standard; its principles are applicable across capital goods and consumer durables sectors. The methodology is public and was developed with an expert CO2 accounting consulting company, Carbone 4, and the calculation is audited every year as part of the extra-financial audit.
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Our mission is to be the digital partner of our customers for sustainability and efficiency allowing them to reduce their CO2 emissions in buildings, in data centers, across smart grids, industries, and in homes. For years, we have continuously developed and reinforced a full offer for an all-digital, all-electric world. By combining digital and electric solutions and services, we deliver a unique efficiency value proposition based on four dimensions of integration:
- Firstly, we enable integration of energy and automation for energy and resource efficiency.
- Secondly, we connect everything from end-point to the cloud, making every installation transparent and the data available to all those who need it, from operators to the control room.
- Thirdly, based on a fully integrated suite of software and digital twins, we enable the integration of an installation’s life cycle across all phases, from design and build, to operate and maintain.
- And finally, digitization allows us to connect and manage companies across sites to reach new levels of enterprise-wide efficiency.
Schneider Electric’s Sustainability Business (SB) helps the world’s leading companies on climate, from strategy setting to execution:
- Strategize: SB consultants help companies measure their environmental impacts, create a decarbonization roadmap, structure their program & governance and communicate on commitments.
- Digitize: Create a single-source-of-truth for energy and resource data management requires monitoring of resource usage and emissions, identifying saving opportunities and reporting on benchmark progress. This is achieved with Schneider’s digital platform and services (EcoStruxure™ Resource Advisor and Neo Network™).
- Decarbonize: Execute decarbonization strategy using four key levers: electrification of operations, reduction of energy use, replacing energy source and engaging the whole value chain. Schneider Electric’s robust portfolio of end-to-end net-zero solutions supports clients to deliver those levers. SB global team of experts helps our customers deploy these solutions to systematically achieve their decarbonization aspirations.
Governance
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The process for designing a new Schneider Sustainability Impact program (SSI) includes a sustainability risks and opportunities assessment (including climate), which leads to the design of concrete transformation initiatives to align the company on the challenges identified. The risks and opportunities are then monitored and managed on a continuous basis. Several governance bodies are involved in this process, in particular the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, the SSI Steering Committee and the Sustainability Department.
A dedicated Carbon Committee is in charge of continuously assessing climate-related risks and opportunities, steering the Group carbon pledge and proposing a strategy and management plan to the Group Sustainability Committee.
Additionally, environmental transformations are driven by a network of leading experts in various environmental fields such as eco-design, energy efficiency, circular economy, or CO2. Environment leaders coordinate a network of more than 600 managers responsible for the environmental management of sites, countries, product design, and marketing.
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Since 2018, Schneider Electric has built a scenario planning function and roadmap. This exercise led to the creation of several scenarios leading to 2040, developed following an inductive methodology approach. These scenarios include critical reviews of the geopolitical landscape, commodity and resources availability, economic and financial evolutions, climate sensitivity and evolving policies, energy transition pathways, and technology developments, among others.
The consequences on the energy transition are quantified, looking at 10 regions and a number of sectors individually, framing the business landscape in which Schneider Electric operates. Key findings are regularly cross-checked with new publications, particularly the ones from the International Energy Agency, among others, on a regular basis. Governance is in place, under the leadership of the Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer, and this exercise is shared internally and used to inform strategic priorities across the business and operations.
Across all scenarios, a key takeaway is the dominant role of:
- Efficiency: a critical enabler for decarbonization, resiliency and security;
- Electrification: the world is becoming more electric, with 2x growth against other sources of energy;
- Digitization: with the increase in connectivity, complemented by real-time information and competitive computing capabilities, digital technologies play a major role in reaching decarbonization targets while augmenting economic productivity.
Based on these inputs and findings, and by estimating the financial impact such scenarios may have on the Group’s business (as risks or as opportunities), key development areas have been identified that allow to actively contribute to the low-carbon transition. These scenarios therefore heavily drive the Schneider Electric business strategy in terms of investments (R&D, incubation, efficiency), and enable it to develop its sustainability portfolio of offers.
GHG footprint and Net-zero Strategy
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Schneider Electric updates its scope 1 and 2 carbon footprint annually, and scope 3 emissions annually or every three years (depending on the source of emission). Each year, an independent third-party verifier provides a limited assurance on all Scope 1, 2, and 3 CO2 figures disclosed by the Group.
Thanks to Schneider Electric’s energy efficiency and renewable strategies, the Group has achieved significant CO2 emissions reduction in absolute terms in 2022 versus 2017 baseline: scope 1 and 2 operational emissions have reduced from 699,079 tCO2e to 229,347 tCO2e, which is an absolute reduction of 469,732 tCO2e, and a -67% decrease. Scope 3 emissions represent around 90% of the Group’s industrial carbon footprint (i.e. scopes 1, 2, and 3 upstream, as per the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, excluding use and end-of-life of products sold), mainly from the purchase of raw materials, equipment, and services to its suppliers.
Emissions produced, saved, and avoided by Schneider Electric’s products and services during their use phase and end-of-life are also quantified.
Universal Registration Document 2022 - Pages 278 to 279
Discover our Sustainability Disclosure Dashboard -
Schneider Electric is a signatory of the Business Ambition for 1.5°C initiative aimed at setting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets in line with the global effort to limit warming to 1.5°C. Schneider Electric has four key milestones leading to net-zero by 2050.
- 2025: Through its Schneider Sustainability Impact program, Schneider Electric has committed to help its customers and partners save and avoid 800 million tonnes of CO2 emissions thanks to its EcoStruxure solutions. Moreover, Schneider Electric operations (scopes 1 and 2) will be carbon-neutral by 2025 (including CO2 offsets)
- 2030: The Group has committed to reduce its absolute carbon emissions across its value chain by 25% from 2021 baseline. Schneider has also committed to have “net-zero ready” operations (scopes 1 and 2), meaning the Group commits to reduce its operational carbon footprint by at least 90% (compared to 2017 base year) and will remove residual emissions. This 2030 target is validated by the SBTi as part of a 1.5°C ambition and their Net-Zero Corporate Standard. To achieve these carbon reductions, the Group is actively engaging its suppliers to accelerate their climate strategy, sourcing lower-carbon materials, as well as improving the energy efficiency of its offers.
- 2040: The Group has committed to reach carbon neutrality across its full end-to-end footprint by 2040 (scopes 1, 2, and 3).
- 2050: Schneider Electric has committed to reach net-zero emissions across its value chain. This target was approved by the Science-Based Target initiative under the “Net-Zero Corporate Standard”. The Group will need to reduce absolute scopes 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions by at least 90% from a 2021 base year and remove residual emissions.
Our long-term commitment is to be efficient with resources, by behaving responsibly and making the most of digital technology to preserve our planet.
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For Schneider Electric, circular economy is an all-encompassing strategic transformation, rather than an isolated initiative (such as incorporating recycled materials in some products). It is core to the lasting success and touches everything Schneider Electric does, detailed under three main channels:
- Circular business models and value propositions for customers: through circular capabilities such as local models of reuse, retrofit, repair, refurbish, and take-back, and by unleashing the potential of IoT, connecting and digitizing products (predictive maintenance, performance optimization, leasing, pay-per-use, performance contracting);
- Circular resources and product development: starting at the product design phase to minimize resource usage and maximize reuse, recycled resources, and recyclability;
- Circular supply chain: zero-waste and circular excellence in operations and sites with strict targets on waste reduction, reuse, and recovery.
Our long-term commitment is to live up to our principles of Trust, by upholding ourselves and all around us to high social, governance, and ethical standards.
Ethics
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The 2021 Trust Charter is the evolution of the Group’s Principles of Responsibility and sets out the expectations of how we work at Schneider and equip teams to confront any unethical behavior they might encounter.
To live up to the highest standards of corporate governance, the Trust Charter acts as our Code of Conduct and demonstrates our commitment to ethics, safety, sustainability, quality, and cybersecurity. Schneider Electric believes that trust is a foundational value. It is earned, it serves as a compass, showing the true north in an ever more complex world and Schneider Electric considers it to be core to its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments.
As trust fuels empowerment, each section of the charter states clear do’s and don’ts and provides clear references to relevant policies and procedures, which are adapted to meet local legal requirements when necessary. This Code of Conduct applies to everyone working at Schneider or any of Schneider’s subsidiaries.
It is both an individual and collective responsibility to comply with and respect laws and regulations, to apply Schneider Electric policies, and to uphold strong ethical principles to earn trust at all times.
The Trust Charter was published in 2021 on Schneider Electric's internal and external websites and can be downloaded in 30 different languages.
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Schneider Electric seeks to be a role model in its interactions with customers, partners, suppliers, and communities, when it comes to ethics and the respect and promotion of human rights. The Group strives to have a positive impact on the planet and the environment by contributing to finding solutions to limit climate change. The Group’s vigilance plan reflects this ambition. It also complies with the provisions of 2017 French law on Corporate duty of vigilance. The plan includes:
• A risk analysis specific to vigilance: risks that Schneider Electric poses on the ecosystem and environment;
• A review of the key actions implemented to remediate or mitigate these risks;
• An alert system;
• Governance specific to vigilance.
In its Registration document, Schneider Electric reviews the risk matrix analysis, and some of the actions to mitigate these risks are described. For more comprehensive and complete information, the full vigilance plan of the Group is available as a standalone document and can be downloaded from Schneider’s Electric website.
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Schneider Electric’s human rights approach is articulated around three principles:
- First, Schneider Electric is committed to fully respecting and applying laws and regulations in all countries where it operates.
- Second, Schneider Electric is committed to fostering and promoting human rights throughout all its operational sites and subsidiaries worldwide.
- Third, Schneider Electric wishes to support human rights beyond its borders, leveraging its large network of partners and stakeholders to promote the implementation of actions that will ensure the respect of people’s rights.
At the end of 2022, Schneider published the second version of its Global Human Rights Policy. The Company intends to increase its commitments by making clear its position on new challenges such as migrant workers and artificial intelligence. It confirms the Group’s engagement to strive for the respect of all internationally recognized Human Rights and to ensure that Human Rights are respected for everyone, everywhere, at all times.
The new policy includes eight new topics: respect and dignity, human rights in cyberspace, migrant workers, conflicts minerals, intergenerational solidarity, human rights activities within the Group’s supply chain, civic space and human rights defenders, and access to a healthy environment. Full deployment including the creation of an e-learning is planned for 2023.
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Schneider Electric applies a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption and other unethical business practices and considers that “doing things right” is a key value-creation driver for all its stakeholders. We count on our employees and third parties to promote business integrity. For doing so, we must provide them with the tools to encourage them to act right.
To operationalize the behavior rules of the Anti-Corruption Policy, Schneider Electric has created a set of additional policies and procedures related to Conflict of Interest, Business Agents, Gifts & Hospitality, Philanthropy and Sponsorship and revised anticorruption accounting controls program. Moreover, the risks associated with onboarding new acquisition targets are numerous and consequently, Merger and Acquisition (M&A) guidelines have been published to identify, manage, and mitigate those risks at the earliest possible stage. These same rules also apply when Schneider Electric decides to make a divestiture with a step-by-step approach to managing the transition.
Anti-Corruption Compliance program and awareness is one component of the Ethics & Compliance program. We want to ensure that country leaders, managers, employees, and third parties are aware of our Anti-Corruption Code of Conduct. In 2020 and 2021, a set of anti-corruption e-learnings was built, providing guidance on real-life risk scenarios and is mandatory for 40,000 targeted employees exposed to corruption risks. In 2022, those e-learnings were rolled out to more than 40,000 employees, with a completion rate of 97%. Ad hoc anti-corruption learnings were also delivered to all employees and managers as part of the Trust Month, and specific communication campaigns dedicated to the new policies for Gifts & Hospitality, Philanthropy and Sponsorship were deployed globally.
To allow specific alerts to be reported with a high level of confidentiality and to be dealt with at a high level, Schneider Electric relies on an online system called Trust Line available at all times. Employees and external stakeholders (suppliers, subcontractors, customers, business agents, etc.) can directly access the whistle blowing system through the Trust Line portal, which provides support to people if they are a victim/witness to a potential violation of the Trust Charter.
Safety
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Safety is a value on which Schneider Electric will not compromise, and this applies to Schneider Electric employees, customers, partners, and those working on their behalf. Safety is a pillar of the Trust Charter and it reinforces the Group’s commitment to providing a healthy and secure workplace for all.
The Safety and Occupational Health Policy establishes the commitment that Schneider Electric has made to maintaining safe and healthy working conditions, to fulfilling legal obligations, to engaging employees in safety processes, and to continually improving the health and safety program, and is the cornerstone of its certified Safety Management System.
In 2022, as part of its improvement efforts, Schneider Electric successfully achieved re-certification for ISO 45001 Safety Management System as part of a fully integrated management system certified through Bureau Veritas. This certification is in place for over 200 locations, including 176 manufacturing and logistics sites and the central office.
The Schneider Electric global safety strategy includes “S.A.F.E. First” at the core. Developed as a personal reminder to pause and reflect on safety before beginning any task, the program empowers employees to perform S.A.F.E. First checks and if “Unsafe? Stop Work!”. To ensure successful implementation of the strategy, annual Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Assessments are performed in industrial sites worldwide.
Schneider Electric has been very successful in meeting goals for the reduction of workplace injuries and illnesses, including those injuries resulting in lost time days. Over the past 10 years, the Group has reduced the frequency of incidents (Medical Incident Rate, MIR) by 69% and the severity of incidents (Lost Time Incident Rate, LTIR) by 66%. As part of the Schneider Sustainability Essentials, the Group set a 5-year safety target to reduce the Medical Incident rate to 0.38. The MIR performance has reduced from the baseline of 0.79 in 2019 to the result of 0.58 in 2022. It was the best performance ever, showing a MIR reduction of 11% compared to 2021.
Schneider Electric was the recipient of several awards for occupational health and safety programs in 2022. This includes 137 Occupational Excellence Achievement Awards from the National Safety Council (NSC) for safety performance that was 50% or better than their industry peer group.
Cybersecurity
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Schneider Electric, like other organizations with a similar global footprint and presence, is exposed to the risk of cyberattacks and data privacy breaches. The Energy Management and Industrial Automation sectors, in particular, are becoming more digital with pervasive Internet of Things (IoT) usage and augmented data being major accelerators for mobility, the cloud, pervasive sensing, big data, and analytics.
As an industrial and technology company, the Group has IT and Operational Technology (OT) activities spread over dozens of R&D sites, and more than 200 production and logistic units. On those sites, OT systems have been converging more and more with IT systems, especially through the use of IoT, expanding the overall attack surface.
The digitalization of products, including native connectivity, is increasing the exposure to cybersecurity risk, where connected products and digital offers (e.g., remotely managed services like “Advisor”) at Schneider Electric or customers’ sites could be used as a gateway for malicious cyberattacks. Additionally, the move from a product-centered business model to a service-oriented business model with software and augmented data naturally increases cybersecurity risks, such as data breaches and intellectual property theft.
Schneider Electric Exchange is an ecosystem collaboration platform with over 50,000 users, approximately 300 leverageable applications, more than 150 service providers, and around 100 communities. These types of digital offers and platforms, if compromised, could negatively impact a customer’s business and consequently affect the service quality, profitability, and reputation of Schneider Electric.
To mitigate the risk of Schneider Electric’s connected products being used as a gateway to attack the Group’s customers and partners, the Product & Systems Security Office (PSO) is reinforced with a strong mandate of developing products and securing the ecosystem in conformity with cybersecurity standards (such as the ISO 27000 suite and IEC 62443). As an illustration, the IoT Cloud Platform (EcoStruxure™ Technology Platform) has implemented controls that are mappable against the ISO 27001 standard. Schneider Electric follows a Secure Development Lifecycle process to build cybersecurity into its products, even before the design stage. In 2019, security and privacy design were enhanced with a new Secure Development Lifecycle and certified to IEC 62443-4-1.
Schneider Electric enforces digital security and privacy conformance for products, systems, software, platforms, applications, and digital offers through security reviews and, when applicable, the Digital Certification process. Schneider Electric addresses cybersecurity vulnerabilities affecting products, software, and systems to support the security and safety of our customers. Schneider Electric works collaboratively with researchers, Cyber Emergency Response Teams (CERTs), and asset owners to ensure that accurate information is provided in a timely fashion to adequately protect customer installations. In case of a cyber incident, a process of response, connecting, and debriefing is organized with partners and customers
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Supply chain
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Since 2004, the Group has been encouraging its suppliers to commit to a sustainable development initiative. Since 2012, Schneider Electric has wanted to place itself in a continuous improvement process as well as to follow up with its suppliers by requiring them to make progress according to the ISO 26000 guidelines.
This approach is strengthened by the General Procurement Terms and Conditions which all suppliers must abide by: each supplier undertakes to apply the principles and guidelines of the ISO 26000 international standard, the rules defined in the ISO 14001 standard. Sustainability is considered as part of the selection criteria.
Schneider’s strategy combines actions on large and deep coverage (multiple tiers), seeks to engage strategic & impacting suppliers, allows supply chain risks identification & prevention, and drives continuous improvement on four main pillars:
- Net-zero CO2 emissions
- Decent work & Human Rights (Decent work program)
- Circular supply Chain
- Environment friendly
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Read more details on our sustainable relations with suppliers
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The Group has set out to engage its strategic suppliers in a process of continuous improvement in sustainability. These include high-volume suppliers, suppliers of critical components and non-substitutable suppliers for which the company intends to maximize and concentrate business, leveraging high-level relationships. At the end of 2022, strategic suppliers represented circa 55% of Schneider Electric’s purchases volume.
Strategic suppliers are identified based on several criteria, including their performance on ISO26000 – Corporate Social Responsibility standards (assessed through EcoVadis), covering Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) aspects. This process allows highest-performing suppliers to become and remain as our “strategic” suppliers. The results of the assessment are an integral part of the business reviews scheduled between buyers and strategic suppliers. The goal is to share with suppliers all improvement plans to put in place before next assessment, in order to improve all aspects of their sustainability posture, based on facts and clear recommendations. Consistent with a continuous improvement effort, these suppliers have achieved on average a +6.3 points increase between 2018 and 2020 and a +2.9 points increase in 2021-2022 to reach an average score of 60.3 at end of 2022.
The Group develops capacity building and works hand in hand with its strategic suppliers on key sustainability initiatives, especially on its SSI #3 Reduce CO2 emissions from top 1,000 suppliers’ operations by 50%, SSI #5 100% of our primary and secondary packaging is free from single-use plastic and uses recycled cardboard, and SSI #6 100% of our strategic suppliers provide decent work to their employees 2021-2025 programs.
Our long-term commitment is to create equal opportunities, by ensuring all employees are uniquely valued and work in an inclusive environment to develop and contribute their best.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
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In 2021, Schneider Electric renewed its commitment to gender balance with the 2021 – 2025 SSI gender balance KPI, 50/40/30 – women representing 50% of all new hires, 40% of frontline managers, and 30% of senior leadership by 2025. As of end 2021, women made up 41% of the hiring, 27% of the front-line management, and 26% of leadership teams.
At the leadership level, we focus on 30% representation because research has shown that 30% is the tipping point for diversity to have a real impact on teams. This approach is informed by critical mass theory, which takes its roots in physics, where a minimum ‘critical mass’ is needed to sustain a nuclear chain reaction. When it comes to diversity on teams, 30% has been identified as the critical mass number. To get to that level of representation in leadership, we need to build a strong pipeline for female talents to grow within the organization and access senior levels. This starts with a strong commitment to reaching gender balance in hiring and continues with efforts to promote and develop women internally.
Schneider Electric is also committed to removing the structural and social barriers hindering women’s career progression through a holistic strategy promoting gender equality in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and within the organization, and through targeted career development initiatives.
In 2019, the Company partnered with INSEAD to launch the Schneider Women Leaders’ Program (SWLP) – a global program with a common cause, enabling more women at their mid-career point to build the skills and confidence to step up their leadership capability and impact. Since its inception in 2019, more than 230 women have benefited from this targeted leadership development program.
In addition to SWLP, a new program called “How Women Rise” was launched for Schneider employees in several countries. Over the last couple of years, this leadership program has benefited more than 1,000 women.
Employee Resource Networks (ERNs) also play a large role in empowering women locally and helping drive efforts to advance women in leadership. As of the end of 2022, local ERNs have contributed to the Group’s efforts towards gender equality and inclusion in more than 40 countries.
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Schneider Electric’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion -
Well-being has been a strategic priority since 2015. Schneider Electric’s well-being ambition is to create an environment where employees are empowered to manage their unique life and work by making the most of their energy.
The holistic view of well-being (physical, mental, emotional, and social) and the joint effort between the Company, leaders, and employees, are key to the success of the program. The current strategy tackles three areas of impact: overall well-being, mental health, and new ways of working. 2021 has shown how the expertise in well-being, gained in the past six years, has evolved and translated into an increase in internal demand for consulting to leaders’ teams to sustain and boost their performance.
Awareness and training are essential for this transformation. Back in 2020, Schneider Electric achieved its goal to reach 90% of employees having access to a comprehensive well-being at work program (including access to medical coverage and well-being training).
Employees have access to training in different topics such as new and smarter ways of working, the upside of stress, how to work in a hybrid world, mindfulness at work, energizing our people to perform, spotting the signs of mental health challenges, and using strengths to prevent burnout. For instance, in 2021, a global mental health campaign was organized during the month of October using the tagline “Mental Health Matters” with more than 10,000 employees worldwide participating in different activities and training and 300,000 people reached on social media with testimonies from our leaders.
In 2023, the Group has also refreshed its Global Family Leave Policy, allowing its employees to enjoy extra time off to better take care of not only themselves but also their loved ones. With Global Family Leave Policy 2.0, the number of paid times increased for parental and care leave, compared to when it was first launched in 2017:
- Primary Parental Leave: Increased from 12 weeks to 20 weeks paid
- Secondary Parental Leave: Increased from 2 weeks to 4 weeks paid
- Care Leave: Increased from 1 week to 2 weeks paid
The Group also fosters a supportive culture for parents. For example, in France, Schneider Electric has offered employees several nursery places since 2005. Other examples include having a nursing mothers’ room and a complimentary mail service for shipping breast milk home when traveling in some of the Group’s offices.
Compensation and benefits
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At Schneider Electric, the basic foundational principles of fairness, equity, ethics, and transparency are fully embedded in our values. Through reward policies and processes, employees are compensated fairly and equitably for the skill set they possess and value contributions as a business imperative. Over the past five years, proactive actions have been taken to not only close gender pay gaps, but to prevent new gaps from being created.
To ensure accountability and transparency, Schneider Electric conducts quarterly reviews of compensation, both at country and global levels, leveraging analysis from HR data, which covers all key drivers of the employee lifecycle from hiring, performance assessment, and salary adjustment to career moves. Focusing on this Pay Equity Ecosystem allows Schneider Electric to proactively create offers for new hires and promotions that do not create pay gaps. The global pay equity framework was implemented in all countries by the end of 2020, covering 99.6% of Schneider Electric’s total workforce.
Given the progress made on pay equity and to support our inclusion philosophy, starting in 2021 the focus on pay equity has gone beyond gender. The ambition to attain and maintain a pay gap below 1% by 2025 for both females and males has been included as part of the SSE #18 for 2021 – 2025. Our baseline as of the end of 2020 is -1.73% and +1.00% for females and males respectively. As of the end of 2021, the pay gap was -1.61% for females and 1.11% for males, on track with the target. Note that this measurement will differ from Country figures that may be required to be reported due to statutory requirements.
As of the end of 2022, the pay gap was -1.64% for females and 1.02% for males, on track with the target. Note that this measurement will differ from Country figures that may be required to be reported due to statutory requirements.
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Schneider Electric believes earning a living wage is a basic human right and a key element of decent work. Schneider Electric is committed to paying all employees at or above the living wage to meet their families’ basic needs. The Group considers basic needs to include food, housing, sanitation, education, healthcare, plus discretionary income for a given local standard of living. This is guided by our Human Rights Policy and Trust Charter. All permanent direct employees of Schneider Electric with open ended contracts or fixed term contracts that are above 1 year are in scope of the annual gap analysis. Third parties such as suppliers or contractors or interns are out of scope.
In 2018, Schneider Electric started working with an independent advisor – Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) – to implement its living wage commitment as part of its fair and equitable policies. Schneider Electric has initiated a global process to analyze wage levels and employment practices against local living wage standards set by BSR. Moving forward into 2020, the COVID-19 crisis highlighted even more strongly the need for a safety net to guarantee a minimum income level for employees. Given the complexity of evaluating and mitigating the macroeconomic impact of the crisis, the Group did not run a gap analysis that year. In 2021, the new gap analysis covered 63 countries (representing over 99% of Schneider Electric footprint globally). As of 31 December 2022, 100% of in scope employees, i.e. all Schneider employees treated as permanent workforce, were paid at least a living wage. Where living wage gaps were identified, corrective actions were taken to ensure that all employees are paid a living wage and no new gaps are created. In addition to guaranteeing that all in scope employees are paid at least a living wage, Schneider continues to comply with all applicable federal, state and local regulations regarding minimum wage requirements.
In 2023, Schneider Electric received the certification of Global Living Wage Employer, guaranteeing that all employees of the company are paid at or above the Living Wage threshold as defined by the Fair Wage Network.
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Schneider ensures that all employee benefits are locally and globally compliant, as well as market relevant. Because employee benefit plans vary significantly between countries due to different levels of social, tax, and legal regulations, Schneider Electric’s benefits portfolio is primarily country-driven and aims at providing similar benefits within a country territory.
Global benefit standards
Schneider Electric regularly reviews compliance with its global benefit policies and principles to ensure that its inclusive global benefit standards are delivered for everyone, everywhere. These standards cover healthcare, family leave, and life cover.One of Schneider Electric’s underlying benefit objectives is to ensure all its employees are equipped to manage their basic health and well-being and to provide adequate security to employees and their dependents. Health and well-being are embedded in the Schneider Electric strategic people priorities and contribute to its sustainability mission. The Group is committed to provide its employees access to a well-being at work program – translated into a dual standard of access to healthcare and well-being training programs. It also provide access to an inclusive and comprehensive standard of healthcare coverage (outpatient, hospitalization, key health risks/ chronic conditions, maternity, children) defined by local regulations and employment agreements. Schneider also supports its employees with personal time off at critical life stages and this is fully deployed in 100% of countries as detailed below. In addition, the Group commits to provide financial security to employee dependents, in the event of an employee’s death, in the form of a minimum standard of life assurance coverage of at least a multiple equivalent to one year’s salary.
Global Family Leave Policy
In 2022, the Group conducted extensive internal and external research and will be expanding its Global Family Leave policy from 2023 for all employees globally:- Parental leave for birth adoption or surrogacy will go from 12 weeks paid to 20 weeks paid for primary leave, and from 2 weeks to 4 weeks for secondary leave.
- Care leave will increase from 1 paid week to 2 paid weeks.
- Bereavement will remain the same 1 week.
All employees eligible for benefits have access to this global policy.
Employee Share Ownership
The Worldwide Employee Share Ownership Plan (WESOP) is one of the Group’s recurring key annual reward programs, offering employees across the world an opportunity to become owners of the Company, at preferred conditions.WESOP is strongly ingrained in the Group’s culture, as a cultural and reward differentiator with a positive impact on engagement, attraction and retention. Schneider Electric has strongly developed and reinforced its offer over the years in order to build a sustainable group of employee shareholders reflecting the workforce diversity, to create a strong feeling of belonging, and to link employees to the performance of the Company, acting like owners of Schneider Electric. In that spirit, WESOP has become part of the Group sustainability commitments towards its 2025 roadmap (SSE #19).
In 2022, the Group successfully offered WESOP in 42 countries, achieving 60.5% subscription rate, a higher rate than in 2021 which was already at 59%. As of December 31, 2022, the employee shareholding represented 3.8% of Schneider Electric SE’s capital and 6.6% of the voting rights. 78% of the Group employee shareholders were located outside of France, of which 13% are in China, 15% in India, and 9% in the US. This also includes employee shareholding resulting from the long-term incentives grants.
Access to energy
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Schneider Electric launched its Access to Energy program in 2009, with a unique approach combining three dimensions that enrich each other:
• A training & entrepreneurship program aimed at developing skills in the electricity trades and supporting entrepreneurs in this area, in particular women, in order to promote sustainable and inclusive local development.
• A social and inclusive business, with products and solutions for rural electrification (collective and individual, such as solar lanterns, solar home systems including Pay As You Go feature, solar water pumping systems, microgrids including plug and play containerized solutions, etc.), creating local jobs in distribution, energy services, agriculture, etc., and promoting in particular women’s empowerment.
• Impact investment funds to support local economies in gaining access to energy and reducing energy poverty.
More than 39 million people have already benefited from the Schneider energy access solutions between 2009 and 2022.
Our long-term commitment is to harness the power of all generations, by fostering learning, upskilling, and development for each generation, paving the way for the next.
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Providing opportunities for the next generation is a key part of the strategy to harness the power of a multi-generational workforce, having five generations working side by side. As part of SSI #10, the five-year ambition is to achieve a doubling of growth in the early-career pipeline. This involves leveraging traditional approaches today but migrating to more digital, borderless, and self-paced offers, ensuring the Company can de-bias practices and create a more equal playing field for those interested in Schneider and sustainability. This will be achieved through flagship global programs and partnerships, supplemented by country specific initiatives:
- Schneider Global Virtual Student Experience: completely digital experience designed to provide students with a way to engage with Schneider Electric through eLearning modules and on project simulations.
- Schneider Go Green: an annual global competition for business and Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) students around the world to find innovative solutions for energy management and automation. In 2022, Schneider Go Green has had over 140,000 registrations and more than 22,000+ students have submitted ideas from over 200 countries.
- Development programs around the world that are structured to help support the acceleration of early career talent through a robust training and development path including graduate programs, internships, apprenticeships, and co-ops.
- Sponsorship initiatives, virtual Careers Fairs, office/site tours, Innovation Summit tours, digital and face-to-face speaking engagements and networking opportunities, mentoring relationships.
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The key challenge of training in the energy sector is to provide the youth with the knowledge and skills to be able to carry out a trade in a safe and responsible way, providing them and their families with the means for satisfactory subsistence. It will also give them the ability, should they wish, to sell and maintain energy access offerings and to create their own small business in time. Furthermore, they are a vital and indispensable element for all responsible and sustainable rural electrification policies.
Schneider Electric’s strategy, backed by its Foundation, under the aegis of Fondation de France, for training people in the energy sector, includes three key priorities:
• Basic training over a few months, which is free and accessible to many people and adapted as much as possible to the local situation. These training courses lead to the issuing of a certificate of competence by Schneider Electric;
• Single or multi-year training leading to qualifications, in partnership with local Ministries of Education, or even under bilateral agreements; and
• The training of trainers to support the effective and quality rollout of training down the line.
Encouraged by the achievements of its training courses, the Training & Entrepreneurship program is going further by providing informal entrepreneurs and those trained in the electricity sector with support in setting up their own businesses. Employment markets in emerging economies are characterized by high proportions of informal sectors, underemployment, and people holding multiple jobs to make ends meet. In addition to specific skills training, entrepreneurs need business startup support and access to funding, both being key factors in the creation of long-lasting businesses.
The actions are always implemented in partnership with local players and/or national or international non-profit organizations (NGOs, governments, etc.) and with Schneider Electric’s local subsidiary.
The program has supported the training of more than 300,000 people across Asia, South America, Africa, and the Middle East since 2010. More than 5,000 trainers and 4,000 entrepreneurs have also been supported. We are committed to go further and faster by reaching one million people trained by 2025, 10,000 entrepreneurs supported, and 10,000 trainers trained. From now on, the program will also operate in OECD countries.
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Schneider Electric believes that all employees are talented and empowers people to grow to their fullest potential, developing new skills and building careers for today and tomorrow, enabled by our multi-hub organization. Establishing a strong brand as an employer is communicated in the EVP (Meaningful, Inclusive, Empowered); the promise to current and future employees, driven and anchored by a meaningful purpose. In addition, the Group invests in learning and development for the wider ecosystem, including universities and schools, partners, customers, and the wider community.
The Group has a two-pronged approach to talent development, in order to prepare the workforce of the future – for all employees and for specific target groups:
- For all employees, the Group ensures there are tools and processes in place to set individual performance and development goals, access learning and development opportunities for their current roles as well as future roles, and explore diverse career paths around the world. #LearnEveryDay as one of the Core Values sets the tone for employees to be open to new challenges and continue to upskill for themselves, their teams, and their communities. In the OneVoice employee survey, 76% of employees were favorable to being able to renew their skills through learning and development opportunities at Schneider;
- For specific groups of talent, there is a strong focus on high potentials, early career talent, and a new pilot program for talent who are in a later stage in their professional career. An annual talent review process operates across the Company to help ensure high potential talent, including technical and digital talent, is identified, recognized, and supported with an accelerated development path. There are also targeted programs for specific skills to support our commercial, digital, and leadership transformations and equip our blue-collar workers for the supply chain of the future.
Providing opportunities for the next generation is a key part of the strategy to harness the power of a multi-generational workforce, having five generations working side by side. As part of Schneider Sustainability Impact and Essentials, our five-year ambition is to grow the early-career pipeline by two times and provide access to meaningful career development programs for >90% of employees during the later stages of their career.
The Group also recognizes skills are rapidly becoming outdated, especially vital technical and digital skills required to accelerate our business growth. In 2020, a one-stop-shop career development platform called Open Talent Market was launched to our employees to create an internal talent market leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to match the supply and demand of talent throughout Schneider Electric. This creates better transparency around job and project opportunities, ensuring employees can drive their career and develop to their fullest potential at Schneider Electric.
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For all employees, the Group ensures there are tools and processes in place to set individual performance and development goals, and access learning and development opportunities for their current and future roles.
The Group’s robust process of setting individual performance and development goals annually, with regular reviews during the year, provides everyone with a clear roadmap to deliver with impact based on the “WHAT” (results & its impact to team and others) and the “HOW” (behaviors contributed to achieve together) to ultimately achieve collective success.
The new features introduced from 2021 in the goal setting process makes it more meaningful and support the new ways of working to collaborate and achieve together:
- FAST goals (Frequently discussed, Ambitious, Specific, Transparent) to support our desire to move to a more agile and regular way of reviewing and re-prioritizing goals. Managers are accountable to ensure employee goals are aligned with the agreed priorities throughout the year
- Share Goals: Employees can share goals with anyone in the organization to create transparency and to boost collaboration across teams (optional)
- Team Goals: Managers can set team goals to drive collaboration and to achieve together based on collective team priority (optional)
Each year we provide training to HR Business Partners and managers to ensure that the process is carried out with the same standards everywhere. And we provide the tools that help the managers display the most appropriate conduct during the critical steps of the process.
The Group has built-in reminders to check hidden biases and mitigate them through inclusive tips into our major human resource programs, including performance and salary review processes.
Our long-term commitment is to empower local communities, by promoting local initiatives and enabling individuals and partners to make sustainability a reality for all.
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Schneider Electric is the most local of global companies with a balanced footprint. Equally, the diverse mix of teams across the globe ensures the highest level of local expertise and support for our customers’ specific needs and global R&D expertise strengthens the Group’s innovation strategy. We believe this local set-up empowers our country leaders to best react to local market changes with agility.
The multi-hub approach is a key element of our operating model and strategy. It has particularly demonstrated its benefits since 2020 by improving resiliency, agility, and proximity with our customers and our network of suppliers.
In 2021, Schneider Electric’s multi-hub strategy was reinforced and strengthened with the creation of the Indian hub, built when merging with Larsen & Toubro’s Electrical & Automation division. India is one of the most promising regions in the world for electrification, digitization, urbanization and manufacturing and is now one of Schneider Electric’s major manufacturing and talent centers with 30,000 employees and 30 factories.
Four hubs now serve the Group’s different markets (Europe, North America, China & India). Each hub has its own capabilities while operating and contributing together toward the same Group objectives.
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As part of its 2021 – 2025 Schneider Sustainability Impact, Schneider Electric promote local initiatives and enable individuals and partners to make sustainability a reality for everyone, everywhere. 100% of Schneider Electric’s Country and Zone Presidents have defined three local commitments that impact their communities in line with our sustainability transformations. Close to 200 local programs have been deployed since 2021.
Every quarter, the company highlights local commitments achievements in its Schneider Sustainability Impact Publications such as:
- Advancing equality in India for 24,000 students by powering 100 co-educational schools with solar energy;
- Promoting circularity in France with our employees by expanding our internal shop catalog with 150 circular product references;
- Giving electrical products a new life in Spain with an online marketplace and improved electrical installations for families in need;
- Fast-tracking e-mobility in Norway for our entire car fleet to become 100% electric in 2023;
- Supporting reconciliation in Australia by increasing fivefold spending with indigenous-owned suppliers, as part of the Reconciliation Action Plan.
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Read the Schneider Sustainability Impact quarterly reports
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For more than 20 years, training and entrepreneurship have been the historical mission of the Schneider Electric Foundation, under the aegis of Fondation de France. With the support of NGO partners, more than 300,000 young people around the world have received professional training in energy-related professions. The Group’s ambition is to train one million people by 2025. Passing on skills to young people and giving them the means to support their families will improve their quality of life and create sustainable jobs.
To do this, the Schneider Electric Foundation draws on a network of around 80 volunteer employees (or delegates) across 80 countries. Their role is to select local partners in vocational training and entrepreneurship in the energy sector and to raise sustainability awareness. The Foundation also leverages its VolunteerIn organization to empower employees to be actors and ambassadors of the Group’s societal commitments wherever they are based. They are the link between Schneider, the Foundation, and the supported organizations.
In 2022, more than 170 projects were active, supporting 69,393 young people through 13,112 days of volunteering. With an annual budget of EUR 4 million, the Schneider Electric Foundation contributes to partnerships that are made possible by more than EUR 17.5 million support from Schneider Electric’s entities. Group employees are also involved in these partnerships. In total, more than EUR 23.5 million has been invested to help local communities worldwide.
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In April 2020, the Schneider Electric Foundation set up the Tomorrow Rising Fund in response to the COVID-19 health crisis. The purpose of this global initiative is to provide local responses to meet the challenges of the emergency, to promote the recovery of education and training of the most vulnerable young people, and to boost resilience.
• Response: an initial response to the emergency. Food bank, first aid, COVID health kits, maintenance of access to education, etc. For example, a project in China to help low-income students in technical schools cope better with the crisis (SDG 1 and SDG 4);
• Recovery: support to the Foundation’s partners in resuming their activity and helping them to roll out new activities, in particular, the establishment of new partnerships to provide training in energy trades to young people. For example, a project in Brazil to provide young people with tablets and Internet access (SDG 4 and SDG 10);
• Resilience: the ability to continue to train and awareness-raising actions using digital technologies.
In 2022, with the support of the Schneider Electric Foundation, we launched a Tomorrow Rising crowdfunding campaign to help our +150 Ukrainian colleagues, who are facing incredible difficulties to move out or stay in their country and substantiate the needs of their families. As of April 2022, Schneider Electric, with the support of its Foundation and the individual contributions of thousands of employees, raised over €2M in donations to directly support Ukrainian colleagues and their families affected by the crisis. Schneider Electric also donated equipment worth €4M to help restore essential energy supplies in Ukraine and the Schneider Electric Foundation continues to work with local NGOs in support of the local community.