UNSW recognised on global stage at Schneider Electric’s Sustainability Impact Awards

Schneider Electric, a leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, has announced the winners of its annual global Schneider Electric Sustainability Impact Awards. 

Announced overnight during Schneider’s Innovation Summit 2024 in Paris, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney won the ‘Impact to my enterprise’ award, recognising partner, customer, and supplier organisations that exhibit sustainability leadership in decarbonising their own operations. The higher education facility was one of just six enterprises worldwide to secure this recognition and the only Australian. 

UNSW Sydney has an ambitious Environmental Sustainability Plan. Working alongside its partners, it aims to achieve sustainable development by reducing our environmental footprint and positioning its campuses and practices as sustainability leaders. 

Launched in 2022, the awards honour how Schneider Electric’s business ecosystem is contributing to a more sustainable and electric world, deploying the latest and greatest technology solutions and embracing collaboration to work faster and smarter. 

This year, selection criteria were updated to address wider efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions targets through electrifying and digitising operations.

In the Pacific region, Airtrunk won the ‘Impact to my enterprise’ award together with UNSW. As a hyperscale data centre specialist creating a platform for cloud, content, and large enterprise customers across Asia Pacific and Japan, Airtrunk develops and operates energy and water-efficient data centre campuses with industry-leading reliability, and technology innovation.

The 'Sustainability Impact to my customers’ category in the Pacific Zone saw Pacific Energy and Quasar Systems Ltd announced joint winners. This award recognises partners that demonstrate sustainable leadership by enabling their customers to achieve their decarbonisation goals.

Pacific Energy's stand-alone power systems are being deployed to one of the world’s largest grids to reduce carbon emissions and improve reliability and safety. Quasar has been implementing an EcoStruxure Power Monitoring Expert system for a project covering more than 200 sites across New Zealand.

“We are thrilled to be celebrating the outstanding sustainability achievements of our customers and partners in the Pacific region and applaud their sustainability endeavours. Not only did we see four exemplary wins locally, it was a remarkable achievement for the University of New South Wales to also secure global recognition,” said Schneider Electric’s Pacific Zone President Colette Munro.  

“As we make progress on our path to Net Zero, I encourage other Australian businesses to look to UNSW, AirTrunk, Pacific Energy, and Quasar, which have set new benchmarks when it comes to deploying the latest and greatest sustainable technology solutions. For those unsure how to navigate the initial steps of decarbonisation, there is support available from Schneider Electric to help them commence their journey to sustainability through digitisation and energy efficiency.”