ESG performance and disclosure
Discover how Schneider Electric acts for a climate-positive and socially-equitable world.
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:
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.
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 2021 - page 62 to 65As 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:
Continuous monitoring of external signals and international frameworks:
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).
Universal Registration Document 2021 - page 81 to 88
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:
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:
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.
Universal Registration Document 2021 –page 207Schneider 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.
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:
Schneider Electric is regularly top-ranked by many ESG rating agencies. For instance, in 2021 the Group obtained a CDP Climate Change A rating and was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, both for the 11th 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 2022, Schneider Electric has also been named the #4 World Most Sustainable Corporate according to Corporate Knights Global 100.
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 2021 - page 62 to 63The 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.
Universal Registration Document 2021 - page 63Yes, 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.
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:
Yes. Our TCFD correspondence table can be found page 220 to 223 of our 2021 Universal Registration Document. Likewise, a SASB correspondence table is provided page 218 to 219. You can find more details in our reports.
Universal Registration Document 2021 - page 218 to 223
Discover our Sustainability Disclosure Dashboard
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.
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:
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 347 million tons of CO2 in 2021.
The methodology allows to quantify CO2 saved and avoided by the Group’s solutions at its customers’ premises. Saved CO2 emissions correspond to brownfield sales (retrofit project) that enable reduction of global CO2 emissions compared to previous years and avoided CO2 emissions correspond to greenfield sales (new infrastructure) that enable a limitation of the increase of global emissions. Avoided and saved emissions are net emissions, they are the difference between emissions of a reference scenario and emissions with the implementation of Schneider Electric’s offer.
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.
Universal Registration Document 2021 – page 134Our 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:
Schneider Electric’s Sustainability Business (SB) helps the world’s leading companies on climate, from strategy setting to execution:
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.
Climate Change has been clearly identified as crucial to both Schneider Electric’s internal and external stakeholders during the various materiality assessments that took place in 2014, 2017, and 2020. It is also one of the pillars of the Group’s Trust Charter.
Overall, transformations linked to climate change are a source of opportunities for Schneider Electric, the main risk being to fail to lead by example and thereby lose traction with customers, investors, new talents, and collaborators in the company. At present, the impact of climate-related matters is not material to the Group’s financial statements.
Concrete climate-related programs to either grab opportunities, or mitigate risks are deployed every 3 to 5 years in our Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI) and complement the Group’s Climate Pledge – our short-term (2025), mid-term (2030), and long-term (2040, 2050) objectives, aligned with a 1.5°C trajectory and validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
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:
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.
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 2021 versus 2017 baseline: scope 1 and 2 operational emissions have reduced from 699,079 tCO2e to 294,051 tCO2e, which is an absolute reduction of 405,028 tCO2e, and a -58% 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 2021 – page 230 to 231
Schneider Electric Sustainability Disclosure DashboardSchneider 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.
At Schneider Electric, we strongly focus on reducing the emissions from our activities, with a comprehensive climate strategy that covers both our emissions from operations (scopes 1 and 2), and our indirect emissions (scope 3). In addition to the reduction targets we have, we are using CO2 offsets as an intermediary step toward net-zero CO2 emissions: by 2025 for instance, we will achieve carbon-neutral operations by reducing CO2 emissions as much as possible, and we will purchase a volume of high-quality offsets that is equal to the volume of residual remaining emissions. To go further, we will achieve carbon neutrality along our whole value chain (scopes 1, 2, and 3) by 2040, again with CO2 offsets covering residual emissions we have not been able to reduce.
For our supply in CO2 offsets, we favor carbon solutions that:
With our investment-based approach with Livelihoods Fund, we are long-term investors in CO2 offset projects, to help scale up and professionalize the ecosystem of nature-based solutions for climate.
Finally, we are transparent and follow the recommendations of GHG accounting standards as we disclose separately CO2 emissions and CO2 offsets.
On scopes 1 and 2: to get its operations to be “net-zero ready” by 2030 and reach at least 90% reduction of GHG emissions (from a 2017 base year), the Group has launched several transformations under the Climate and Resources commitments of its Schneider Sustainability Impact program (such as turning 150 sites into Zero-CO2 by 2025). The Group leverages its Power and Building EcoStruxure™ IoT architectures to deliver these ambitions, monitor and optimize energy consumption, manage assets and grid infrastructure, manage distributed renewable energy resources and electricity load, monitor energy quality, and power electric vehicles. Between 2017 and 2021, this strategy has already delivered an absolute reduction of 405,028 tonnes of CO2e emissions on scopes 1 and 2 (from 699,079 tCO2e in 2017), which is a 58% decrease.
On upstream scope 3: Schneider Electric is taking concrete actions to engage its suppliers to decarbonize. For example, the Group has set the ambition to engage 1,000 top suppliers to reduce their operational CO2 emissions by 50% by 2025 with The Zero Carbon Project. In addition to that, the Group has committed to increase Green Materials in its products by 50% by 2025.
On downstream scope 3: Schneider Electric is making continuous improvements in the eco-design of products, allowing for higher energy efficiency (but also lower carbon-content in the product, thus lower upstream emissions). In addition to that, the portfolio of its Green Premium products that bring greater environmental value added is growing; finally, the proportion of services and software in revenue is increasing.
Schneider Electric’s climate targets combine ambitious reduction targets with residual carbon removals. Its 2030 and 2050 targets were approved by the SBTi in July 2022, under SBTi’s “Net-Zero Corporate Standard”.
To meet the targets, the Group favors carbon solutions that:
With its investment-based approach with Livelihoods Fund, Schneider Electric is a long-term investor in CO2 offset projects and has helped scale the ecosystem of nature-based solutions for climate.
RE100, EP100, and EV100 are business initiatives run as part of the We Mean Business coalition led by the Climate Group NGO. They aim, by inviting companies to join them, to grow corporate demand for renewable energy, energy productivity and electric transport, accelerating the transition to a zero-emissions economy, while helping leading businesses to reduce carbon emissions, be more resilient and increase profits.
Schneider Electric is part of initiatives the RE100, EP100, and EV100 initiatives and has set respective targets for 2030:
The Zero Carbon Project (TZCP) is the first step to decarbonize Schneider’s supply chain. Schneider Electric’s Executive leadership launched the initiative in April 2021, on the occasion of an all-digital global event, attended by the leadership of key supplier partners. The ambition of TZCP is to collaborate with 1,000 suppliers and reduce their operational greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50% by 2025 (SSI #3).
The fundamental tenets of TZCP include:
The participating suppliers will be required to make public commitments for their reduction targets and share the emission reduction progress with Schneider. The participating companies cover more than 60 procurement categories from various regions, and vary in terms of carbon maturity and size. To adapt to this diversity, the participating suppliers are allowed a certain flexibility to customize their reduction plans by defining their own base year and baseline and adopt adequate reduction targets and time frames.
So far, more than 1,000 suppliers have committed to participate in the program. An initial survey of those suppliers showed that more than 70% of them have not yet quantified their GHG emissions, so an important part of the journey will be for them to develop a robust GHG accounting tool.
Our long-term commitment is to be efficient with resources, by behaving responsibly and making the most of digital technology to preserve our planet.
Launched in 2008, Green Premium™ program was created to provide customers with peace of mind and differentiating environmental performance: transparent environmental and regulatory information, superior energy, climate and circular performance, and protection of people and ecosystems from chemical substance risks. Today, 78% of Schneider Electric eligible sales are Green Premium.
The Green Premium ecolabel was introduced to provide transparent information on regulated substances and to share the environmental information of Schneider products.
Schneider Electric is redefining the program that will encompass three pillars in 2022:
Schneider Electric targets to have 80% of product revenues covered by Green PremiumTM by 2025 (Schneider Sustainability Essentials #6)
Due to the nature of most of its industrial processes (manual and automatic assembly), water consumption is not generally a critical resource for Schneider Electric, and the Group has a minimal impact on water quality. The topic was considered not very material by both internal and external stakeholders during the sustainability materiality analysis. In 2021, water management and performance information was disclosed in the CDP Water program, and Schneider was awarded a B rating.
However, Schneider fully realizes the importance of water in local communities, especially those that are located in water-stressed areas. Having approximately 90 ISO 14001 sites in areas classified as ‘high’ or ‘extremely high’ baseline water stress, as defined by World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, the Group has set the ambition that 100% of its sites in water-stressed areas have a water conservation strategy and related action plan by 2025 (SSE #11). In 2021, the Group achieved 9% of its 2025 target.
Under this program, three types of actions can be implemented:
In addition, Schneider Electric’s aims to reduce water intensity (in m3 of water consumption per euro of turnover) by 35% in 2025 versus 2017, with a focus on sites with high water consumption and within severely water-stressed areas. In 2021, water consumption intensity was 72 m3 per million euro of revenue, an evolution of -34% against the 2017 baseline.
Universal Registration Document 2021 – page 153 to 154In the framework of act4nature international, Schneider Electric's biodiversity pledge outlines the Group's plan to protect and preserve nature and biodiversity in line with our commitment to being Resource-efficient.
Five main levers of action have been identified and will be addressed through specific actions:
In the new Schneider Sustainability Impact 2021- 2025, we are stepping up our commitments for biodiversity. By 2025, Schneider Electric commits that 100% of its sites have local biodiversity conservation and restoration programs (SSE #8).
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:
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.
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.
Universal Registration Document 2021 – page 94In 2021, Schneider Electric has started to work on the second version of its Global Human Rights Policy, providing an update notably with the Company’s commitments regarding migrant workers and artificial intelligence. The full deployment is forecasted for the second quarter of 2022 including e-learning and training modules.
As stated in our Trust Charter and Anti-Corruption Policy, Schneider Electric is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations, such as the OECD’s Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the UK Bribery Act, and the French Sapin II law.
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.
Anti-corruption awareness is one component of the 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.
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 whistleblowing 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.
Note that the Anti-Corruption Compliance program is part of the Ethics & Compliance program.
Universal Registration Document 2021 – page 101 to 102In 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 Electric’s website.
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 2021, 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 81% and the severity of incidents (Lost Time Incident Rate, LTIR) by 77%. 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 0.65 in 2021, which represents 34% of the 5-year target. 2021 shows an increase of MIR versus 2020, which was an exceptional performance, impacted positively by the pandemic.
Schneider Electric was the recipient of several awards for occupational health and safety programs in 2021. This includes 163 Occupational Excellence Achievement Awards from the National Safety Council (NSC) for safety performance that was 50% or better than their industry peer group. In addition, 5 Schneider Electric operations were recognized with the Industry Leader Awards in 2021 for outstanding safety achievements for the top 5% of companies that qualified for the NSC Occupational Excellence Achievement Award.Schneider Electric, like other organizations with a similar global footprint and presence, is exposed to the risk of cyberattacks and data privacy breaches.
As an industrial and technology company, the Group has IT and Operational Technology activities spread over more than 25 sites, with dozens of R&D sites, and more than 200 production and logistic units. On those sites, Operational Technology systems are converging more and more with IT systems, especially through the use of Internet of Things (IoT) expanding the overall attack surface.
Additionally, the move from a product-centered business model to a service-oriented business model with software (e.g., digital offers like “Advisors” software suites or managed digital services) and augmented data naturally increases cybersecurity risks, such as data breaches and intellectual property theft.
This is why Schneider Electric has implemented several actions and processes to manage cyber threats:
As part of the Trust pillar of its 2021-2025 sustainability strategy, Schneider Electric commits to be in the top 25% in external ratings for Cybersecurity performance (SSE #16).
Universal Registration Document 2021 – page 255The Energy Management and Industrial Automation sectors, like many others, are becoming more digital with pervasive IoT usage and augmented data being major accelerators for mobility, the cloud, pervasive sensing, big data, and analytics.
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.
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.
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. Since 2020, all digital offers (mainly “Advisor” software suites) were assessed in the framework of digital security and privacy conformance.
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.
Universal Registration Document 2021 – page 258Since 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:
Universal Registration Document 2021 – pages 117 to 123
Read more details on our sustainable relations with suppliers
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.
Schneider Electric’s overall aspiration to improve the lives of people everywhere in the world by developing sustainable energy solutions for its customers extends to its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) ambition. The Group’s Diversity Policy was first written in 2006.
The DEI and Well-Being strategy focuses on engaging and impacting the individual, the organization, and society at large, via three pillars:
At the Group level, diversity and inclusion focus on five areas of diversity: Gender; Ethnicity and Nationality; Generation; People with disabilities and LGBT+.
While DEI is increasingly driven by local and regional regulations, with which the Group complies, other countries where Schneider Electric operates are encouraged to tackle additional DEI and well-being challenges specifically relevant to their markets and tailored to their local needs.
Schneider Electric’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Universal Registration Document 2021 – page 170The Board of Directors pays due attention to its composition and that of its committees. It relies on the works of the Governance & Remunerations Committee which reviews regularly and proposes as often as required, the relevant changes to the composition of Board of Directors and its committees depending on the Group’s strategy.
In that respect, in conformity with its internal regulations, the Board of Directors ensures through its proposals and its decisions that:
The gender diversity ratio of the Board of Directors, should the appointment of Mrs. Nive Bhagat be confirmed in the 2022 Annual Shareholders' Meeting, will reach 45% (excluding the employee Directors and the representative employee shareholders Director).
Schneider Electric is deeply committed toward diversity in general and gender diversity in particular. Schneider Electric focuses on taking proactive measures to encourage a balanced representation of men and women at the leadership level: the portion of women at the Executive Committee had been increased from 38% in 2020 to 44% in 2021. For the leadership pool comprising of the top leaders (around 1,000 employees), the female representation is 26% (+2% vs. 2020).
At its meetings of December 15, 2021, and February 16, 2022, the Board of Directors reviewed senior management’s ambitions regarding the balanced representation of men and women at the leadership level and noted that the objectives are set to:
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 2021, local ERNs have contributed to the Group’s efforts towards gender equality and inclusion in more than 40 countries.
Universal Registration Document 2021 – page 171
Schneider Electric’s Diversity, Equity & InclusionWell-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 for the success of the program. The current strategy tackles three areas of impact:
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.
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.
In line with its Human Rights Policy and Principles of Responsibility, Schneider Electric believes earning a decent wage is a basic human right. Schneider Electric is committed to paying employees in the lower salary ranges at or above the living wage to meet their families’ basic needs. By basic needs, the Group considers food, housing, sanitation, education, healthcare, plus discretionary income for a given local standard of living.
In 2018, Schneider Electric started working with an independent advisor – Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) – to implement its living wage commitment. Schneider Electric has initiated a global process to analyze wage levels and employment practices against local living wage standards set by BSR. At the end of 2019, the analysis had covered 63 countries, reaching 99% of the Schneider Electric footprint. 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 to evaluate and mitigate the macroeconomic impact of the crisis, the Group did not run a gap analysis this year. In 2021, the new gap analysis covered 63 countries (representing over 99% of Schneider Electric's footprint globally). As of December 31st, 99.9% 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.
Universal Registration Document 2021 – page 185
Read the UN's article: "Ensuring a Living Wage is an Essential Aspect of Decent Work"
As of December 31, 2021, the employee shareholding represented 3.6% of Schneider Electric SE’s capital and 6.3% of the voting rights. 77% of the Group employee shareholders were located outside of France, of which 13% are in China, 15% in India, and 10% in the US. This also includes employee shareholding resulting from the long-term incentives grants.
Universal Registration Document 2021 – pages 184 to 185Schneider 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 and are audited in the Schneider Sustainability Impact.
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. The Company has a commitment to strive, at a minimum, that 90% of Schneider Electric’s employees have access to a comprehensive well-being at work program – translated into a dual standard of access to healthcare and well-being training programs. Access to an inclusive and comprehensive standard of healthcare coverage (outpatient, hospitalization, key health risks/chronic conditions, maternity, children) is defined by local regulations and employment agreements. Schneider Electric also supports its employees with personal time off at critical life stages and this is fully deployed in 100% of countries. 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
As part of being a caring and responsible employer, Schneider Electric launched its global family leave policy along with care leave in 2017. With its industry-leading Global Family Leave Policy, Schneider Electric supports employees with personal time at critical life stages and empowers everyone to manage their “unique life and work” so that they can be at their best. While the Group’s countries have flexibility to define eligibility and policy details per statutory/market requirements, the policy sets global minimum standards:
All benefits eligible employees have access to this global policy.
Employee Share Ownership
The World 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.
Universal Registration Document 2021 – page 184 to 185
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.
The ambition of the Access to Energy social business is to connect an additional 20 million people between 2021 and 2025, and 70 million by 2030. 34 million people have already benefited from the Schneider energy access solutions between 2009 and 2021.
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.
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 #10, our five-year ambition is to grow the early-career pipeline by two times. 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:
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.
Universal Registration Document 2021 – pages 200 to 201Schneider 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:
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.
Universal Registration Document 2021 – pages 178 to 179During the OneVoice employee engagement surveys, Schneider Electric employees are asked a series of questions; six of them are used to generate the Employee Engagement Index (EEI). The EEI is a standard international index. Our bi-annual surveys moved from twice a year to once a year since 2018, to free up HRBPs and Managers’ energy and allow time to deep dive into the results and build impactful action plans. All employees are surveyed.
In 2021, despite global external predictions on the impact of pandemic fatigue on employees, Schneider Electric recorded its highest employee engagement score, 71%, + 7 points compared to 2019 in the pre-COVID-19 context. This is evidence of a strong and lasting emotional bond between employees and the organization as well as confirmation that employees felt supported by the organization during challenging times. This Employee Engagement Index is also registered in the Schneider Sustainability Essentials with the target to reach 75% by 2025 (SSE #24). It enables Schneider Electric to compare itself with the best employers in the industry and the best employers in key regions of the world.
Universal Registration Document 2021 – pages 168 to 169Our long-term commitment is to empower local communities, by promoting local initiatives and enabling individuals and partners to make sustainability a reality for all.
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.
Universal Registration Document 2021 – page 47In the Schneider Sustainability Impact Publications every quarter, highlights of our local commitments are presented:
• 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.
Read the Schneider Sustainability Impact quarterly reports
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 2021, there were more than 100 projects, 46,817 young people receiving support, through 9,512 days of volunteering. With an annual budget of EUR 4 million, the Schneider Electric Foundation contributes to the partnerships that are completed by more than EUR 15 million in support from Schneider Electric’s entities. Group employees are also involved in these partnerships. In total, more than EUR 19.5 million has been invested to help local communities worldwide.
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.