ESG performance and disclosure
Discover how Schneider Electric acts for a more sustainable and socially-equitable world
At Schneider Electric, sustainability has been at the core of our business strategy for the past 15 years. We create technologies and solutions to advance a more efficient, sustainable, resilient, and inclusive world for all. We work with customers, partners, governments, and suppliers to deploy these solutions and create a low-carbon future.
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 the board (Human Resources and CSR Committee), executive (Group Sustainability Committee), and operational levels.
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Schneider Electric’s current short-term sustainability roadmap 2021-2025 was built on the basis of a consultation process involving internal and external stakeholders, with a dedicated internal governance mechanisms implicating the Sustainability team, employees, experts in the Group, the Executive Committee, and the Board of Directors, under the leadership of the Chief 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 materiality matrix used to create the current strategy for 2025 showed that the top expectations for the Group are:
1. Leading climate action in our ecosystem with our partners;
2. Pioneering circular economy and being efficient with resources;
3. Ensuring a fair transition and guaranteeing high ethical, social, and environmental standards along more local value chains;
4. Leveraging digital in cybersecure solutions to boost positive impact.
To deal with these issues, Schneider Electric defined 6 long-term sustainability commitments (Climate, Resources, Trust, Equal, Generations, and Local) and launched the 2021-2025 Schneider Sustainability Impact and Schneider Sustainability Essentials programs to measure progress against them.
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Each year, Schneider Electric performs risks, opportunities, and impact assessments, considering issues that can have direct positive or negative financial impacts for the Company in the short-term, medium-term, or long-term, as well as impacts the Company may have on people and the planet, directly or indirectly in its value chain. The assessments rely on a panel of both internal and external tools, and take into account stakeholders’ expectations. The Sustainability team, the Strategy team, the Group Risk Management function and the Duty of Vigilance Committee especially play a key role. Other topic-specific committees contribute to the assessments and oversee the Group’s strategy on those issues, such as the Carbon Committee, Human Resources Committee, and the Ethics Committee.
In 2024, Schneider Electric performed a double materiality assessment based on the guidance provided by EFRAG and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards 2 (ESRS) as a first step to comply with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
The double materiality assessment leverages various internal analyses and external inputs, including stakeholders’ consultations, to determine the materiality of relevant sustainability topics for the Group, both from a financial and/or impact perspective. A third-party assurance provider is verifying the materiality assessment process. Material risks, impacts, and opportunities across the value chain were validated by the Company’s senior management and governance bodies. The results of this assessment are disclosed in Schneider’s Universal Registration Document 2024.
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The 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 to five 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.
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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 are 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 Strategy team, 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:
- The materiality assessment, focused on analyzing key stakeholders' expectations, is performed prior to each SSI program launch every three to five years (last exercise done in 2020).
- The Group risk matrix, led by the Group Risk Management function, is updated every year.
- The Vigilance risks matrix focuses on the potential adverse impacts the Group may have on people or the planet, directly or indirectly, in its value chain through its business relationships.
- Other specific risk mappings are conducted regularly, dedicated among others to Ethics & Compliance (including AntiCorruption and Conflicts of Interest), Climate, Water and Biodiversity, supplier, and cybersecurity risks.
- Regulatory frameworks: the key topics listed under Article R. 225-105 of the French Commercial Code (ExtraFinancial Performance Declaration), the European Taxonomy Regulation or European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
- International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability.
- International institutions and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and peer working groups and initiatives.
- Analysis of the Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) rating agencies' expectations.
- Specific requests from investors and customers.
- Recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and various other frameworks (SASB, GRI, etc.).
Overall, the different governance bodies involved in the definition and monitoring of our Sustainability roadmap and programs (Schneider Sustainability Impact) 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.
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Schneider Electric uses a hybrid 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, Operating Divisions or Global Functions 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 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 the 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 2 guiding principles:
1. Do well to do good and vice versa
Performance: Our sustainability and business impacts converge to act for a climate-positive and socially equitable world.Business: we have integrated sustainability at the heart of our business strategy to be the digital partner for sustainability and efficiency for all partners.
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.
2. Bring everyone along
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.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.
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Schneider Impact revenues are defined as offers that bring energy, climate, or resource efficiency to our customers. 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.
- Grid reinforcement and smart grid architectures contributing to electrification and decarbonization.
- Products with differentiating environmental performance.
- Services that bring benefits for circularity (prolonged asset lifetime and uptime, optimized maintenance operations, repair, and refurbishment) 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, 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 customer’s end segment, with extrapolation to estimate the destination of transactional sales.
This indicator is audited annually by an external third party.
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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, and excluding revenues from carbon-intensive segments.
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.
Schneider Impact Revenues is a multi-criterial indicator, supporting climate and resources efficiency. The EU Taxonomy reporting on 2024 financial year, covers all six environmental objectives defined in the regulation, however the list of enabling technologies is incomplete. Notably for Schneider’s business, the EU Taxonomy includes only partially digital solutions and energy efficiency technologies for industry.
The applicability of some Technical Screening Criteria and Do Not Significantly Harm checks are a challenge for global industrial companies. In 2024, Schneider Electric's eligible revenue was 90% of revenue (71% of CapEx and 49% of OpEx) while aligned revenue was 28% of revenue (22% of CapEx, and 49% of OpEx) with challenges including 5% of revenue not compliant due to exclusions (i.e., revenues from fossil sector, products with SF6), 44% of revenue not compliant with technical screening criteria, and 14% of revenue not compliant with Do Not Significantly Harm criteria (pollution prevention and control). Schneider Electric will continue active involvement with the Commission to speed up the completion of the framework with missing sustainable technologies; and improve the usability and practical implementation of the technical screening criteria.
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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 combined approaches are used:
- an offer-based approach (i.e., by nature of technology), whereby each line of business’s offers are reviewed against the definition of economic activities of the EU Climate and Environmental Delegated Acts,
- and an end-segment approach, whereby the amount of revenues generated from offers fitting with the economic activities description sold to Taxonomy-eligible end-segments (Green Transport and Renewables) is reviewed.
There is no double-counting between the two approaches.
ESG performance and disclosure
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The execution of the Group’s 2021-2025 sustainability strategy is tracked through quantitative Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) part of two complementary dashboards: Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI) and 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 and the Group’s leadership in the main ESG indices (e.g. Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, CDP Climate A list, etc.), confirm that Schneider Electric is headed in the right direction.
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The SSI and SSE are Schneider Electric's short-term sustainability roadmap; they translate the Group's 6 long-term commitments toward Climate, Resources, Trust, Equality, Generations, and Local communities into clear and measurable transformation indicators.
The SSI is made of 11 highly transformative and innovative programs, whose performance is 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.
The SSE 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 indicators, 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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Schneider Electric policies and commitments are aligned with international environmental standards and frameworks, and reports accordingly to the UN Global Compact and SDGs, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), International Labour Organization (ILO).
See more about our Key external frameworks p.91 of the 2024 URD.
You can find more details in our reports, our TCFD correspondence table on pages 324 to 329 of our 2024 Universal Registration Document. Likewise, a SASB correspondence table is provided on pages 322 to 323.
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Schneider Electric is regularly top-ranked by many ESG rating agencies. For instance, in 2024 the Group obtained a CDP Climate Change A rating and was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, both for the 14th 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 Negligible risk by Sustainalytics. In January 2025, Schneider Electric has also been named the World's Most Sustainable Corporation according to Corporate Knights Global 100 for the second time.
Know more about our ESG ratings performance in our Disclosure Dashboard.
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The CDP is a global non-profit organization that runs a disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts. Since early 2000s, the CDP conducts an annual survey to collect the corresponding data and information.
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Yes, annual short-term incentives for the Group’s executives and about 76,000 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.
Universal Registration Document 2024 - Page 208
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. From 2024, the SSERI criteria will evolve to cover climate targets on scopes 1, 2, and upstream scope 3.
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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 4,000 employees. 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;
- CDP Climate Change representing a major reference for climate change leadership globally.
A revised compensation policy was voted during the 2024 Annual General Meeting of the Group, whereby Scopes 1, 2, and 3 (upstream) CO2 emissions reduction targets are used instead of SSERI to calculate 25% of Long Term Incentive Plans starting in 2024, in order to align executive remuneration with the Group's climate transition commitments.
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 Net-Zero commitment
GHG footprint and Net-Zero Strategy
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Schneider Electric updates its Scopes 1 & 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 Scopes 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 2024 versus the 2017 baseline: Scopes 1 & 2 operational emissions have reduced from 699,079 tCO2e to 143,708 tCO2e, which is an absolute reduction of 555,371 tCO2e. 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.
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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 three key milestones leading to Net-Zero by 2050.
2025: Through its Schneider Sustainability Impact program, Schneider Electric has committed to helping 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 reducing its absolute carbon emissions across its value chain by 25% from the 2021 baseline. Schneider has also committed to have “net-zero ready” operations (scopes 1 and 2), meaning the Group commits to reducing its operational carbon footprint by at least 90% (compared to the 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 offerings.
2050: Schneider Electric has committed to reaching 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.
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The Company aims to achieve a 25% absolute reduction in carbon emissions across its entire value chain by 2030 and Net-Zero emissions across the entire value chain by 2050. This means that all Schneider upstream suppliers need to transition towards clean energy. Reaching this ambitious target is a long-term transformative process. As a first step and to onboard the suppliers, Schneider Electric launched The Zero Carbon Project in 2021, which aims to cut 50% of operational carbon emissions from the top 1,000 suppliers by 2025 (SSI #3). At the end of 2024, SSI #3 achieved a 40% performance and has laid the ground to accelerate decarbonization in the coming years.
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Schneider Electric has defined short and medium-term financial investment priorities in order to set the course towards its SBTi validated Net-Zero commitment, and more broadly to meet its long-term commitments for climate, and to preserve natural resources. These investments include decarbonization of the Group’s own operations, by investing progressively in energy efficiency, site electrification, renewable energies, and electric chargers for company vehicles.
Thus, for the past years, deploying its own solutions in its sites enabled equivalent savings on energy costs, and for the purchase of renewable energy certificates, to a reduction of 71% of Scopes 1 and 2 CO2 emissions compared to 2017. The last miles in Schneider’s journey to be “Net-Zero ready” in 2030, achieving 90% CO2 reductions vs. 2017, will be the hardest.
To support this objective, it is estimated that around EUR 400 million will be invested by 2030, in technologies such as heat pumps to substitute comfort gas or such as EV chargers. Such investments are usually not linear year-on-year as large projects may take a few years to design and implement, and opportunities at a given time depend on the local economic and regulatory context.
Delivering a climate impact through efficiency and digitization
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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:
1- We enable integration of energy and automation for energy and resource efficiency.
2- 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.
3- 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.
4- 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 in delivering those levers. The SB global team of experts helps our customers deploy these solutions to systematically achieve their decarbonization aspirations.
In addition, EcoAct's portfolio of net-zero and nature-based solutions, encompassing consulting, climate data tools, and carbon offset project development, enhances Schneider Electric's capacity to deliver comprehensive solutions that guide organizations through the net-zero transition and beyond.
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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 and 2030.
To demonstrate this positive impact, a Schneider Sustainability Impact indicator was launched in 2018 to quantify CO2 savings delivered to customers through the use of Schneider's offers. The Group is committed to helping customers save and avoid 800 million tonnes of CO2 thanks to EcoStruxture by 2025, and has already achieved 679 million tonnes of CO2 thanks to EcoStruxture in 2024 through good progress in Power Purchase Agreements services and Variable Speed Drives sales.
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 the 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.
Governance
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The different governance bodies involved in the definition and monitoring of Schneider Electric’s sustainability roadmap and programs (SSI) are in charge of defining strategic mitigation programs in response to the risks and opportunities identified (including climate). These bodies include 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 Net-Zero commitment, and proposing a strategy and management plan to the Function Committee.
Strategic programs defined at Group level are then cascaded into business divisions down to the sites for implementation and are monitored through the digital platform EcoStruxure™ Resource Advisor. 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.
Performance against those programs is tracked and published quarterly in the Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI), and annually in the Schneider Sustainability Essentials (SSE) and Universal Registration Document. 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 Committee level to ensure management control and oversight.
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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 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.
To assess physical climate risk under various potential future climate scenarios, a range of emission pathways are considered. These pathways define possible future emission scenarios that explore how global society, demographics, and economics will affect global GHG emissions, and resultant radiative forcing and global temperature rise. These scenarios are derived from the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), which form the basis of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
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As a global company, Schneider has a role to play in the public debate addressing leading issues with the global community. It is necessary that the Group states its positions clearly, participates in technical discussions, and supports responsible public policy development. In this spirit, in 2022 the Group signed Corporate Knights’ Action Declaration on Climate Policy Engagement together with more than 50 other companies to support climate action aligned with the Paris Agreement when engaging with policymakers, working with trade associations, and monitor and disclose climate policy alignment.
Public policy engagement is managed at the local level, with oversight and accountability extending up to the regional executive level. Each year, a comprehensive review of trade associations and lobbying activities is conducted at the global level to evaluate their alignment with the goals of the Paris Agreement. In cases where misalignment is identified, the relevant teams are provided with detailed feedback, and a structured action plan is suggested and discussed to address the discrepancies and ensure future alignment with climate objectives.
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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The goal of circularity is to design out waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use, and regenerate natural systems. It proposes a framework in which outputs from every stage of the lifecycle become inputs to another, offsetting the need for new materials and energy-intensive manufacturing activities. A circular economy is also a non-negotiable for a net-zero, nature-positive future. Schneider’s circularity vision is to decouple business growth from the extraction of natural resources while meeting its Net-Zero, nature-positive target.
Our vision is to decouple business growth from the extraction of natural resources while meeting our net-zero and nature-positive targets. Our mission is to adopt end-to-end circularity to:
1) drive circularity concepts as a core part of offer creation, product design, and manufacturing
2) keep products, parts, and materials in circulation at their highest functional value for as long as possible
Schneider Electric’s circularity policy consists of the following strategic layers:
- “Design and innovate” by 1) applying Eco-Design principles to product development (e.g. designing for reliability and lifetime extension); 2) developing business innovation to offer development (e.g. deciding a go-to-market strategy between transactional sales to as a service).
- "Use better" is about optimizing the use of resources, the materials with the lowest environmental impact, and manufacturing products efficiently. Example measures include sourcing materials with high recycled content and minimizing manufacturing scrap.
- "Use longer" involves providing services to keep products in use for as long as possible. This includes on-site and workshop repair, digitally enabled maintenance, as well as equipment modernization services and spare parts.
- "Use again" relates to recirculating products, parts, and materials in the economy. For example, take back, refurbishment, and resale of assets reaching end of use.
Learn more how circular solutions can accelerate sustainability across the value chain.
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Schneider Electric is committed to enhancing resource efficiency and sustainability through various initiatives. The company actively pursues material substitutions and implements new technologies to optimize production processes. Additionally, Schneider Electric has robust innovation initiatives and R&D programs aimed at addressing risks related to hazardous or critical raw material inputs. These programs focus on reducing the critical materials used in product manufacturing and replacing hazardous and critical raw materials with different materials having similar physical and performance characteristics.
Furthermore, Schneider Electric is also engaged in R&D projects aimed at incorporating more recycled materials into its products. For example, several R&D projects have focused on "green materials," such as green plastics. In this specific case, Schneider Electric determined the optimal amount of recycled content to include in both halogenated and halogen-free plastics without impacting product performance. Schneider R&D engaged closely with the raw materials suppliers to optimize the recycled plastic formulation to ensure key performance criteria are met at material level. Further R&D engaged with the businesses to identify legacy & new products to test and validate the recycled solution.
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Schneider Electric is firmly committed to the substitution and phase-out of hazardous substances across its entire product portfolio. The company conducts a comprehensive review every six months to ensure alignment with evolving global regulations, particularly those concerning hazardous materials. Recognizing that each hazardous substance is governed by different regulatory timelines, Schneider Electric tailors specific phase-out plans accordingly. This proactive approach ensures that all products are continuously evaluated and improved to meet safety and environmental standards. To support this commitment, the group allocates dedicated R&D resources and budget to develop safer alternatives and implement sustainable innovations throughout its operations.
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A sustainable future for people and economies will only be possible if nature, climate, and people are valued in an integrated way. Climate change is among the main drivers of biodiversity loss, while nature is part of the climate solution. If the limit of warming of 1.5°C becomes impossible to reach, climate change will likely become the dominant cause of biodiversity loss in the coming decades.
In 2021, Schneider Electric committed to no net biodiversity loss in its own operations by 2030. This was underpinned by the following five actionable commitments:
1. Quantify and regularly publish the assessment of the Group’s impacts on biodiversity.
2. Commit to reducing Schneider’s impacts and align biodiversity objectives with science.
3. Develop solutions and technologies that contribute to the preservation of biodiversity.
4. Engage and transform the value chain.
5. Act locally, engaging employees and partners.
As part of its Group’s Biodiversity Pledge, Schneider Electric committed to act locally, engaging employees and partners to deploy biodiversity conservation and restoration programs in 100% of sites (>2000 SQM). To meet this target, 400 Schneider sites have to define and deploy a Biodiversity program that aims to eliminate single-use plastics (relating to non-production such as office and catering) and includes at least one local action which addresses locally-specific ecological risks, and incorporates structured governance and wider stakeholder involvement.
In May 2024, Schneider Electric updated its Biodiversity Pledge to act4nature, adding more granularity on how the different activities related to climate change, circularity, sustainable materials, and waste roadmaps are contributing to Schneider Electric’s ambition towards nature.
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 Trust Charter 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.
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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 the 2017 French law on Corporate duty of vigilance. The plan includes:
• A risk analysis specific to vigilance, describing the risks and impacts that Schneider Electric poses on its ecosystem and environment.
• A review of the key actions implemented to remediate or mitigate these risks and impacts.
• An alert system.
• Governance specific to vigilance.
In its Universal 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.
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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.
The Global Human Rights Policy's objective is to define the Group’s position on human rights along its value chain, including forced labor, health and safety, or working conditions. The Group both states in the document that “to the best of its knowledge, it refrains from working with business partners that are using forced or compulsory labor in their operations” and that it “is committed to ensuring that human rights are respected not only in its own operations but throughout its value chain. The Group considers that a company should seek to provide decent work not only to its own employees but the same should be extended to its value chain”. It also states Schneider Electric’s commitment to provide or support a remedy in case the Group has caused or contributed to a negative impact. The Human Rights Policy serves as a set of rules applicable to its daily operations for Schneider Electric and its employees.
The policy covers eight 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. The Company intends to increase its commitments by making clear its position on new challenges such as migrant workers and artificial intelligence. It confirms Schneider'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.
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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.
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.
Schneider Electric has developed a suite of anti-corruption e-learnings, providing guidance on real-life risk scenarios, designed to meet the trainees’ needs and expectations. Trainings are supported by videos from top leaders demonstrating the “tone at the top”, are available in 14 languages, and is mandatory for all targeted employees exposed to corruption risks, are identified by the corruption risk mapping. In 2024, those e-learnings were rolled out to more than 64,000 employees, with a completion rate of 98.9%.
Moreover, Schneider Electric organized a live event on December 9, 2024, to raise awareness about combating corruption. The event aimed to educate employees on preventing unethical conduct through real stories of how Schneider Electric prevented corruption in the past.
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. In addition, every year, employees received dedicated training on how to report a potential unethical situation to a trusted manager, HR Business Partner, Legal Counsel, Compliance Officer, and/or the Trust Line, our whistleblowing system, available 24/7 online or by phone - as part of the mandatory Trust Essential eLearning.
Note that the Anti-Corruption Compliance program is part of the Ethics & Compliance program.
Safety
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Schneider Electric's ambition is to provide a safe and healthy environment for all its employees and contractors, so they can perform to their full potential, positively impact the safety of our customers, and return home safely.
Schneider Electric is committed to investing in its people and its workplace as stated in its Group Health and Safety Policy, which is reviewed each year and is fully aligned with ISO 45001 standard.
The Group Health and Safety Policy is applicable to the company's entire operations, its customers, its employees and temporary workers, as well as suppliers, contractors and partners, under the company’s supervision.
The Medical Incident Rate (MIR) performance has reduced to 0.60 in 2024, meaning that we are at 3% off target, which represents a 24% progress of the 2021- 2025 program.
Product Safety
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At Schneider Electric, employees are regularly trained on product/service safety. A comprehensive safety system is integrated within our Quality Management System, which ensures that our teams are trained according to established directives and procedures. We maintain safety curricula for each job code within the organization, covering safety processes, preventive and reactive measures, methods, and tools related to risk assessment and risk mitigation. Internal audits are conducted regularly to ensure compliance.
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Product/service safety undergoes regular external audits as part of the ISO9001 standards assessment conducted by external bodies. In specific situations, external audits focusing solely on product/service safety are performed by certification bodies or customers, either directly or through third-party organizations.
Cybersecurity
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Schneider Electric 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, expanding the overall attack surface.
The digitalization of products is increasing the exposure to cybersecurity risk; connected products and digital offers could be used as a gateway for malicious cyberattacks. Additionally, the service-oriented business model with software and augmented data naturally increases cybersecurity risks, such as data breaches and intellectual property theft.
To mitigate the risk of Schneider Electric’s connected products being used as a gateway to attack 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). 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.
Sustainable 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 been requiring them to make progress according to the ISO 26000 – Social Responsibility 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 – Environmental Management standard. Sustainability is considered as part of the selection criteria.
To mitigate risks with suppliers, the 2021–2025 plan is to deploy on-site and remote audits for 4,000 suppliers: 1,000 identified in 'high risk' level (by a third-party methodology, RBA, or other) with on-site audits, and 3,000 others through remote self-declarative assessment.
Most on-site audits are executed by trained internal auditors. In some countries, the Group has developed partnerships with third-party auditors to support and execute part of the plan. Globally, approximately one fourth of audits are performed by these independent auditors. The rationale for developing the internal capacity for auditing is that it allows us to build experience internally, raise teams' awareness, and facilitate the transmission of this experience to onboarding employees or team members via training.
The 240 on-site audits performed in 2024 have allowed Schneider Electric to raise 2,400+ non-conformances. Out of these nonconformances, 209 are assessed as “top priority” and are given very specific attention during the re-audits of the suppliers. Schneider Electric’s objective is to close 100% of all types of non-conformances identified, whatever their priority level.
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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. The Group regularly reviews its purchasing practices towards suppliers to ensure ESG requirements are met.
Strategic suppliers are identified based on several criteria, including their performance on ISO 26000 – Corporate Social Responsibility standards (assessed through EcoVadis), covering Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) aspects. This process allows the highest-performing suppliers to become and remain 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 the next assessment, in order to improve all aspects of their sustainability posture, based on facts and clear recommendations.
In 2018, the Group took on the ambitious target of achieving +5 points out of 100 in the average ISO 26000 assessment score of its strategic suppliers up to end of 2020 as part of the SSI. At the end of 2020, +6.3 points were achieved, with an average of 57.4 points. The ambition for 2021 – 2025 is to raise the bar even higher to achieve an average of 65 points within 5 years. Consistent with a continuous improvement effort, these suppliers have achieved increases of +1.6pts in 2022, 1.6pts in 2023 and 2.5pts in 2024, to reach an average score of 64.4 points at the end of 2024. This process allows suppliers to understand their ESG performance against other corporates based on their EcoVadis score relative to that of others.
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.
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Schneider Electric has implemented a comprehensive supplier engagement framework to identify, assess, and mitigate potential risks within its upstream value chain.
Each year, Schneider Electric conducts a comprehensive risk assessment of its entire supplier base. This evaluation includes sustainability-related parameters—such as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspects—as well as business relevance. These factors are adjusted based on country-, sector-, and commodity-specific considerations. The parameters are compiled from an independent third-party database provided by the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA, formerly EICC).
Schneider Electric’s entire network of 50,000+ tier 1 suppliers is processed every year through this methodology. As a result of this process, the group identified a list of ~1,400 high-risk suppliers representing 22% of total spend, which will serve as a base to build the annual on-site audit program.
Non-high-risk suppliers will not be subject to on-site audits but will fill a remote/self-assessment ESG questionnaire, and the answers will be evaluated by a team of specialists. Based on this analysis, the team may engage with some suppliers for clarifications and, if needed, may decide to perform on-site audits.
In 2024, amongst the 240 audits performed, 195 revealed non-conformances, including 49 with “top-priority” non-conformances. For the most serious non-conformances (“top priority”), each case is escalated to the Chief Procurement Officer for business decision. These escalations to the Chief Procurement Officer may lead to the end of the business relationship. In 2024, all suppliers with actual or potentially negative impacts had taken agreed corrective action or improvement plans apart from one business relationship with a supplier was decided to be stopped due to non-conformance to the Vigilance plan. In general, 2 to 4 business relations may be closed in a year (to be compared to the 200+ audits done every year). At the end of 2024, Schneider Electric has closed 98% of all types of non-conformances from 2023 and 40% of all types of non-conformances from 2024.
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.
Inclusion & Care
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In 2021, Schneider Electric renewed its commitment to gender balance with the SSI #8, aiming for women representing 50% of all new hires, 40% of frontline managers, and 30% of senior leadership by 2025. As of the end of 2024, women made up 42% of the hiring, 30% of the front-line management, and 31% 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.
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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 for 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.
In support of these efforts, in 2024 Schneider Electric introduced a Working Time Tracking and Reporting Process Group Standard, establishing a mandatory set of minimum standards for tracking and reporting working time. This standard applies across all countries, business activities, and legal entities within the Group’s financial consolidation scope. It reinforces the company’s commitment to transparency, work-life balance, and employee well-being by ensuring that working hours are monitored and managed responsibly.
Also, 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 2024, the pay gap was -0,84% for females and 0,66% 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).
Since 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 was certified as the “Living Wage Certified” organization through the Fair Wage Network.
In 2024, Schneider Electric has advanced its living wage approach by entering a three-year partnership with the WageIndicator Foundation. The objective of this new partnership is to provide insights into wage practices globally and enable Schneider Electric and its suppliers to make informed decisions toward the realization of living wages.
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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's territory.
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.
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 providing 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 though Global Family Leave Policy. 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. Finally, the Worldwide Employee Share Ownership Plan (WESOP) - one of the Group’s recurring key annual reward programs - offers employees across the world an opportunity to become owners of the Company, at preferred conditions.
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.
The Access to Energy social business set out to connect 50 million people to green and reliable electricity by the end of 2025 — a goal that was already exceeded by the close of 2024, with over 53 million people benefiting from Schneider’s energy access solutions.
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 Student Experience: This digital program offers e-learning modules and project simulations, connecting
students with Schneider Electric. Securing record engagement with 9,600 registrations, a 175% increase from 2023.
- Schneider Go Green: This annual competition invites business and STEM students to propose innovative solutions. Winners visited our Le Hive Office, toured the Innovation Hub and Smart Home showroom, networked with leaders, and attended the Innovation Summit and Paris Marathon.
- Development programs around the world that are structured to support the acceleration of early career talents comprehensive training paths including graduate programs, internships, apprenticeships, and co-ops.
- Targeted university initiatives including virtual career fairs, office tours, Innovation Summit tours, speaking engagements, networking opportunities, and mentoring relationships. In 2024, the Group held their first global open week, reaching 6,200 students outside of the traditional on-campus approach.
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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 and a diploma, in partnership with local Ministries of Education, or even under bilateral agreements;
• 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 820,000 people across Asia, South America, Africa, and the Middle East since 2009. More than 11,100 trainers and 10,900 entrepreneurs have also been supported. We are committed to go further and faster by reaching one million people trained by 2025.
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Schneider Electric empowers all its employees to grow to their fullest potential by developing new skills and taking ownership of their own unique career development, supported by their managers and enabled by digital tools, in order to build careers for today and tomorrow.
Schneider ensures there are tools and processes in place to set individual performance and development goals, access to learning and development opportunities for employees current role, as well as preparing themselves for diverse career paths around the world, along with a digital ecosystem powered by AI to enable access to development opportunities (internal mobility, project, and mentoring) via Open Talent Market (OTM).
Additionally, the Group supports its employees in refreshing frequently the skills required to accelerate business growth, such as vital technical and digital skills, especially since digital and human skills are growing due to the acceleration of AI, automation, and digitization.
For specific groups of talent, targeted skill acquisition (e.g., Digital, AI, Software, Services, Electronics, Supply Chain, and Sustainability) and development programs are available, including early career talent and those who are in a later stage of their career supported with the Group's Senior Talent Program.
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Our performance management framework evolved in 2024 to align with our cultural transformation. Schneider Electric’s approach to performance management is anchored by the Group’s Employee Value Proposition “Impact starts with us” and is a key enabler to its collective success and demonstration of its IMPACT values. At the heart of this culture is the belief that everyone is a talent and has the potential to be an Impact Maker, translating their goals into real actions through meaningful discussions, feedback, coaching, and recognition.
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 follows F.A.S.T goal setting methodology to set individual performance and development goals with regular reviews during the year that provides everyone with a clear roadmap to deliver impact assessed considering the following three dimensions equally:
- Individual achievements.
- Behaviors in alignment with IMPACT Values.
- Contribution to others’ success.
The goal-setting process and feedback make 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 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).
- Redesigned feedback questionnaire helps to provide/ receive feedback on impact with emphasis on the contribution to others' success and what employee could do differently to be more effective while collaborating with others. This embraces and reinforces our growth ambition.
Managers are encouraged to have regular, agile and meaningful conversations throughout the year with coaching, feedback and recognition while re-visiting goals and priorities.
Functional managers, dotted-line managers, previous managers, and peers can provide ratings and feedback based on whether the employee has met the performance goals set at the beginning of the year and how well they align with the company's IMPACT values. For example, actions such as actively listening to customers, partners, and stakeholders to understand their needs and perspectives, or openly discussing goals, priorities, and challenges with colleagues, exemplify Curiosity and Teamwork.
The Group has built-in reminders to check hidden biases and mitigate them through inclusive tips in 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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We are one integrated company. We are the most local of the global companies. Our people live and work in the regions where we operate and are close to our customers. Our model reflects our decentralized governance model and empowers our people where they need it – close to the customers.
Our multi-hub approach continues to be a key part of Schneider Electric’s strategy. It enables improved resiliency, agility and proximity with our customers and our network of suppliers.
As today’s world is increasingly divided by politics, conflict, trade and regulatory differences, this characteristic of Schneider Electric’s model has proven its strategic value.
Four hubs serve our different markets (China, Europe, India and North America). Each hub has its own capabilities, while coordinating globally to meet customer needs.
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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. Over 200 local programs have been deployed since 2021.
Every quarter, the company highlights local commitments achievements in its Schneider Sustainability Impact publications.
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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 820,000 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 100 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 2024, the EUR 4 million annual budget of the Schneider Electric Foundation was invested in more than 110 projects, supporting 245,695 youth with a key engagement of the Schneider Electric community, contributing with 17,206 days of volunteering. This commitment is being amplified with an additional EUR 33 million from the Schneider Electric’s entities and employees giving back in their communities. In total, more than EUR 37 million has been invested to help local communities worldwide.
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Since its creation in 1998, the Schneider Electric Foundation has proposed 23 specific emergency and rebuilding campaigns. It acts as a relay and amplifies the mobilizations of local Schneider Electric entities following natural disasters or emergency situations in the concerned countries.
Schneider Electric employees and entities have always demonstrated an incredible spirit of solidarity. In 2024, they contributed to a campaign following the floods in the Valencia area in Spain.