From cost to climate impact
- Benjamin Canaguier, Jean-Pierre Schweitzer (Schneider Electric), Jeanne Briand (Accenture)
- 08 Dec 2025
- 5 min
Marginal Abatement Cost Curves (MACC) were a hot topic at the International Conference on Life Cycle Management in Palermo, last September. This decision-making tool turns complex data into a visual roadmap for climate action and sustainable strategies, showing where to invest for the biggest impact, at the lowest cost.
In the current landscape, MACC are generally used by experts, like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), for scientific assessments on climate change and warming scenario, at global or regional scale. But the tool can also inform companies in their decarbonization pathways.
Learn from our experience with MACC adapted at the company level – applied to products and procurement decisions – providing a blueprint to uncover practical, cost-effective ways to cut emissions.
It’s now public knowledge that all players of the economy have to reduce their environmental impact, to get to net zero. And for any industrial business, Scope 3 emissions represent the lion’s share of total carbon footprint. This covers indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, resulting not from operations or energy purchases, but from the value chain – encompassing both supply chain (upstream) and customers (downstream) emissions.
To guide their decarbonization journey, companies set up science-based targets – Schneider Electric has committed to reducing its Scope 3 emissions by 25% by 2030, from 2021 baseline, and to reach net zero across its full value chain by 2050, as validated by the reference organization, SBTi. The reduction roadmap is refined from year to year, to adapt to the evolving reality of its operations.
Reducing Scope 3 emissions presents significant challenges. As these emissions are tied to activities outside the company’s direct control, it requires coordination with both suppliers and customers. Furthermore, different abatement strategies have varying costs and levels of emissions reduction potential. In other words, cutting emissions can be done in many ways, and each option has a different price and impact.
Upstream Scope 3 emissions, which represent 14% of Schneider Electric’s footprint in 2024, relate mostly to purchased goods and services. Since one-third of these are tied to four commodities (steel, aluminium, copper, and thermoplastics), we investigated these materials more closely. Our sustainable materials experts measured emissions and implemented an action plan to increase green material content in our products, which became a dedicated target in our Sustainability Impact program (2021-2025).
MACC are a measurement tool aiding decision-makers to prioritise decarbonization actions, according to their cost-effectiveness. It simply gives a graphical representation of the emission reduction potential of a given action, and its cost per ton of CO2 avoided.
IPCC Assessment Reports, especially, deploy MACC to test the economic impacts of climate mitigation pathways for industrial sectors, across their warming scenarios. In this case, measurement is made at global or regional scale, but the tool can also be developed for individual companies, their product lines and activities, such as procurement.
Schneider Electric worked with Accenture to develop MACC for key commodities and product families in an interactive tool. For each commodity or product, we identified and prioritized the most promising strategies for decarbonization, based on cost effectiveness. The model draws on company data, secondary literature, and more than 40 interviews with stakeholders, and in total 20,000 data points fed the model. To account for future uncertainties, our sustainable materials experts modelled the CO₂ impact of procurement choices under three scenarios for 2030:
Down case
Slow sustainability transformation: only Europe implements tangible decarbonization policies (e.g., carbon pricing) with relatively low capital availability and demand for low-emissions technologies.
Base case
Planned sustainability transformation, with implementation of global policies that restrict producers’ ability to direct CapEx towards unabated technologies.
Best case
Swift sustainability transformation, where key producing countries implement a progressive global carbon pricing policy which align sector with net-zero pathway by 2050.
Each case was unique to its commodity, and addressed external factors such as macro-economics, policy development, grid decarbonisation rates, and production outputs.
These MACC were developed for four commodities (steel, aluminium, copper, and thermoplastics,) and four product categories (circuit breakers, 3-phase UPS, panel servers, and servo drives) – commodities were prioritised based on their respective contribution to the company’s upstream emissions, while the product were chosen based on their sales volume, growth potential and redesign timeline.
MACC have already started to influence the way Schneider Electric delivers on its sustainability commitments, identifying promising avenues for decarbonization in our commodities.
Results confirm that decarbonizing Scope 3 is complex, and no single pathway guarantees reaching net zero emissions. Both procurement and product design are essential levers. Many of these actions require additional costs, indicating that significant investment will be necessary to reach net zero. The MACC model also does not account for climate-related economic risks, therefore masking the cost of inaction for companies facing climate risks.
However, stronger climate legislation will likely reduce the cost of low-carbon technologies. Additionally, Schneider Electric may be able to capture the value of low-carbon products, as our partners enter their own decarbonization journeys.
Commodity analysis highlights the need for detailed data related to product emissions. Legislation like the EU Digital Product Passport will help for some commodities, such as steel and batteries, but procurers will still need to request data from suppliers for others. Product-related carbon data will enable further optimization and baseline adjustments.
Finally, abatement cost per unit is key, and can be used to compare strategies and set carbon prices. Taking the example of steel, analysis suggests a cost of EUR50 to 100 per ton of CO₂, to balance sustainability and economics.
Overall, MACC deliver strategic value. Through deep research and stakeholder engagement, they facilitate regulatory reporting and inform investors on the resources needed to achieve net zero.
By applying MACC at the commodity and product level, we demonstrated strong potential for design-led decarbonization, guiding material, technology, and circularity choices, highlighting cost savings and environmental benefits. As MACC are refined with real-world data, they will replace projections with measured outcomes, enabling eco-design decisions based on cost per unit of carbon abated. For commodities like steel, where analysis is complete and low-carbon options are available, MACC guidance already supports implementation – case in point: PanelSeT SFN, our low-carbon steel box, a market-first launched in 2023.
There is potential for expansion: complex products such as electronics, the biggest contributor to upstream emissions, have not been included yet in the MACC analysis. Addressing this type of product will require deeper supplier engagement to collect data and identify decarbonization opportunities.
We are continuing to update our objectives and develop targets to reduce upstream emissions across key commodities, and this is reflected in our next Sustainability Impact program cycle (2026-2030), a new strategy that MACC insights have already informed. On the road to net zero, MACC can help bridging the gap between sustainability goals, economic feasibility, and real-world implementation.
Latest in Climate and Planet
Powering a cleaner future: How decarbonization and electrification are transforming global logistics
2026 Global energy outlook: Securing resilience in the energy transition
From pledges to action: Driving business value through climate transition
Future-proofing your business: An executive blueprint
Need help?
Product Selector
Quickly and easily find the right products and accessories for your applications.
Get a Quote
Start your sales inquiry online and an expert will connect with you.
Where to buy?
Easily find the nearest Schneider Electric distributor in your location.
Help Center
Find support resources for all your needs, in one place.