Schneider Electric - The Impact Imperative

THE IMPACT IMPERATIVE

Sustainability perspectives from those leading the charge

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A decade or so ago, a company was valued on a simple metric: The products it made and the services it provided. Today, that is just the starting point — and an increasing number of consumers, customers, and investors also want to know the impact that company is having on people, the planet, and more. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) frameworks are now commonplace, while the ambition of reaching net-zero carbon emissions has become an integral part of many corporate strategies. But what does it mean to be an impact company? How can a company balance doing good with making profit, and bring everyone along on their journey? And what does leadership in this space look like? Here are some prominent experts in the sustainability field that are tackling these questions.

Learn more about each expert by selecting their photo or using the arrows on the right to navigate.

Peter Weckesser

Mourad Tamoud

Barbara Frei

Gwenaelle Avice-Huet

Patrick Flynn

Amy White

Peter Lacy

Kristina Friedman

Ellen Jackowski

Data can be put to work to help solve some of the biggest challenges of our generation, including climate change.

Peter Weckesser Chief Digital Officer Schneider Electric

One specific area of investment for Schneider Electric in this respect has been the development and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Weckesser said the company has built a comprehensive portfolio of software that spans the lifecycle of buildings, plants, and power distribution systems, and is helping its enterprise customers to set and achieve sustainability goals. The software is also used to track emissions, deliver insights, and automate decarbonization actions. “We strongly believe in the transformative potential of data and artificial intelligence,” said Weckesser. “And that data can be put to work to help solve some of the biggest challenges of our generation, including climate change.”

With more than 25 years working for prominent companies, Peter Weckesser, the chief digital officer at Schneider Electric, highlights the role data and digital transformation play in informing and improving sustainability efforts. “I believe that bridging digital transformation with ambitious decarbonization goals makes it possible to effectively fight climate change,” he said. In particular, he noted the enormous latent potential that lies in the resource and energy data that is available, coming from connected equipment, systems, buildings, and more. For example, when we look at buildings — which are responsible for approximately 40% of the world’s carbon emissions — data can be collected to analyze performance and eliminate waste, which in turn makes net-zero energy buildings a reality. “By tracing and analyzing this data, companies are able to make more informed decisions to optimize energy efficiency, or to give renewables a larger portion of the energy mix,” he said.

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These goals will not be achieved by Schneider acting in isolation, which is why Tamoud stressed the importance of prioritizing partnerships throughout the supply chain. “Partnerships enable you to go further and faster,” he said. “We cannot achieve our goals without working together, inside and outside our companies, to decarbonize the value chain end-to-end. We are active in engaging partners at every level, across our entire ecosystem, within and beyond our industry, from global institutions to actors in the field and experts and influencers.”

For Mourad Tamoud, who heads supply chain operations at Schneider Electric, one of the biggest barriers to creating more sustainable supply chains is that most companies simply don’t know where to start. “Facing roadblocks such as improving energy efficiency and deciding how to best engage and collaborate with suppliers and customers, while at the same time navigating carbon footprint visibility, makes it difficult for many companies to make progress,” he said. Tamoud added that companies should start by focusing on defining a clear strategy with concrete actions. For example, Schneider Electric has committed to sustainability through its Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI) program, which comes with explicit targets. Among these is its roadmap toward net-zero CO₂ emissions for operations by 2030, and for its extended supply chain ecosystem by 2050. In addition, Tamoud pointed out that Schneider’s R&D team is working to use 50% green material in all its products by 2025, and is actively working with its top 1,000 suppliers to reduce their CO₂ emissions by 50% by 2025.

Mourad Tamoud Chief Supply Chain Officer Schneider Electric

We cannot achieve our goals without working together, inside and outside our companies, to decarbonize the value chain end-to-end.

Frei advocates strongly for what Schneider calls “the industrial sustainability triad” — the integration of software with automation and energy. She argued that this combination is critical to building sustainable operations. Software drives efficient energy, process design, and operations, while automation optimizes process, energy, and resource use. “Together they make a formidable alliance and can reshape industry,” she said. To achieve success, interoperability is critical. Industrial systems have traditionally worked with closed proprietary architectures and hardware-dependent software. The result is that businesses often get locked to a single technology provider, which makes it difficult to take advantage of innovative and emerging technologies from other suppliers.

As head of Schneider Electric’s global industrial automation business, Barbara Frei is working at the frontline of next generation automation. No surprise then that she identifies technological innovation in this area as the key to driving greater efficiency and sustainable outcomes across the industry. “Sustainability, efficiency, resilience, employee wellbeing, and responsible profitability in industry are only achievable with the use of digital technology and automation,” she said. Specifically, she pointed to the benefits of good data. “Better data allows you to integrate next generation automation solutions to optimize your operations as much as possible,” she said. “This can take the waste out of the systems, which is one of the easiest ways to increase sustainability.”

Barbara Frei EVP, Industrial Automation Schneider Electric

While digital tools are ever more prevalent in industry, more must be done to ensure this technology brings efficiency and sustainability benefits.

However, if industry is to fully harness the benefits of digital technology, it must learn from the IT world, creating systems that are interoperable and easy to upgrade. “While digital tools are ever more prevalent in industry, more must be done to ensure this technology brings efficiency and sustainability benefits,” she said.

For Avice-Huet, being an impact company rests on two clear guiding principles. The first is doing well to do good — and, conversely, doing good to do well. This means recognising that business, performance, sustainability, and ESG are closely intertwined. For example, 71% of Schneider’s revenues qualified as impact revenues in 2021. This means 71% of revenue came from businesses that bring energy, climate, and/or resource efficiency to customers, while not generating any significant harm to the environment. The company has set targets to grow its impact revenues to 80% by 2025. Engaging with all of its external and internal stakeholders is the second principle. This means it manages its everyday culture and operating model with respect, collaboration, and empowerment. To give one example, Schneider aims to help its top 1,000 suppliers to halve 50% of their CO₂ emissions by 2025 through the Zero Carbon Project — and 100% of the target suppliers have now signed up to this commitment.

Schneider Electric’s sustainability story started earlier than most. In 2005, the company was among the first to monitor its impact on people, planet, and profit with its sustainability barometer, Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI). For more than 15 years now, the company has set concrete and measurable goals, and each quarter it monitors and discloses its progress toward these goals. “For us, sustainability goes a long way back and is like a marathon without a finishing line,” said Gwenaelle Avice-Huet, Schneider Electric’s chief strategy and sustainability officer. “It has and will continue to be at the core of everything we do.”

Gwenaelle Avice-Huet Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer, Schneider Electric

For us, sustainability goes a long way back and is like a marathon without a finishing line. It has and will continue to be at the core of everything we do.

Unsurprisingly, technology has played a key role in Salesforce’s success in reaching its net zero targets. The Salesforce Net Zero Cloud, for instance, is a sustainability management platform designed to help organizations manage their environmental footprint and track their progress to net-zero. Salesforce is also a founding member of the Advanced Energy Buyers Group, a coalition of leading advanced energy purchasers who are engaging on policies to unlock opportunities for customers to access affordable, reliable, clean, and innovative energy options. “No country, company, or individual can solve the climate crisis alone. That’s why we actively engage with policymakers, our peers, partners, suppliers, and customers to accelerate our collective impact up and down value chains,” said Flynn.

Patrick Flynn described his own sustainability journey as “meandering”. He first became captivated by sustainability early, in a previous career as an engineer, designing systems for high-rise commercial and residential buildings. “It began with a conviction that engineers have a responsibility to design with long-term impact in mind,” he said. Today, he defines and leads the execution of Salesforce’s environmental strategy at a global level, and said he spends a lot of his time thinking about how to leverage Salesforce’s unique capabilities to combat climate change. So far, progress has been encouraging. The company has achieved 100% renewable energy for its global operations and has set aggressive emissions reduction targets. “I consider it one of the most ambitious climate targets I’ve come across for any company,” Flynn said. “And I’m quite proud of that. It’s going to be very hard, but we’ve committed to do what it takes.”

Patrick Flynn SVP and Global Head of Sustainability, Salesforce

No country, company, or individual can solve the climate crisis alone.

White said that it is Adobe’s focus on creativity, people, purpose, and community that drives the company’s evolution. “Our sustainability principles include enabling customers to be more sustainable through our products, creating sustainable employee workspaces, and reducing operational costs via sustainability initiatives, employee engagement, and adopting responsible business practices,” she said. That also means providing creative – and sustainable – solutions to clients. This can be anything from enabling virtual collaboration and digital prototyping to reducing waste stemming from paper-based processes. For instance, she noted that the resource-free workflows provided by the company’s Adobe Document Cloud turns 30 billion paper documents in the U.S. each year into digital documents, greatly reducing waste. “Our solutions can help customers reimagine design, business workflows, and marketing to conserve natural resources,” said White.

For a creative tech company such as Adobe, innovation is at the heart of all operations, and this extends naturally to its sustainability efforts. And for Amy White, who leads environmental sustainability, corporate philanthropy, employee community engagement, and technology for good initiatives across the enterprise, innovation means action. “We believe it’s not just what you do, but how you do it that matters,” she said. As an illustration, White points to Adobe’s upcoming headquarters, which will be Silicon Valley’s first all-electric building of its scale, powered by 100% renewable energy. In addition, 70% of Adobe’s operational energy demand will be met with renewable energy by the end of 2022, while more than 80% of its global workspaces by square feet are already LEED or green building certified.

Amy White Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Adobe

Our solutions can help customers reimagine design, business workflows, and marketing to conserve natural resources.

Accenture has committed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2025, including meeting all office energy needs with 100% renewable electricity by 2023. Lacy said that by 2025 the company will also require 90% of its key suppliers to disclose their environmental targets and actions being taken to reduce emissions. In addition, for the past 15 years Lacy has worked with the UN Secretary General and leadership team on the UN Global Compact CEO study, which outlines climate change opportunities and challenges for global business leaders. “Leadership means being prepared to lead, and sometimes being prepared to collaborate,” he said.

When it comes to sustainability, Accenture’s Peter Lacy has a strong track record. He has written two best-selling books on the subject, and as early as 2007 helped launch Accenture’s dedicated, cross-industry Sustainability Strategy practice. He now oversees the integration of sustainability in all client work, as well as ensuring a responsible business agenda across all Accenture services and internal operations. “Being an industry leader in sustainability means investing ahead of the curve, being led by values as well as value, and embedding sustainability into everything we do for ourselves and with our partners and clients,” he said. Sustainability clearly isn’t new for Accenture — the company has three decades of industry experience working with leading energy, utilities, and natural resources companies on their sustainability efforts. Today, that means embedding sustainability into all of its services and offerings to ensure that client spend is aligned with their sustainability objectives, and helps them to future-proof their organizations.

Peter Lacy Chief Responsibility Officer and Global Sustainability Services Lead, Accenture

Being an industry leader in sustainability means investing ahead of the curve.

The PayPal sustainability journey began by first looking inward and evaluating the environmental impact across its business, operations, and value chain. The company established its first environmental goal targeting its data centers, which are PayPal’s largest source of energy and emissions. In 2019, the company set out to achieve 100% renewable energy for its data centers by 2023, and met the goal in 2021, two years ahead of schedule. However, Freidman recognises that the most challenging part of driving PayPal’s progress towards meeting its long-term net-zero goal is decarbonizing the supply chain. “Empowering vendors across our value chain is essential for PayPal to reach its stated goal,” she said. “We believe that given our size and scale, we have a responsibility to support others in their journey as well.”

Kristina Friedman Head, Global Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Strategy, PayPal

We continue to pursue opportunities to harness the scale of our platform to advance equitable climate action.

Ellen Jackowski, who recently joined Mastercard as chief sustainability officer, believes that being an impact company is all about action. “It’s great that companies and organizations are making commitments and setting big goals — we need that north star — but ultimately, it comes down to the work you’re doing every day. How is it creating change, and what is the meaningful outcome you’re delivering?” For Mastercard, this means creating what the company calls “commercially sustainable social impact” — developing pathways to financial security and fostering inclusive growth for underserved communities around the world. “And we’re applying that expertise to address environmental challenges as well,” said Jackowski.

Ellen Jackowski Chief Sustainability Officer Mastercard

When it comes to ESG and creating a meaningful impact, everyone at Mastercard plays a role.

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With more than 25 years working for prominent companies, Peter Wecksesser, the chief digital officer at Schneider Electric, highlights the role data and digital transformation play in informing and improving sustainability efforts. “I believe that bridging digital transformation with ambitious decarbonization goals makes it possible to effectively fight climate change,” he said. In particular, he noted the enormous latent potential that lies in the resource and energy data that is available coming from connected equipment, systems, buildings, and more. For example, when we look at buildings — which are responsible for approximately 40% of the world’s carbon emission — data can be collected to analyze performance and eliminate waste, which in turn makes net-zero energy buildings a reality. “By tracing and analyzing this data, companies are able to make more informed decisions to optimize energy efficiency, or to give renewables a larger portion of the energy mix,” he said.

Tamoud added that companies should start by focusing on defining a clear strategy with concrete actions. For example, Schneider Electric has committed to sustainability through its Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI) program, which comes with explicit targets. Among these is its roadmap toward net-zero CO₂ emissions for operations by 2030, and for its extended supply chain ecosystem by 2050. In addition, Tamoud pointed out that Schneider’s R&D team is working to use 50% green material in all its products by 2025, and is actively working with its top 1,000 suppliers to reduce their CO₂ emissions by 50% by 2025.

The company has set targets to grow its impact revenues to 80% by 2025. Engaging with all of its external and internal stakeholders is the second principle. This means it manages its everyday culture and operating model with respect, collaboration, and empowerment. To give one example, Schneider aims to help its top 1,000 suppliers to halve 50% of their CO₂ emissions by 2025 through the Zero Carbon Project — and 100% of the target suppliers have now signed up to this commitment.

As an illustration, White points to Adobe’s upcoming headquarters, which will be Silicon Valley’s first all-electric building of its scale, powered by 100% renewable energy. In addition, 70% of Adobe’s operational energy demand will be met with renewable energy by the end of 2022, while more than 80% of its global workspaces by square feet are already LEED or green building certified. White said that it is Adobe’s focus on creativity, people, purpose, and community that drives the company’s evolution. “Our sustainability principles include enabling customers to be more sustainable through our products, creating sustainable employee workspaces, and reducing operational costs via sustainability initiatives, employee engagement, and adopting responsible business practices,” she said.

Sustainability clearly isn’t new for Accenture — the company has three decades of industry experience working with leading energy, utilities, and natural resources companies on their sustainability efforts. Today, that means embedding sustainability into all of its services and offerings to ensure that client spend is aligned with their sustainability objectives and helps them to future-proof their organizations. Accenture has committed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2025, including meeting all office energy needs with 100% renewable electricity by 2023. Lacy said that by 2025 the company will also require 90% of its key suppliers to disclose their environmental targets and actions being taken to reduce emissions.

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Peter Weckesser Chief Digital Officer Schneider Electric