Schneider Electric calls for urgent action to accelerate Net Zero

The world can accelerate urgent climate action and halve carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2030, according to Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, recognised as the World’s Most Sustainable Corporation in 2021 by Corporate Knights. Kicking off the Innovation Summit World Tour 2021, Schneider Electric Chairman and CEO Jean-Pascal Tricoire’s keynote advocates achievable pathways to net zero set out in the “The 2030 imperative: A race against time” report from the Schneider Electric Sustainability Research Institute.

Schneider Electric’s flagship annual Innovation Summit World Tour (October 12-November 12) will address global climate challenges and guide customers, partners, regulators, and policymakers on rapidly reducing emissions to decarbonise the world’s economy in this decisive decade. Attendees will experience Schneider Electric’s digital and sustainable innovation and learn more about Electricity 4.0 and Next-generation automation.

Urgent need to act fast to decarbonise

Tricoire’s Innovation Summit World Tour keynote urges attendees to adopt critical decarbonisation measures and offers Schneider Electric’s own research as a blueprint to stay within a global warming trajectory of 1.5°C degrees. This report details the need to reduce emissions by 30-50 percent this decade, compared to current levels. Missing this makes it virtually impossible to limit temperature rise to a 1.5°C degree threshold as outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC).

The Schneider Electric Sustainability Research Institute modelling shows how 10GtCO2/y can be realistically and affordably abated by 2030. The report focused on a subset of global greenhouse gas emissions. Out of 50GtCO2e/y, “The 2030 Imperative” scenario finds a 30% (10GtCO2e/y) abatement opportunity from a 30GtCO2/y baseline of all energy-related emissions, a significant acceleration from current pledges (ranging around 3GtCO2e/y, which is 10% of the emissions reduction target). There remains however around 20GtCO2e/y of non-energy related emissions which is not covered in this report's modelling.

Schneider Electric is calling for a 3-5 times greater effort from governments and corporates. The Institute believes the only realistic roadmap for success is to deploy proven digital technologies alongside increased electrification as the fastest way to decarbonise buildings, transport, and industry. This approach buys time to address hard-to-abate sectors. Its modelling clearly shows alternative pathways will place too high a burden on consumers.

“Despite increased momentum around sustainability and more companies adopting ambitious targets to tackle climate change, this research reveals how we need to speed up. At Schneider Electric, we are

uniquely part of the solution. To support organisations in their quest to decarbonise at pace and deliver on their climate commitments, we are accelerating the expansion of our global sustainability consulting services business to meet the increasing demand for meaningful progress on energy transition and climate action goals,” said Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman and CEO, Schneider Electric. “What organisations require today is a trusted partner who combines strategic planning and target setting with a proven track record of solutions implementation to deliver faster, tangible sustainable outcomes. Having successfully overcome many sustainability challenges ourselves, and in so doing, achieved world-leading digital and electric solutions in our own facilities, we are well-positioned to help others go faster and further.”

Strategies and solutions to decarbonise value chains

Building on its sustainability leadership and the ambition of the 2021-2025 Schneider Sustainability Index, Schneider Electric is accelerating its global sustainability consulting business and expand on a 10-year track record of success in energy and sustainability services.

Today, Schneider Electric is the world’s leader in energy efficiency, energy management, renewable energy procurement, carbon reporting, climate risk assessment, and supply chain decarbonisation, providing software and consulting services to more than 30% of the Fortune 500. Customers include Johnson & Johnson, Walmart, Faurecia, Kellogg, Takeda, Velux Group, Unilever, and T-Mobile, among others.

Increasing demand for Schneider’s “ambition + action” advisory services is behind this expansion, including:

· Climate action consulting, and affiliated supply chain decarbonisation and climate risk assessment services,

· Communications services, including ESG reporting/ratings and reputational and sustainability claims,

· Circularity and traceability services,

· ESG modules for the award-winning EcoStruxure™ Resource Advisor platform to track societal and governance metrics.

Being part of the solution through digital disruption

As part of its ambition to drive sustainable innovation and build net zero pathways, Schneider Electric helps customers in many sectors to innovate and move to open, interoperable, digital, and simplified systems and smarter ways of doing business. At Innovation Summit World Tour, Schneider Electric is unveiling digital innovation for carbon abatement in homes, buildings, data centres, power grids, and industries.

· Electricity 4.0: Powering the New Electric World with Smart Green Energy

Today, we are witnessing the convergence of digital and electric at scale with software. Electric makes energy green and the best vector for decarbonisation. Digital makes energy smart to drive efficiency and eliminate waste. This convergence delivers ‘Electricity 4.0’, the fuel for a New Electric World.

Data Centres: The new APC™ Smart-UPS™ Ultra 5kW is the industry’s first 5kW Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), designed to deliver more power, flexibility, and intelligent monitoring in the smallest footprint, freeing up valuable IT space for edge applications. Schneider data centre customers have reduced their carbon footprint by 37%.

Smart Homes: Today, Schneider is announcing a series of smart sustainable home solutions, including Wiser, that help fight energy waste. By 2050, households are expected to be the single largest consumer of electricity, and the biggest contributor of CO2 emissions with as much as 34% generated by homes.

Resilient Digital Grids: Schneider’s range of pure air SF6-free technology for net zero grids is extended with the RM AirSeT Ring Main Unit and Modular Switchgear and the MCSeT Active Medium Voltage Air Insulated Distribution Switchboard.

Smart Electrical Distribution: Rethinking Schneider’s Low Voltage TeSys Giga, Canalis Busbar, PrismaSeT Active, New Gen ComPacT, TransferPacT and EcoStruxure Power™ digital products will deliver a simpler, more sustainable, safe and secure user experience for installer and service partners to enhance the resiliency of the world’s growing digital economy, as part of the Partnerships of the Future program.

· Industries of the Future: Resilient and Sustainable with Next-generation Automation.

Step changes in efficiency and agility can be achieved through artificial intelligence, digital twin technology, human insight supported by advanced analytics, and vendor-agnostic industrial software—including Performance Intelligence from AVEVA.

EcoStruxure™ Automation Expert 21.2 provides water and wastewater plants with complete life cycle management. The world’s first software-centric automation system seamlessly integrates IT and OT services, to boost security, increase system longevity, and easily evolve over time. As a universal automation solution, EcoStruxure™ Automation Expert can be implemented with existing hardware. The virtualised controller can run on any Windows or Linux edge computing device, providing industrial enterprises with unprecedented flexibility. Digital collaboration of this sort has the potential to unlock more than $100 billion in value for industries.

EcoStruxure Machine increases efficiency for machine builders and shortens their development time. With the new Lexium MC12 multi carrier for transporting, grouping and positioning products, OEMs can achieve greater productivity and unprecedented flexibility with up to 40% savings on investment costs and 50% faster machine installation and commissioning. Combined with digital twin technology, the new multi carrier also reduces machine design and time-to-market by up to 30%.