One of the greatest global challenges we face today is the need to decarbonize. Environmental regulations and standards, rising energy costs, and increasing stakeholder expectations for sustainable operations are placing pressure on companies globally to establish sustainability targets and curb emissions. In particular, the industrial sector contributed around 30% of global emissions in 2023 according to the World Economic Forum, due to its significant energy requirements for industrial processes. As global economic growth and population rises, there is a greater need for companies to do more with what they have as materials and resources become scarcer.

Accelerated Decarbonization Efforts Called for at Innovation Summit

Over the last 2 decades, Schneider Electric has continued to emerge as a leading global industrial technology provider, supporting the transition to more sustainable and efficient operations. As discussed by Schneider Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Herweck in his keynote speech at the Schneider Electric Innovation Summit in April this year, the company brings globally leading expertise in three key transformation strategies—digitization, automation, and electrification. According to Schneider Electric, these are critical to achieving sustainable innovation and provide the foundation for the company’s direction and solution portfolio. In Herweck’s speech, he called on global leaders to accelerate their sustainability journeys and embrace these strategies.

The Schneider Electric Innovation Summit 2024 in Paris showcased the company’s broad portfolio of solutions, specifically tailored to meet the evolving needs of its customers. Day 1 of the Summit was centered around a series of roundtable sessions in which leading spokespeople at Schneider and various partner/customer organizations discussed key trends and industry challenges while addressing how Schneider is helping solve them. These trends included grid modernization, the energy transition, industrial twins, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for sustainability.

A theme that underpinned these trends was the need to digitize. Leveraging digital tools enables real-time data-driven insights to inform better and more sustainable decision-making. However, digital transformation creates various challenges along the way, such as integrating digital technologies with legacy systems, data security, and regulatory compliance. To support this transition, at the Innovation Summit, Schneider announced its industrial digital transformation services, a team of consulting experts supporting end-to-end digital transformation from operations and asset management to cybersecurity and energy management. Schneider’s consulting work extends throughout almost its entire solution portfolio, emphasizing the company’s efforts to support industry-wide sustainable development and adoption of innovative technologies.

Day 2 was a more immersive experience, allowing attendees to engage with experts through guided tours and solution demonstrations across Schneider’s focus markets—industry, buildings, homes, data centers, and grids. The three pillars of Schneider’s strategic approach to digitize, automate, and electrify were evident throughout the solutions on display. Noticeable products displayed at the Innovation Summit include:  

• CONNECT: An end-to-end industrial intelligence platform by AVEVA, a Schneider-owned company. The solution brings users operational visibility across the entire value through real-time data-driven intelligence and visualization, leveraging AI and digital twin technologies to digitize operations and identify efficiency improvement opportunities.

• EcoStruxure Plant Predictive Energy: The latest IoT software solution for monitoring and detecting anomalies in energy consumption in industrial facilities.
• EcoStruxure Automation Expert: An open, software-defined industrial automation solution for decoupling hardware and software to provide users with new levels of agility and flexibility. Automation enabled improvements in productivity and efficiency of industrial operations.
• New eMobility Solutions: Schneider is looking to support accelerated electrification across industry, buildings, and transportation by addressing barriers to Electric Vehicle (EV) adoption. At the Innovation Summit, Schneider launched three news solutions promoting electrified mobility. EVlink Pro DC and Schneider Charge are the company’s new charging solutions for commercial and home spaces. EV Advisor is an eMobility management platform for seamlessly managing EV charging for fleets and building.

Schneider Showcases Latest Innovations at Recent Industrial Events

As expected, Schneider Electric had a dominant presence at Hannover Messe, one of the world’s largest trade fairs for industrial innovation and development. Among other industrial leaders like Siemens and Rittal, Schneider hosted one of the largest booths at the event, displaying its impressive range of new and existing industrial solution offerings, in which sustainability is clearly embedded throughout. The focus was heavily around industrial software for automation and operations management, built upon AI and digital twins technology, as well as the latest generations of the company’s flagship circuit breakers designed for increased life span.

A prominent topic of discussion from a sustainability perspective at this year’s Hannover Messe was the increasing focus for companies to improve supply chain sustainability and reduce Scope 3 emissions. As environmental data disclosure regulations (including the European Corporate Disclosure Regulation (CSRD)) become more stringent, greater pressure is being placed on companies to improve visibility within their supply chains to identify opportunities for emissions reduction. To overcome these concerns, Schneider expanded its suite of supply chain decarbonization solutions.

In April this year, Schneider launched its Materialize program dedicated to supporting mining, mineral, and metal companies with reducing emissions, while increasing production of critical materials necessary for the energy transition. The initiative supports industrial organizations to build strong collaborative networks through engagement with suppliers and partners, and engaging in collective clean energy purchasing agreements. Through greater collaboration, the network of target companies and their suppliers can build a more robust set of supply chain emissions data for effective and simplified Scope 3 emissions reporting and management. Schneider has established similar initiatives for other industries, including Energize for the pharmaceutical industry, launched in 2021. Integrating the data into other solutions such as AVEVA Data Hub enables clear visualization and transparency of supply chain emissions for improved decarbonization decisions.

Schneider’s booth at Hannover Messe conveyed a clear message regarding the company’s efforts to facilitate industry-wide decarbonization in the industrial sector, including life sciences, water and wastewater, energy and chemicals, packaging, minerals, steel, and glass. A prominent showcasing of this was Schneider Green Glass and Green Steel solutions, leveraging unified electrification, digitization, and automation strategies for achieving decarbonization. Schneider offers a full spectrum of green essential resources solutions across the value chain, supporting steel, glass, and cement makers with green hydrogen production, renewable energy sourcing, carbon capture, and industrial analytics software. Along with its work to decarbonize the industry, Schneider is also working to incorporate decarbonized steel into its products, including its PanelSeT SFN electrical enclosure, which is made from 50% decarbonized steel.

Meanwhile, safety and sustainability were key themes at ACHEMA—safety, as it relates to industry operators alerting for downtime or accident avoidance, as well as monitoring valves and compressors inside chemical plants. Safety is also essential with the use of a digital twin, to test and anticipate any safety risks before entering a hazardous area. Monitoring and analyzing gas emissions was also showcased both from a safety and sustainability perspective. But many exhibitors were also monitoring water usage to ensure purification before it returns to the mains supply. An emerging use case is monitoring clean room facilities to support drug and vaccine manufacturing—proactively alerting changing conditions to avoid the need to scrap vaccines and drugs.

Schneider at the Forefront of Global Sustainability Transition

As Peter Herweck declared in his keynote speech, the technologies needed to cut 70% of global emissions already exist today. Among companies like Siemens and ABB, Schneider Electric is in contention to be the leading provider of sustainable solutions supporting global decarbonization. Beyond its work to decarbonize the industrial sector, Schneider has developed a solution portfolio enabling a broader societal shift to create intelligent homes and buildings, smart transportation, digitized electricity grids, and sustainable data centers. In addition to enabling sustainable operations for its customers, the company has solidified its own commitment to sustainability by becoming one of the first companies globally to outline 2030 and 2050 net-zero targets and strategies.

Achieving decarbonization and creating a meaningful, sustainable impact will require close collaboration with companies, technology suppliers, and governments. This will ensure equal access to technology and promote solutions that meet the sustainability needs of the end user.