#1 - JANUARY 2024
Interview : Rafael Segrera
Talking sustainability with Rafael Segrera reveals a man with a passion. The South America Zone President with Schneider Electric, the world’s number 1 in energy management, software and industrial automation, tells us how the company whose transformation he has witnessed over two decades has used technology to integrate ESG into its strategy. For the good of the planet and business alike.
Rafael Segrera
President, South America zone, Schneider Electric
âSustainability
is good for the
environment and for
people, and it’s also
good for businessâ
Schneider Electric is often cited as a model in terms of ESG. To speed up your transformation, you relied heavily on technologyâŠ
Yes, we firmly believe that one of the ways we can tackle climate change is through technology. We invest the equivalent of 5% of our turnover in R&D. How much is 5% of 36 billion? Our responsibility is to create âgreen productsâ as regards the materials they are made from, the energy they consume and their ability to communicate information so we can monitor what they are doing. We need to know where we stand in order to act, and that requires measurement.
We’ve put all our technology to work in our factories and distribution centres. When we say our factories emit zero carbon today, it’s because we’ve measured it, because we have proof.
So not only are you tackling your own impact, but you’re also helping your customers to improve theirsâŠ
Yes, that’s what we do: we help our customers decarbonise their processes. So we have developed a wide range of services for measuring energy consumption and quality, and for digitising this measurement.
It’s not enough just to collect information; you have to be able to communicate it. This is level 2, which involves automation, concentrating information so that it can be analysed and actions initiated. So today, all the products we sell can be connected. They are not necessarily connected already, but they can be. The technology exists. If you use it properly, you can achieve impressive results. On average, this means 30% energy savings at our customers’ plants and across their entire infrastructure.
It’s the result of long years of change, commitment and transformation. Weâve achieved this thanks to leadership that has said sustainability is good for the environment and people, and is also good for business.
Beyond the technological aspect, is it also a human challenge?
Of course. And that’s why we have also made very strong commitments in the sphere of diversity. Starting with gender, of course. But also with employeesâ origins. Schneider Electric is proud to say that the people in charge of its major geographical zones are local. In the old days, all the big bosses were French, male and white. It was just a fact of life. Today, our major regional business leaders include women, local people and different ethnic origins. And that’s one of Schneider’s greatest strengths. Today, we see ourselves as the most local of global firms and the most global of local firms. And whatâs the reason? Itâs chiefly for our customers: they want us to speak to them in their own language.
This kind of transformation takes a long timeâŠ
Yes. The norm has changed and it takes time. And the problem is that we’ve run out of time. So the determination to get things done is even more crucial today. Because not everyone will have 17 years, like us, to take action. We shouldn’t be afraid to learn from others to move forward more quickly, so that everyone can contribute to the ecological transformation.
We shouldn’t be afraid to learn from others to move forward more quickly.
Rafael Segrera, Schneider Electric