If companies have to seriously achieve their sustainability goals, their supply chains must mirror their activities. If they want to help other players in greening their portfolios, they have to offer sustainability as a professional consulting service.
Energy major Schneider Electric (SE) that manufactures USB drives to data centres has been doing all this and getting accolades including the best global sustainable supply chain organisation that it bagged last month.
SE is committed to reach carbon neutrality by 2025 and net zero emissions by 2030. For its end-to-end supply chain, the targets are 2040 and 2050, respectively.
Reportedly, Schneider has reduced its supply chains’ carbon emissions by over 100,000 tonnes globally in the last three years. It has reduced the environmental impact of its suppliers by pushing them to optimise resources, choose the right materials and make greener managerial decisions. “We are working with all our suppliers, providing them access to knowledge, materials and machines,” says Anil Chaudhry, India country President and MD.
Globally, the company has launched a Zero Carbon Project in which it partners with its top thousand suppliers to halve their CO2 emissions by 2025. The tools developed by SE include a portfolio of digital products and solutions powered by its EcoStruxure platform that are IoT-enabled, plug-and-play, open, and have interoperable architecture. “Globally, thanks to EcoStruxure we were able to save 134 million tons of CO2 emissions in three years,” Chaudhry says.
In India SE has been actively trying to increase its sustainability quotient. It has been able to avoid over 25,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions in the last nine years by shifting 60 per cent of its energy consumption to renewable energy, and recycling 85 per cent of wastewater and 93 per cent of solid waste. “Our 200 plus suppliers in India also follow the same methods and benchmarks,” explains the MD.
Schneider develops its products with an ‘Eco-design’ approach — a combination of material, design, technology, usage, and energy mix. For the customer it means the product can be repaired easily, upgraded, and dismantled when it reaches its end-of-life. The company intends to bring 80 per cent of its product revenue under its Green Premium Program by 2025.