Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation today outlined a series of actions aimed at protecting and restoring biodiversity, which is under threat in many parts of the globe.

Schneider Electric was recognised by Corporate Knights as the most sustainable corporation in the world and has a long track-record in environmental and climate protection, and last year pledged to fight biodiversity loss. The commitments detailed today, in the run-up to International Biological Diversity Day on May 22, represent concrete steps to deliver on that pledge, and have been made as part of the Act4nature International, an alliance of international companies, NGOs, academic bodies and public institutions that aims to accelerate business action in support of nature.

The alarming pace of biodiversity loss and environmental degradation, along with climate change, has become an increasingly urgent issue that undermines not just local ecosystems and individual species, but ultimately heralds potentially major food security issues and other challenges for societies, economies and companies around the globe. Addressing it requires concerted action -- and corporates have a responsibility to play a part. 

“We urgently need to take stock of the impacts we have on nature and biodiversity but it will take much more than that to preserve and restore our ecosystem,” said Olivier Blum, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer at Schneider Electric. “Quantifying resources utilisation and setting up bold ambitions are key, but success will come from concrete and immediate actions that do not compromise on our needs or those of future generations.”

In its Biodiversity pledge, Schneider Electric commits to: 

• quantifying and regularly publishing its impact on biodiversity. Last October, Schneider Electric published the world's first end-to-end biodiversity footprint using the "Global Biodiversity Score" tool, which calculates a company's biodiversity footprint across its entire value chain;
• achieving net-zero biodiversity loss in its direct operations by 2030, and aligning biodiversity objectives with science;
• ·         developing solutions and technologies that contribute to the preservation of biodiversity, by optimizing the use of resources over their entire lifecycle;
• ·         partnering with suppliers to eliminate the use of single-use plastics from packaging, use recycled cardboard, and help them to sharply reduce their CO2 emissions;
• ·         partnering with NGOs and investment funds, and engaging employees and partners on local initiatives -- such as ensuring that all of its sites deploy biodiversity conservation and restoration programmes, and that sites located in water-stressed areas put in place water conservation plans.

The commitments have been recognised as SMART by the Act4Nature steering committee.

2021 is a year of great mobilisation for biodiversity:  the One Planet Summit was held in January, while the IUCN World Conservation Congress is scheduled for September and COP15 Biodiversity is due in October 2021.