Energy management and automation provider Schneider Electric CEO and chairperson Jean-Pascal Tricoire has urged businesses to accelerate their digital transformation to better position themselves to recover from the upheaval brought about as a result of climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking during the company’s first-ever virtual Innovation Summit, on October 8, Tricoire said the Covid-19 pandemic had accelerated the use of digital technologies and solutions in that it had encouraged businesses to digitise remote operations to maintain business continuity, strengthen resilience and offer insights to better anticipate and adapt with agility.

“Digital innovation and connectivity have changed how we work and live together and can positively change our impact on the environment, and economic recovery and sustainability for us all,” he said during his keynote address.

In terms of climate change, however, Tricoire said “it is up to this generation” to make the change needed for a better and cleaner future.

Climate change is “the main challenge of this generation”, he stated, adding that digital and electricity were two key routes that could drive change to help resolve the challenges related to climate change.

Of the two, Tricoire said digital was “the biggest disruptor” that creates a better future, while electricity generation was likely to increasingly move towards becoming greener and incorporate renewable energy technologies.

Covid-19 had also made the world “more vulnerable”, but Tricoire mentioned that digital was "the key” to increasing resiliency, enabling companies to become more sustainable and more efficient.

Throughout the virtual event series, Schneider Electric is unveiling new offerings for customers and partners, including a new range of low-voltage switchboards and a new generation of breakers – both of which are set to be released in 2021 and “unlock crucial information related to electrical fire risk and power availability within the electrical systems of buildings”.

The event will also see the launch of innovative green switchgear, which uses a combination of air and vacuum technology to offer a pathway to avoiding “millions of tons” of carbon dioxide emissions in energy networks.

During his keynote, Tricoire also gave insight into Schneider’s new category of automation, called the EcoStruxure Automation Expert. This software-centric industrial automation system creates step-change improvements throughout the complete operational lifecycle.

The EcoStruxure, besides other functions, automates low-value engineering tasks so engineers are free to innovate and focus on high-value-add, while simultaneously enabling efficient wrap and reuse of automation objects to ensure the company is “making the most” of what it already has, so that it can easily update and upgrade.