Company Announcement - Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, announced today that it has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as 2015’s World’s Most Ethical Company®.

The World’s Most Ethical Companies designation recognizes those organizations that have had a material impact on the way business is conducted by fostering a culture of ethics and transparency at every level of the company.

Being honored for the fifth consecutive year underscores Schneider Electric’s commitment to leading ethical business standards and practices, ensuring long-term value to key stakeholders including customers, employees, suppliers, regulators and investors. Among the 132 companies evaluated by the Ethisphere Institute, Schneider Electric is one of only three companies in the “Capital Goods” category honored this year.

“Schneider Electric is delighted to have been named by Ethisphere for the fifth consecutive year. The challenge for the Group consists in living up to the expectations of all its stakeholders every day,” said Emmanuel Babeau, Deputy CEO in charge of Finance and Legal Affairs at Schneider Electric. “This is why Schneider Electric has been developing an active strategy of empowering its associates through the implementation of a range of processes and dedicated tools.”

At Schneider Electric, ethics and governance are considered key elements of growth and of the company’s competitiveness. They are managed via a charter “Our Principles of Responsibility”, which depicts a set of guidelines to give the Group’s associates a common base for responsible behavior. This document was formulated in keeping with the 10 principles of the Global Compact, the company’s principles of governance, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and international labor standards. The associates of Schneider Electric are also supported via the “Responsibility & Ethics Dynamics” program, which is there to help them manage any ethical issues that may arise.

“The World’s Most Ethical Companies embrace the correlation between ethical business practice and improved company performance. These companies use ethics as a means to further define their industry leadership, and they understand that creating an ethical culture and earning the World’s Most Ethical Companies recognition involves more than just an outward-facing message or a handful of senior executives saying the right things,” said Ethisphere’s Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich. “Earning this recognition involves the collective action of a global workforce from the top down. We congratulate everyone at Schneider Electric for this extraordinary achievement.”

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient™ framework, which was developed over years of research to provide a means of assessing an organization’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics. The EQ framework and methodology is determined, vetted and refined by the expert advice and insights gleaned from Ethisphere’s network of thought leaders and from the World’s Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel. The scores are calculated in five main categories: ethics and compliance program (35%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture of ethics (20%), governance (15%) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10%).

The full list of the 2015 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at ethisphere.com

Senior executives of honorees contribute high-level insights and best practices to the well-regarded World’s Most Ethical Companies Executive Briefing (download Volume 2 here). Additional insights gleaned from the World’s Most Ethical Companies will be released in a series of whitepapers and infographics over the coming months (download the 2014 Insights). Organizations interested in how they compare to the World’s Most Ethical Companies are invited to learn more about Ethisphere’s services.