www.se.com Schneider Electric Integrated Report 2021 6 Integrated report A statement from Chairman and CEO, Jean-Pascal Tricoire The past two years have seen challenges, changes and uncertainties that few of us could have imagined back in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic, the multiple and diverse responses to it, the rapid restart of the economy, a host of climate change-linked disasters, and numerous other disruptions have shaken up supply chains and unsettled business plans the world over. Many of these developments will stay with us in 2022, and even beyond. But the world has also had time to learn, to change, and to adapt. Climate action, efficiency, sustainability, digital innovation, and resilience to disruption, uncertainty and change are now top of the agenda for policy makers, businesses and even households around the globe, in a way that was simply not the case just two or three years ago. Of course, Schneider Electric hasn’t been immune to these upheavals. But our efforts, over the past 15 years, to embrace sustainability, digitization and electrification, and to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, have stood us in good stead. In fact, if anything, our corporate purpose and positioning have been reinforced and vindicated by what the world has experienced since late 2019. It’s never been more important to bridge progress and sustainability for all. A business model built to support a sustainable future Schneider Electric received welcome, high-profile external recognition in January 2021, when Corporate Knights ranked us the world’s most sustainable corporation for the year. The recognition is a testament to the commitment of our people, our customers, partners and suppliers, who have, year after year, raised the bar, to make a positive impact on our organization, our business and community ecosystem, and on the entire world. Still, the science is clear: humanity is not acting fast enough to avert climate catastrophe. We all need to do more, and much faster, to leverage the technologies that already exist, and develop new ones for the future. That’s why, also in January 2021, we announced the most ambitious set of sustainability commitments in our history, spanning 2021-2025: to show that even companies that are already sustainability leaders have a responsibility to do even more. In late 2021, we also committed to being an Impact Company . We define that as a company that embraces environmental, social and governance (ESG) values into every dimension of its business. A company that aligns its mission to contribute these values, and that operates with a model that creates local impact, close to the communities it’s supporting. One of the guiding principles of this model is that acting on these principles, and on our purpose, also cements our financial performance. And that’s what makes us confident in our long-term sustainable growth. Accelerating core markets, and new pillars of growth Two technologies underpin the global economy’s transition to a sustainable, more resilient and lower-carbon future: digitization and electrification . It’s in these areas that we’ve built our expertise and leadership over the past years – and we’re feeling the accelerating demand for these technologies across end-markets ranging from buildings and industry, to data centers and infrastructure. In addition, to support future growth, we’ve supplemented this with three incremental growth drivers. Our services offer allows us to provide more value on our installed base, and to better serve our customers across the entire lifecycle. Our software portfolio provides unmatched capabilities in bridging the physical and digital world, allowing customers to reap the benefits of efficiency. Most recently, 2021 saw the finalization of our strategic acquisition of ETAP, as well as the closure of AVEVA’s acquisition of OSIsoft. Our next step is the development of a new category of software, through integrating our full portfolio across two core dimensions: the lifecycle and the operational domains. This is the first offer of its kind and has huge potential to support our customers by removing common operational frictions.