www.se.com Schneider Electric Universal Registration Document 2021 188 Chapter 2 – Sustainable development Chapter 2 – Sustainable development 2.6 Delivering social impact for a just transition In this section 2 .6 .1 Offering better lives through access to green electricity 190 2.6.2 Investing for high social impact 193 2.6.3 Empowering new generations with the Schneider Electric Foundation 195 2.6.4 Developing access to education and employment all over the world 200 “ Today’s young people are forward-thinking, creative and one of the largest demographics. They are committed to address the biggest challenges of our time. However, many of them lack access to education to unleash their true potential. Schneider Electric has a key role to play in supporting all young people and ensuring that they acquire the skills to build their future.” Gilles Vermot Desroches, Senior Vice President Corporate Citizenship & Institutional Affairs Context and goals Schneider Electric has been building a sustainable development approach since the late 1990s thanks to the Schneider Sustainability Impact, measuring the Company’s objectives and progress every quarter. These objectives have always taken into account all dimensions of responsibility – environmental, social, territorial, and governance – encompassing all the Group’s stakeholders on a global scale. In 2021, Schneider Electric was recognized by Corporate Knights as the World’s Most Sustainable Corporation out of 5,000 companies surveyed. All of this prompted the Group to get moving, to think about the world of tomorrow by building scenarios, both in the environmental and climate fields – but without forgetting the social and territorial dimensions. If the transition is not inclusive and fair, it will not allow people in underserved communities to build their future and create their own business. Schneider Electric Corporate Citizenship division, created in early 2021, embodies this vision. The planet has to be saved, and its inhabitants too. Four main lines of action have been defined. The first one is to ensure that the Group’s business partners respect all human rights for everyone, everywhere, at any time and in any situation, from decent work standards to the creation of a social label for the Group’s products. The second line of action is to ensure that everyone is supported in building their future, regardless of their generation. Schneider has always played an active role in the economic development of the communities in which it has a presence, in particular where people have no or poor access to energy through dedicated products offers and socially responsible investments for impact. This focus is in line with the third major action, youth. There have never been so many young people on the planet, but many have no access to training. Yet it is young people who bring innovation. The Company has a role to play in supporting them and ensuring that they acquire the skills to build their future. This is the mission of the Schneider Electric Foundation, to give them the means to do so. The first of these means is training, the Foundation’s historical activity. It has already enabled more than 300,000 young people around the world to receive professional training in energy-related professions. These are essential jobs for the future in a world that is becoming increasingly electrified and digitized and where access to energy is still difficult for millions of people. The fourth approach is to make citizenship a collective commitment to co-construct the future in a dynamic way by learning and sharing with many different initiatives.
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