Jean-Pascal Tricoire Chairman, Schneider Electric
Jean-Pascal Tricoire is the Chairman and CEO of Schneider Electric, a French multinational corporation specializing in energy management and automation solutions. Tricoire has been with the company since 1986 and has held various positions before becoming CEO in 2006 and Chairman in 2013.
Schneider Electric's primary focus is on providing energy and automation solutions to various industries, including building and data centers, oil and gas, utilities, and industrial automation. The company's products and services range from energy management systems, building automation and control, renewable energy solutions, to digital automation and cybersecurity.
Schneider Electric's solutions aim to help its customers reduce energy consumption, increase operational efficiency, and improve sustainability. For instance, Schneider Electric provides integrated energy management systems that allow customers to monitor and optimize their energy consumption, which can lead to significant cost savings and a reduced environmental impact.
The company also offers renewable energy solutions, such as solar and wind power, to help customers transition to clean energy sources. Additionally, Schneider Electric provides solutions to improve the resilience and reliability of critical infrastructure, such as power grids and data centers, to prevent downtime and ensure continuity of operations.
Schneider Electric's mission is to provide sustainable and innovative solutions to help its customers meet their energy and automation needs while also addressing global sustainability challenges, such as climate change and resource scarcity. The company has set ambitious sustainability goals, including achieving carbon neutrality by 2025 and developing solutions to help its customers reduce their carbon footprint.
Overall, Schneider Electric is a leading player in the energy management and automation industry, providing solutions that help its customers optimize their operations, reduce costs, and improve sustainability, all while addressing global sustainability challenges.
ET/ Q&A
Do you think there is a need to create demand since in developing countries it takes a lot of time for demand to build on its own?
Priority is to deal with homes, buildings, manufacturing and to make them more efficient. And that is possible with digitisation and which country is better placed with its worldwide-recognised expertise in digitisation than India. So, the priority is digitisation- to measure energy footprint and to reduce energy consumption. The second is electrification, because that is the only way to cut emission. And the third point is to invent the frid of the future, which we are already doing in large parts of India.
Hydrogen is necessary, but it's going to be tackling long-haul transportation and finally there's going to be a need to deploy tech for negative carbon emissions. India will be one of the four major manufacturing hubs for Schneider Electric, Jean-Pascal Tricoire, chairman and CEO of the company, told shipa samat in an interview at the ET GBS. The company also sees India as one of its largest export bases. Edited excerpts:
How is schneider's business in India doing and what are your near-term plans?
India has been our fastest development area over the past 20 years. So, it is already very much in our focus. And there are major reasons for that India is the centre of gravity for urbanisation, industrialisation and of course, digitisation.
The need for energy here will be enormous as we go forward. The country will build a large part of its infra in the next 25 years. The priority remains to bring energy, which is affordable and safe, to everybody in India. THen there is the supply of energy and energy transition, which happens through demand.
Transition happens when your car is becoming electric,your building is becoming net-zero and when your home is becoming net-zero because the cheapest, greenest and the safest energy is the energy you save.
In terms of ease of doing business, what changes have you seen?
India is a huge country for us. We have 30 factories and now we are building five new ones. We also believe India is going to become one of our largest manufacturing bases fo the world. Today, 50% of exported. We have been doing 'made in India' for a long time. We see India as one the four key hubs in the world for us-North America, Europe, India and China.
India's focus has been on carbon emissions and recent G20 talks have aso focused on it. Where do you think India is headed?
I think the priority remains to make India more decarbonised and more efficient. We need to focus first on where we can eliminate all carbon emissions. And here companies have a major buildings, build homes and manufacture, all companies can become more efficient, green and sustainable.
Have the policies and reforms in the power sector been a game changer?
We've participated in a number of projects...Water networks, data centres, grids, smart cities, are where we have benefited from the investment in infrastructure.
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