Schneider Electric’s Green IT Program

The Green IT Program was an initiative of Schneider Electric’s (Schneider) Enterprise IT department, which had proactively identified opportunities to contribute to the company’s sustainability program. Initiated in 2015, the program had made appreciable progress, first by identifying internal opportunities and then by devising a data-driven approach to measure the carbon footprint of Schneider’s information technology assets and enable year-on-year reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. It had grown into a global initiative, with an integrated communications program launched to build stakeholder awareness, collaboration, and commitment throughout Schneider’s organizational hierarchy. For Zach Nimboorkar, senior vice-president, Technology Services and Operations, who led the project, and core Green IT Program members, Austin Brunero and Jaroslaw Richert, the aim was to build the strategic blueprint covering the next three years; one that could further galvanize the large and complex global ecosystem of internal and external stakeholders and deliver results on the ground.

The case may be taught in first-year master of business administration (MBA) courses in corporate strategy and general management, as well as in elective courses in environmental and sustainability management within executive education programs. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:<ul><li>To understand the genesis of the device-based strategy adopted by Schneider’s Green IT Program and its contribution toward meeting sustainability objectives. </li><li>To study the implications of the data-based measurement model developed within IT that brought transparency in computing GHG emissions.</li><li>Against the background of stakeholder theory, to evaluate the degree of success of the Green IT Program with internal and external stakeholders and to pinpoint emergent opportunity areas.</li><li>To assess the changed dynamics after the transition to the global Green IT Program and its possible impact.</li><li>To identify the building blocks of Green IT’s short- to mid-term future strategy and which elements could be retained and to recognize the possible risks.</li></ul>

• sustainability
• circular economy
• strategy
• stakeholder management
• technology solutions
• integrated communication