APC 2015 Annual Report Download - page 77

2015 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC 75
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
2
SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC’S COMMITMENT TOENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE
Directives similar to the RoHS European directive are now in force or
being discussed in several countries. Schneider Electric’s decision
to generalize the application of RoHS to all its products worldwide
has helped anticipate developments in regulations all over the world
and Schneider Electric is able to offer products which comply with
RoHS directives in all its markets (China, India, South Korea, Japan,
etc.).
The REACH program is intended to:
•ensure that substances used by Schneider Electric and its
subsidiaries are registered and authorized for the applications in
question, in accordance with regulations;
•specify the information to be provided to customers about the
presence and level of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC)
in Schneider Electric products;
•perform the substitutions of SVHC that are listed in Schedule
XIV (marketing of these substances only with the authorization of
the European Commission); even if those substances could be
used in Schneider Electric products, the Group EcoDesign policy
declares them as substances for substitution;
•notify the quantities of SVHC placed on the EU market when they
are over one ton per year and by legal entity in each EU Member
State;
•adapt the Safety Data Sheet management process based on
REACH requirements.
In 2015, the REACH program continued to take into consideration
the updates to the list of Substances of Very High Concern
published by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). At the
end of December2015, the communication of the presence and
content of these substances included 163 hazardous substances.
Green Premium EcoLabel
In order to continue and strengthen its commitment to sustainable
development and to be the fi rst to supply its customers with all the
environmental information they need, for several years Schneider
Electric has been developing Green Premium, a unique eco-Label,
based on clearly defi ned criteria, either in terms of environmental
regulations or international standards. These criteria include ad hoc
environmental information on its products that can be accessed on
line.
A product is declared Green Premium if it meets the following four
criteria:
•it complies with the European RoHS directive;
•has information concerning the presence of Substances of Very
High Concern (SVHC) under the European REACH regulation
and refers to the most recent list;
•has a Product Environmental Profi le (PEP) providing a
material assessment, a recyclability rate and the calculation
of environmental impacts including the consumption of raw
materials and energy, the carbon footprint and damage to the
ozone layer; this environmental profi le is established over the
entire product life cycle, from manufacture to the end of life;
•has a guide that identifi es and locates the sub-assemblies or
components that require a particular recycling process, referred
to as the «End-of-Life Instruction» ( EoLI).
As part of the development of new Schneider Electric offerings,
Green Premium is an integral part of the design and development
process as critical deliverables for marketing product offers.
As part of its new 2015-2017 company program, Schneider Electric
is strengthening its Green Premium eco-brand by giving it new
impetus and expanding its scope of application to offers resulting
from acquisition, and is renewing communication on its deployment
through the Planet & Society barometer . The objective at year-end
2015 of recording 65% of product revenues with offers labeled
Green Premium was exceeded, with more than 67% of products
(revenue of nearly EUR9billion covered by products that carry the
Green Premium label).
Green Premium is the foundation of Schneider Electric’s eco-design
approach. Through knowledge of the substances in its offerings
and evaluation of environmental impacts, Green Premium allows
Schneider Electric to target and engage improvements in the
environmental footprint of its future offerings.
For Schneider Electric customers, Green Premium is a pledge of
transparency, environmental responsibility, and reduced toxicity,
including in relation to stringent regulations such as RoHS and
REACH.
3.4 Eco-efficient manufacturing
Approach
Schneider Electric has rolled out ISO14001 certifi cation for all its
manufacturing sites comprised of more than 50people and large
tertiary sites. All these sites contribute to reporting and therefore
to the Group targets. The certifi cation objective helps focus
continuous efforts to reduce the main environmental impacts of the
sites, shown in the table on pages112-114 :
•energy consumption;
•CO2 emissions (derived from energy consumption and SF6
emissions);
•amount of waste produced, percentage of waste recovered and
number of sites achieving «Toward zero waste to landfi ll»;
•consumption of water;
•VOC emissions (Volatile Organic Compounds).
Action plans
ISO 14001 certification of Group sites
As soon as the ISO 14001 environmental management standard
was published in 1996, Schneider Electric decided to certify its
sites. For several years, the Group has demanded that all industrial
and logistic sites comprised of more than 50 people be ISO 14001
certifi ed within two years of their acquisition or creation.