Sorouch Kheradmand

Schneider Electric aims to be the trusted partner for energy efficiency and sustainability, underpinned by the company goal to empower businesses to adopt digital energy management tools which can manage and reduce their energy usage.

Founded in the 19th century, the French company now operates on a global scale, positively impacting its partners’ and clients’ impact. Schneider Electric has been named by Sustainability Magazine as the most sustainable company in the world.

As Global Head of Sustainability, Sorouch Kheradmand’s role is to ensure that Schneider delivers sustainability at scale – helping businesses, regardless of size, understand how sustainability can be paired with better business performance and giving them the knowledge and tools to start the transformation in a way that is aligned with their business operations, customers’ expectations and our planetary boundaries.

He started his career in R&D, before moving into sales, strategy and later on leading large strategic projects in M&As and divestitures.

He then took on a global commercial role leading large commercial teams during COVID-19. During this time, he witnessed first-hand the need from businesses of all sizes to not only accelerate their sustainability journey, but also to understand how they can do so without jeopardising their operations and profitability.

Sorouch’s passion now lies in presenting sustainability as both profitable and a business differentiator at scale, as he believes this is the best way to bring the change we need at the right pace and release the business community’s energy to take on that challenge.

On top of his role at Schneider, he often writes articles and joins talks around sustainability. He is also a non-executive director and advisor to several companies operating in the impact and sustainability space. 

Why are you passionate about sustainability? 

I believe that in order to bring the change we all need, people and business leaders need to understand sustainability, what they can do with it and why it can benefit them and their customers.

The world is moving towards change and this will impact the way we live and operate. The net-zero world will happen sooner or later.

The question is how we can ensure everyone understands what they can do in the journey to net zero, in alignment with their own needs, to release energy and maximise impact.

Just like AI today or the digital transformation 20 years ago, sustainability is an expertise and you need the right framework to maximise your impact and also your benefits.

I see it as my mission to empower as many businesses as possible to seize this opportunity and help them thrive in this transformation and the world it will build – helping them do so in a way that makes it worth their time and effort and helps them differentiate against their competition.

Schneider Electric has been celebrated as the most sustainable company in the world – why is sustainability so central to Schneider’s operations and how have you achieved this title?

An effective sustainability strategy needs to take into account the way a business operates and how it plays within its ecosystem.

All companies and all industries are not equal in terms of challenges and this means the further you understand your situation, through data insights, the better you can make the right calls to tackle the right issues and maximise impact.

Like any other company, working on getting that understanding of our footprint and situation was the first step. From there, we worked on an exhaustive action plan that covers most of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, across the whole ESG framework with very intentional targets, which are tracked on a regular basis and part of our compensation schemes.

As we have learned through our own transformation, we have also been very intentional in integrating sustainability across our very own operations, in the way we design, manufacture, procure and deliver products.

Making sustainability part of our DNA and the way we think and build our business also helps us serve our customers, suppliers and partners better.

Circularity is often misunderstood – how does it play into wider systems, Scope 3 emissions and long-term business resilience? 

Circularity is not only about taking back and remanufacturing, but it also accounts for anything that helps products have a longer life cycle while minimising waste. 

Obviously, the less you need to throw away and waste, the less you need to extract, refine and manufacture from scratch and hence mechanically reduce your footprint.

Circularity is often misinterpreted as someone taking back, repairing, remanufacturing or recycling and then reselling. While this is true, this is only part of the story. Extending the life cycle through spare parts availability is also circularity. Repacking products that have had a packaging issue is also circularity.

The three key questions a business needs to ask itself are: 

• Where can my business contribute to this circular play and how would that affect me or my customer’s footprint and business pain points? 
• What role can my ecosystem or suppliers, partners and customers contribute? (Some may already be doing it.)
• How can I craft new offerings that are close to my business models and have the right profitability so I can grow and scale?

What role do partnerships play in achieving sustainability goals? 

Partnerships are central to achieving decarbonisation. The more people we have, the faster we can progress, and so I am passionate about businesses working together to take collective action to tackle the world’s sustainability challenges. Providing a pathway for businesses to achieve this is something I find rewarding and so supporting businesses to decarbonise at every level is a key focus in my role. 

No one alone has the answer. Partnering with the right organisations is critical to removing roadblocks and creating greater resiliency while maximising positive business results and impact on the environment. Our Sustainability Impact Awards celebrate partners, customers and suppliers who embrace sustainability. That means teaming with colleagues and customers to deploy the latest and greatest technology solutions and embracing collaboration as the key to working faster and smarter. 

What advice would you give other executives looking to boost sustainability in their organisations? 

It always depends on where you are starting from, but I would definitely say that regardless of your current status, having a clear understanding of where you are standing in terms of footprint and performance across the ESG spectrum is the best place to start. Having granular enough data for directional insights is key. For instance, this can mean a life-cycle analysis of your company or part of your portfolio of products.

Understanding this footprint of yours can help you define the most impactful actions you should take.

The secret recipe is then to marry that view to the way your business operates and the expectations your customers have from you, including potential new needs, assessing the impact on your footprint, but also on your profitability and beyond (this can include employee satisfaction, brand visibility and much more).

Doing so, you stop looking at sustainability as a separate topic and a P&L killer but as something that is integrated in your business and that is contributing to its performance intrinsically.

To see the full interview in the magazine, Read here.

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