Sustainability is more than just planting trees or switching the lights off. To achieve net zero, we must create change across the board; all individuals and organizations have their part to play. Schneider Electric listens to customers, partners, and end-users about the need to set a standard for products and practices across the ecosystem. There was a call to make it easier for all to have a greater awareness of what they are using. Knowing whether products or services are sustainable helps everyone achieve sustainability more smartly and effectively.

Achieving sustainability with transparency

To achieve this, we launched a product sustainability program in 2008. This program, titled Green Premium, provides transparent information on hazardous substances, environmental impact, and end-of-life instructions. It is also something that customers and business partners have been increasingly requesting across multiple geographies and market segments.

The fundamentals of Green Premium

With the label “Green Premium,” it doesn’t matter who you are—consumer, building manager, architect, distributor, or original equipment manufacturer. Green Premium will help you fulfill your sustainability commitments by providing products that adhere to laws like RoHS and REACH. Green Premium also offers transparency and is completely open and honest about environmental disclosures and end-of-life instructions. To ensure product sustainability and performance exceeds our goals, Green Premium is built upon a foundation of three fundamental concepts:

Resource performance

Energy bills and carbon footprint are the two key concerns for most customers. Green Premium product sustainability solutions increase resource efficiency throughout the life cycle of an asset. This includes energy efficiency and the reduction of CO2 emissions, water, air, and other natural resources. We conduct Life Cycle Assessments and provide comprehensive and verified environmental footprints of the products, which are available digitally.

Circular performance

Reducing the total cost of ownership of their assets creates another headache for users. While we offer IoT-enabled services and upgrades, repairs, retrofits, and remanufactures, Green Premium also includes digitally accessible ‘Circularity profiles.’ It provides information on the Circularity of the offers, product end-of-life instructions, and take-back services. From now on, service or product sustainability factors become much more transparent and accessible.

Well-being performance

Employees are valuable assets of an organization. To help customers protect their employees from environmental hazards, Green Premium comes with RoHS and REACH compliance. Our teams also go beyond regulatory compliance by gradually replacing certain product materials and substances.

Over the years, Green Premium has evolved to include eco-designed products, services, and solutions. This growth has answered continuous feedback from customers and business partners across geographies and market segments. It assists our customers in achieving higher levels of compliance and transparency. It explains how we help customers lower their energy and carbon footprints, how we optimize ownership costs through IoT offerings and circular services and protect people from chemical substance risks.

In this “Green Premium” journey, our teams strive to offer solutions and product sustainability with superior long-term performance for customers. It reflects the innate belief that ambitious environmental considerations must be built into all our value propositions. What’s more, it now becomes a driving force of sustainable business performance of our customers and stakeholders, and this benefits our planet.

Positive product sustainability solutions

Daily, we serve customers with solutions to simplify life and enable efficient operations, ensuring “Life is On.”  While products also consume resources and energy, it is also crucial to explore how we can reduce their environmental impact with the smart use of material. For example, Green Premium products such as Resi9 Miniature Circuit Breaker made of recycled plastic, PrismaSeTS, and Acti9 Active all come with transparent environment information such as sustainable packaging or lower packaging impact materials and a Product Environment Profile, compliant with ISO14025.  

On top of that, we wisely use technology to minimize energy consumed. The Green Premium solutions optimally use energy and other natural resources using IoT-enabled services and digital technologies. They allow our customers to lessen their carbon footprint and environmental effect. The Green Premium portfolio of products, services, and solutions simply helps customers to quickly achieve their sustainability goals.

We are committed to driving product sustainability and achieving overall sustainable goals with innovation, and smart integration of materials and technology. Individuals and organizations who care about our environment are all welcomed to embark on this “Green Premium” journey making long-term impacts on our planet, together.

This article appeared in Schneider Electric and has been published here with permission.