April 4, 2025

By Krystie Johnston

Schneider Electric is on a mission to be the trusted partner in sustainability and efficiency. Since 1836, they have pioneered technological innovation to create a world where life is on. Frederick Morency, Vice President of Sustainability, Strategic Initiatives & Innovation at Schneider Electric Canada, has experienced this joie de vivre for the last 28 years. Here, he explains what his work involves, what sustainability is, and why it is at the heart of what Schneider Electric does as a company.

An Electrical Engineer by trade, Morency says that his time at Schneider has been about developing and deploying energy efficiency solutions here in Canada and at the international level. As part of the leadership team, he says his responsibilities are two-fold: 1) collaborating with customers and providing technologies and engineering solutions to help them electrify and decarbonize, and 2) focusing internally to ensure that the Schneider’s global commitments to sustainability are met at the local level.

Morency takes a team approach to sustainability, recognizing the many facets involved to make a positive impact. “We need to make sure that the foundational elements of sustainability are taken care of. Not only in the development of our strategy, but also in the development of our government relations, codes, standards, and thought leadership. We have to engage ourselves to be part of the solution in shaping [sustainability] and providing our voice to develop the forward-looking energy landscape in Canada.”

Sustainability is vital, but what does it mean? And why is it so important to a company like Schneider? Morency explains that sustainability is meeting the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. “There is really a sense of being self-conscious that the decisions we are making today will not have a negative impact on the future. If I bring that closer to processes within the industry, for me, it is really a search for efficiency at large, and we embed that in a continuous improvement process.”

Morency says sustainability goes beyond the environment and energy. The concept has evolved to encompass a sense of social equality and economic viability as well. “Sustainability is important because it is at the heart of it [the company]. It is a corporate responsibility and has been at the core of Schneider Electric for the past 20 years under the leadership of Jean Paul Tricoire. And it really has shaped and evolved and aligned very well to our values as an organization,” he explains.

“It is also important because the market is demanding it. Several of our stakeholders are depending on companies like Schneider Electric to embrace and prioritize sustainability. So that is something extremely important,” Morency adds. Increasingly, regulations and standards require businesses to be more transparent about their corporate sustainability initiatives, and these often transcend geographies that have more effects than one. This has multiple effects. “There is a sense of responsibility, but also a sense of transparency, and a sense of trust.”

Sustainability is also a key driver of innovation, Morency points out. It is a search for efficiency. When Morency collaborates with customers to develop a solution or solve a problem, he takes the time to understand and consider their constraints, processes, energy usage, resource usage, etcetera. The search to find an efficient solution often results in innovation. “We truly believe that this is one of the key drivers that differentiates Schneider Electric [from the competition]. Innovating and bringing more value to our customers is at our core, and it is part of our DNA. It also positions Schneider Electric as a resilient organization to face the future demands in the market.”

Schneider Electric’s technological innovations continue to evolve with the needs of industry. One of their recent solutions that support sustainability and energy efficiency in Canada is EcoStruxure Automation Expert. It is the next generation of automation systems because it operates on an open platform. End users can combine components from any vendor to design, operate, and maintain their systems. Moreover, EcoStruxure Automation decouples the hardware from the software, which enables the modernization of existing processes without having to discard functional equipment.

“There is clearly a call for action in Canada to improve the industrial productivity and energy efficiency in this country. This kind of technology, this kind of innovation, can contribute greatly to helping our customers on their journey to be more efficient and more productive.”

Schneider Electric: Your Trusted Partner in Sustainability and Efficiency

Schneider Electric has a long history of sustainability initiatives and has received many awards and recognitions. For example, the company was recently named “World’s Most Sustainable Corporation” for a second time by the Corporate Knights.

“We are very proud of that recognition from Corporate knight, a well-known and respected group. But we stay humble. For us, it does not mean that we have finished the race whatsoever,” says Morency.

“We are like thousands and thousands of companies that are selected for sustainability being their priority and their journey. We are in the same race.”

Along this journey, Morency is encouraged by his peers and the sum of their sustainability goals. “When I look at the names of the companies in the top 10, in the top 50, in the top 100. I am super encouraged to see the collective movement and the mobilization being made around the world. I meet some of these companies, and I am super impressed how deep the subject has become, how it has transcended their strategies, and how they have reinvented themselves with a greater purpose in mind: a sense of having a better future.”

The companies that make the list have something in common, Morency says. The common denominator he sees for success consists of resilient leadership, transparency, and trust, and to establish these takes time. Morency says that Schneider Electric has really focused on their sustainability strategy over the last 20 years. Setting a series of goals and being able to pivot when needed.

“It started from the resilient and inspiring leadership of our CEO for the past two decades, Jean Pascal Tricoire, who is now the chairman of the Board for Schneider Electric, who has really positioned sustainability at the heart of the strategy for the company. And being very resilient to say that, despite any market movement, sustainability would stay core to our strategy in the long run.”

Sustainability is a journey. It is a search for efficiency. A search that individuals and organizations undertake every day. For Schneider Electric, sustainability is at the heart of everything they do. At the corporate level through to the individual, they focus on efficiency and continual process improvement. “I am a big fan of a 1% improvement per day, which makes sense at the end of the year, and that collective effort is what is going to make the change. That is my inspiration: I try to focus on the things I can do today, tomorrow, and that is it. Voila!”

About Frederick Morency

Frederick has been with Schneider Electric for over 25 years and is the quarterback for Sustainability in Canada, guiding net-zero actions across the company’s operations and value chain and supporting customers’ sustainability journey. In 2023, Frederick was named to The Globe & Mail’s Best Executives list for his leadership and expertise in the market.

He is a trusted advisor and has helped customers in over 40 countries decarbonize and efficiently manage their energy use. Prior to his role as the Sustainability lead for Schneider Electric, Frederick served as Vice President, Services, where he orchestrated strong digital experiences between Schneider Electric’s partners, customers and core businesses.

Frederick is a strong believer in the power of mentorship. Under his leadership, Schneider Electric has partnered with the Indigenous Clean Energy Social Enterprise (ICE) to help Indigenous communities build a clean energy plan. He also supports the next-generation of talent and academia through alliances with HEC Montreal and other research institutes and is involved with think tanks and start-ups who are mapping innovative ways to reach net-zero ambitions.

Frederick is also actively engaged in the Canadian business community through his involvement in the Association de l’industrie électrique du Québec (AIEQ) and the Institut en génie de l’énergie électrique (l’IGEE). He is regularly featured as a keynote speaker and panelist to discuss electrification planning and to guide industry partners, policymakers, customers and regulators on advancing Canada’s climate action ambitions.