Robots and Sustainability: Why Schneider Electric Won TIME’s 2025 Award Amid Rising Energy Concerns

The Growing Energy Footprint of AI and Automation

The IEA projects that global electricity demand from data centres will more than double by 2030, reaching about 945 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year—roughly the same amount of electricity Japan currently uses. AI-optimised data centres are expected to see demand more than quadruple by 2030. In the United States, data centres are likely to account for almost half of the growth in electricity demand up to that year. In advanced economies generally, data centres are estimated to drive over 20% of electricity demand growth between now and 2030—reinvigorating demand in places where electricity consumption had been flat or declining.

To meet this surge, renewables and natural gas are expected to lead among energy sources, owing to their availability and cost competitiveness. The report emphasizes that although rising data centre demand will increase emissions, widespread deployment of AI also holds potential to reduce emissions through improved efficiency, innovation in clean energy technologies, and better management of energy systems.

With AI servers and machines drawing headlines for their environmental impact, it might seem counterintuitive that a company so tightly linked to energy and automation would win the title of World’s Most Sustainable Company 2025. Yet that’s exactly what happened.

Schneider Electric: An Unlikely Sustainability Champion?

Schneider Electric is best known as a global leader in energy management and industrial automation. Its hardware and software power factories, buildings, and critical infrastructure worldwide. On the surface, it might not seem like the obvious candidate for a sustainability award:

• Its products consume energy, from industrial drives to automation systems.

• Its customer base includes heavy industry, where carbon footprints run high.

• Its own supply chain spans manufacturing, logistics, and resource-intensive electronics.

The potential pitfalls are clear: being so tightly tied to the world’s energy usage and automation systems means any inefficiency or misstep could multiply across thousands of facilities.

So why did Schneider Electric top TIME’s list of more than 5,700 companies reviewed?

The Work Behind the Award

On top of winning the Time's award, Schneider Electric topped Corporate Knights’ Global 100 for 2025—becoming the first company to ever rank #1 twice (it also led in 2021).

With €36B ($38.9 billion) in 2023 revenue across 100+ countries, Schneider’s portfolio extends from light switches and panels to AI-driven energy optimization, microgrids, and EV charging systems. This breadth allows Schneider to cut its own footprint while enabling customer decarbonization.

Corporate Knights notes both achievements and trade-offs: 74% of revenue is classified as sustainable under EU rules, while about 5% is not—including products that use SF₆ insulation. The company has also faced criticism over technology supplied to fossil fuel infrastructure, though Schneider argues its involvement reduces emissions compared to less efficient alternatives.

The backdrop is rising demand for decarbonization solutions, especially since the Paris Agreement and the push for mandatory emissions reporting. Schneider has positioned itself at the center of this market shift.

What This Means for Future Innovation

Schneider’s award doesn’t erase the real challenges. Robots and AI systems still require vast amounts of energy, and even the most energy efficient robots come with significant lifecycle carbon costs. But the recognition highlights a blueprint for the future:

1. Efficiency first: Innovating around motors, drives, and control systems to cut energy use.

2. Lifecycle thinking: Considering manufacturing, usage, and end-of-life impacts of automation technology.

3. Dual approach: Companies must lower their own footprints while helping customers reduce theirs.

As AI adoption accelerates and automation expands, the pressure to innovate sustainably will only grow. Awards like Schneider’s set the bar for what leadership looks like in this new industrial era.

Learn More

Sustainability in robotics and AI is just beginning to get the attention it deserves. If you want to dive deeper into the environmental impact of the AI boom, check out our Beyond the Bot episode on AI’s Environmental Impact.