New Schneider Electric CSO to Drive Decarbonisation Strategy

Schneider Electric recently appointed Esther Finidori as Chief Sustainability Officer, with the executive having joined the company’s leadership team from 1 June 2025. 

The appointment followed the departure of Chris Leong, who held the position from January 2025 before moving to Ecolab as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer.

Within her new role, Esther will develop and deploy Schneider Electric’s sustainability strategy across its global operations. The company, which traces its origins to 1836, has positioned itself as a provider of digitalisation solutions for energy efficiency and automation.

“It’s a privilege to step into this pivotal role at a company that embodies sustainability as its core purpose,” she says. “Thank you Olivier Blum and Jean-Pascal Tricoire for the trust and for this opportunity to contribute to Schneider's positive impact.”

Schneider Electric’s journey towards net zero

Esther’s appointment comes as data centre operators face increasing pressure to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. Given that Schneider Electric supplies power management and cooling solutions to data centre facilities globally, sustainability leadership is a commercial imperative for the company.

The company has set targets to achieve carbon neutral operations by 2025 and extend this across its value chain by 2040. It also aims to reach net zero by 2050 through what it describes as end-to-end decarbonisation, with targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

The company was ranked second in our sister publication Sustainability Magazine’s Top 250 Companies in Sustainability 2024. For data centre operators, the company’s environmental position carries weight, particularly as they have to increasingly evaluate suppliers based on their sustainability credentials and carbon reduction commitments.

Esther’s role will involve coordinating sustainability initiatives across Schneider Electric's business units, which serve industries including data centres, industrial automation and building management. 

The company’s core purpose will continue to centre on empowering customers to maximise resource efficiency.

Esther Finidori leverages her supply chain expertise

Esther joined Schneider Electric in 2016 as Director, Sustainable Supply Chain and CO₂ Strategy, holding this position until 2021. 

She then became Group Environment VP before taking on the role of France Operations Strategy VP, where she drove “influence, commercial strategy, sales excellence and circular economy initiatives,” according to the company.

Prior to joining the company, Esther worked as an environmental consultant specialising in climate change and energy transition. Her supply chain background enables her to bring operational knowledge to the sustainability role. 

With the data centre industry increasingly under scrutiny for the environmental impact of their supply chains, from component manufacturing to logistics and packaging, Esther’s experience positions her to address these concerns across Schneider Electric’s operations.

A focus on data centre decarbonisation

Schneider Electric’s sustainability strategy directly impacts its data centre customer base. As these facilities face regulatory pressure and customer demands for carbon reduction, suppliers must demonstrate their own environmental commitments.

Esther says: “I'm looking forward to embarking on this journey with the talented Schneider Sustainability team and all our global partners, as we continue to push the boundaries of what's possible and drive decarbonisation and energy efficiency, while reinforcing our business relevance.”

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