Schneider Electric has begun working with the Spanish group on its global sustainability strategy. The Roca Group, a global leader in the design, manufacture and sale of bathroom products, has signed an agreement with Schneider Electric, a company specializing in digital transformation in the use of available energy and resources with innovative solutions and respect for sustainability. Based on this partnership, the Spanish brand will define a new decarbonization roadmap, establishing a global development strategy for the entire group.
Roca Group is present in 170 countries, has 85 factories and employs 24,000 people. The company has been actively working for years to minimize the environmental impact of its operations. Now it is taking the next step to establish a common sustainability policy for all group entities. Schneider Electric's climate change consulting will be used in this process.
The cooperation between the partners will consist of three stages. In the first, a vision will be set for the decarbonization process, analyzing the environment and setting ambitious action targets. In the second, Schneider Electric will analyze the operations of the Roca Group's plants to identify their capabilities to reduce energy consumption and emissions, implement sustainable energy production in factories, and determine ways to offset emissions that cannot be eliminated.
Finally, during the implementation phase, the Roca Group and Schneider Electric will develop the digitization of the company's processes and move to define indicators within the various production centers to monitor and optimize energy consumption even more effectively, ultimately reducing costs and emissions. Schneider Electric will also support the Roca Group in determining the company's decarbonization needs so that, with its own resources, it can implement projects that favor emission reduction and sustainable energy use.
Roca Group is committed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and is working to reduce the carbon footprint of its industrial operations, promoting the reduction of water consumption and constantly innovating in its production processes. Statistics confirm the Group's commitment to the environment. Roca reduced its carbon footprint by 8 percent in 2019 compared to the previous year, and by 22 percent in 2020, thanks to the company's efforts and less pandemic activity.
In other environment-related areas, water consumption at the Group's facilities was reduced by 24 percent last year, and the Zero Waste project generated 28 percent less waste, 71 percent of which is recycled in other manufacturing processes. In addition, the bathroom equipment offered by the Roca Group uses the latest technologies to optimize both energy and water consumption.
At the Roca Group, we work hard every day to optimize our manufacturing processes by using the latest technologies to reduce our environmental footprint, as well as to provide society with products for the bathroom space that provide users with well-being and are manufactured with respect for the environment. We are far from satisfied, we want to continue to develop this strategy and offer a common approach to all our divisions and factories, which will allow us to continue our decarbonization efforts," said Albert Magrans, Roca Group CEO.
At Schneider Electric, we not only aim to decarbonize our value chain, but we also want to become a digital sustainability and efficiency partner for companies that are making this type of change. The Roca Group is one of them. Companies that integrate sustainability into their strategy stay ahead of regulatory requirements, attract more talent, gain better access to capital, and strengthen their brand and business, making them more attractive to many stakeholders," said Josu Ugarte, president of Schneider Electric Iberia.
