2024
Legrand
Year
Sector
Industrie légère
ACT assessment methodology
Generic
Performance Score
Legrand has a climate strategy structured around objectives validated by SBTi, aligned with a 1.5°C warming trajectory. The company is targeting a 42% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and a 90% reduction by 2050 compared to 2022. It also commits to reducing all its scope 3 emissions by 90% by 2050, with intermediate targets for 2030 on the purchase of goods and services as well as on the use of products sold. These ambitious goals stem from structured, high-level governance, with an aligned level of incentives.
On the supplier side, the strategy is also robust. Legrand has targeted 250 key suppliers representing 60% of its Scope 1 emissions, encouraging them to reduce their emissions by at least 30% by 2030. The company has exceeded this target by engaging 327 suppliers, and it quantitatively tracks the associated avoided emissions. This system is based on a solid governance framework: a commitments and CSR committee steers the climate roadmap, and the general management is directly involved.
However, a few areas for improvement have been identified. The results on scope 3, which represents the bulk of its footprint, are still limited. Scope 11 emissions (use of products sold) increased by 20% between 2022 and 2024, mainly due to the growth of the data center business, which jeopardizes the achievement of the 2030 targets. In addition, the strategy remains focused on eco-design actions and monitoring of global indicators, without any real structuring of customer support or a proactive strategy to decarbonize uses, particularly in data centers, which nevertheless represent a significant part of the action plan.
Legrand does not formalize a clear vision of its business model for 2050. While the company is focusing on the development of its range of energy efficiency solutions, which currently account for 23% of its turnover, it has not set any quantified growth targets in this segment. Legrand also has no plans to reorient its high-carbon activities, and is counting on the growth of very energy-intensive activities such as data centers.
Finally, the customer engagement strategy remains underdeveloped. Legrand tracks the emissions avoided thanks to its products but does not deploy a structured approach to raise awareness or support its customers towards decarbonization. Legrand also remains untransparent about its positions on climate policies and its affiliations with professional associations.
On the supplier side, the strategy is also robust. Legrand has targeted 250 key suppliers representing 60% of its Scope 1 emissions, encouraging them to reduce their emissions by at least 30% by 2030. The company has exceeded this target by engaging 327 suppliers, and it quantitatively tracks the associated avoided emissions. This system is based on a solid governance framework: a commitments and CSR committee steers the climate roadmap, and the general management is directly involved.
However, a few areas for improvement have been identified. The results on scope 3, which represents the bulk of its footprint, are still limited. Scope 11 emissions (use of products sold) increased by 20% between 2022 and 2024, mainly due to the growth of the data center business, which jeopardizes the achievement of the 2030 targets. In addition, the strategy remains focused on eco-design actions and monitoring of global indicators, without any real structuring of customer support or a proactive strategy to decarbonize uses, particularly in data centers, which nevertheless represent a significant part of the action plan.
Legrand does not formalize a clear vision of its business model for 2050. While the company is focusing on the development of its range of energy efficiency solutions, which currently account for 23% of its turnover, it has not set any quantified growth targets in this segment. Legrand also has no plans to reorient its high-carbon activities, and is counting on the growth of very energy-intensive activities such as data centers.
Finally, the customer engagement strategy remains underdeveloped. Legrand tracks the emissions avoided thanks to its products but does not deploy a structured approach to raise awareness or support its customers towards decarbonization. Legrand also remains untransparent about its positions on climate policies and its affiliations with professional associations.
Narrative Score
Business model and strategy: Legrand bases its development largely on electrification and energy transition activities. This segment already represents a significant share of turnover (23%). However, Legrand's activities are still highly dependent on carbon-based activities, in particular the production of virgin metals and plastics and the digital sector.
Credibility and consistency: The company bases a significant part of its growth on the data center market, a notoriously energy-intensive sector that generates overconsumption of electricity, which contradicts the imperatives of the energy transition. In addition, 72% of Legrand's emissions come from the use phase of its products, which underlines the importance of acting on this aspect. However, while the decarbonization of datacenter electricity is one of the levers identified in its transition plan, no tangible proactive action is put forward by the company to support this evolution. There is therefore a lack of coherence between decarbonisation objectives and economic development objectives.
Data quality: No problems noted
Reputation: No problems identified
Risks: The company remains largely dependent on the production of virgin metals, which have a high carbon footprint, and focuses its development heavily on the digital and data center sectors, which themselves consume a lot of electricity. An essential part of its decarbonization plan is therefore based on the decarbonization of electricity in the countries where it operates, which exposes Legrand to a significant political and regulatory risk: if the national or local energy transition is delayed, the company's climate objectives could be compromised. This risk is all the more worrying as it does not seem to have been anticipated or managed, as Legrand's transition plan does not mention proactive actions to support the development of renewable energies, particularly in the data center sector.
Credibility and consistency: The company bases a significant part of its growth on the data center market, a notoriously energy-intensive sector that generates overconsumption of electricity, which contradicts the imperatives of the energy transition. In addition, 72% of Legrand's emissions come from the use phase of its products, which underlines the importance of acting on this aspect. However, while the decarbonization of datacenter electricity is one of the levers identified in its transition plan, no tangible proactive action is put forward by the company to support this evolution. There is therefore a lack of coherence between decarbonisation objectives and economic development objectives.
Data quality: No problems noted
Reputation: No problems identified
Risks: The company remains largely dependent on the production of virgin metals, which have a high carbon footprint, and focuses its development heavily on the digital and data center sectors, which themselves consume a lot of electricity. An essential part of its decarbonization plan is therefore based on the decarbonization of electricity in the countries where it operates, which exposes Legrand to a significant political and regulatory risk: if the national or local energy transition is delayed, the company's climate objectives could be compromised. This risk is all the more worrying as it does not seem to have been anticipated or managed, as Legrand's transition plan does not mention proactive actions to support the development of renewable energies, particularly in the data center sector.
Trend score
The sharp increase in emissions from product usage, largely due to the growth of the data center market, has not yet stabilized. Corrective actions on this aspect are based on the decarbonization of electricity in the countries where it operates, but Legrand does not demonstrate a proactive stance on this. It is therefore reasonable to expect that emissions will continue to increase.
Source
ACT Eval 2
Evaluator
CITEPA
GLOBAL SCORE
Performance score (/100)
46
Disclosure score (/100)
90
ℹ️
Narrative Score (A > E)
B
Trend Score (- = +)
-
Scores by module
#1 : best score in the sample
N/A% = module not applicable to the sectoral methodology
Target Score : 78%
Material Investment Score : 13%
Intangible Investment Score : 0%
Sold Product Performance Score : 36%
Management Score : 81%
Supplier Engagement Score : 60%
Client Engagement Score : 60%
Policy Engagement Score : 29%
Business Model Score : 36%
Indicator weight by module