Nexans, Electrify the future

CLIMATE DAY

Nexans launches “The planet’s call for sustainable electrification”

Nexans organized its first Climate Day on September 22, 2020 at the GoodPlanet Foundation in Paris. The event brought together world-renowned experts, contributing a full spectrum of opinions, to debate the challenges of climate change and energy transition and the urgent need to find answers to the planet’s call for sustainable electrification.

Nexans cannot provide all the answers to these questions on its own, so the aim of the inaugural Climate Day was to open up the debate and begin to structure a collective reflection process. Yann Arthus-Bertrand, an environmental activist, journalist and photographer and Chairman of the GoodPlanet Foundation, set out a very humanistic vision of the ecological question before Mark Lewis from BNP Asset Management explained why investors are increasingly turning to companies that are committed to renewable energies. Édouard Lecerf from the BVA Institute then presented the findings of a survey comparing French, British and American public opinion.

The highlight of the event was the announcement of Nexans’ commitment to carbon neutrality by 2030. The Group unveiled its road map for achieving this objective before formalizing a partnership until the 2024 Vendée Globe with the French skipper, Fabrice Amedeo, who is going to sail round the world non-stop and without assistance. Several members of the Nexans Executive Committee took this opportunity to present the Group’s initiatives related to product recycling, the offshore wind energy market and asset management solutions for supporting the energy transition, as well as the impacts of the electrification projects supported by the Nexans Foundation. 

The second Climate Day is scheduled for September 2021.

Brainstorming partners

The round table bringing together Nexans’ expert partners began with an analysis of an unprecedented global survey carried out by the consultancy firm Roland Berger on the challenges raised by global electrification. A discussion then took place between Christopher Guérin – Nexans’ CEO – Christel Heydemann – Executive Vice-President, Europe and France Operations at Schneider Electric – Mark Lewis – Global Head of Sustainability Research at BNP Paribas Asset Management – and Emmanuel Fagès– Partner in charge of electrification issues at Roland Berger.

ESG DAY

At its ESG Day on November 18, 2020, Nexans delivered a presentation on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives implemented within the Group. The scale of these initiatives reflect our new corporate purpose, revealed at the event by Christopher Guérin: Electrify the future. Our objective throughout the day was to explain to all of our stakeholders our corporate mission and purpose and the measures and action plans we are putting in place to achieve them.

The morning session started by hosting a large audience of various media representatives, investors, suppliers, customers and Nexans team members, who were shown a number of videos commented by various members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee. During the day, the participants were also presented with the Group’s major pledges in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), illustrated by examples of tangible actions, future projects and performance indicators. For the Group, the main objective is to build a highway towards a sustainable energy future and contribute to carbon neutrality. It is an ambitious aim, and our people are at the heart of it. We therefore need a diverse, talented and engaged workforce to help make sustainable energy a reality. All of this work is underpinned by Nexans’ overriding commitment to solid governance and management practices.

The second part of the day was devoted to a virtual Q&A session led by Nexans’ CEO, Christopher Guérin, who concluded with the following statement, clearly illustrating the Group’s winning strategy for the future: “Everything we are doing now is not just a short-term transformation. It is a long-term objective. Believe me, Nexans will be one of the world’s leading electrification pure players in the next ten years.” A second ESG Day has been scheduled for the fall of 2021.