We don't do transport, and we're not in lifts or elevators. Forget about elevators. This is what we do. This is what we're good at. We make all of this possible. This is where you'll find us, here and there. We don't generate energy, but we help you save energy. We also protect the environment. We connect and provide energy for everything that surrounds you, and we help machines communicate with one another. We help to customize your everyday life. We try to address social problems with transparency, how to optimize resources, and access to energy and digital technology is fundamental. We're here, partners, developers, investors, and manufacturers all decided to do the right thing. We're open-minded. People from all over the world, and we learn from one another.
We're not going to save the world necessarily, but we are here to be your partner, digital partner, the service of your sustainable development and your performance. Life Is On, so that light can shine for everyone at every moment. Hello, everyone. Thank you for being in attendance. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, I declare the combined Annual Shareholders Meeting of May 4th, 2023, open. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that this meeting is a public meeting which will be broadcast live and recorded on the company's website. In accordance with the Article 19 of the statutes, the Shareholders Meeting is chaired by the Chairman of Board of Directors, and it is in this capacity that I am chairing this meeting, and I'm very glad to see you here today.
By my side is Fred Kindle, Vice Chairman and Independent Lead Director, Hilary Maxson, Chief Financial Officer of Schneider Electric, Peter Herweck, who will succeed me as from today as Chief Executive Officer. We'll come back to that later. Ségolène Simonin-du Boullay, Secretary of the Board of Directors. I shall appoint the officers of the Shareholders Meeting. I call scrutineers Frédéric Debril, representing Amundi Asset Management, and Caroline Cassou, representing the shareholders, employee shareholders group Schneider Actionariat. You're both shareholders in attendance with the greatest number of voting rights and accept these functions as scrutineers. I invite Ségolène to act as secretary, and I note the presence of our statutory auditors, Monsieur Jean-Christophe Georghiou, Juliette Decout-Guilmot, Mathieu Mouger, I beg your pardon. I would like to greet the members of the Board of Directors who are in attendance. In the first row, Nive Bhagat.
Where is she? There she is. Cécile Cabanis, Giulia Chierchia, Rita Félix, Linda Knoll, Léo Apotheker, Abhay Parasnis, Mr. Anders Runevad, and Bruno Turchet. I welcome the members of the Shareholders Consultative Committee, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the committee on your behalf for the work they do and the advice they give us to improve our communication with our shareholders. Headphones will be distributed or have been distributed to you so that you can listen to the translation of some of our speakers, because Schneider is also an international company. Some of the presentation was made in English. Channel 1 for English, and Channel 2 for French. I will hand the floor to our secretary to make the legal announcement.
We have the convening for 2023, and the journey specialist society was published on April 14th, 2023. The shareholders present and represented own a number of shares. The definitive number of shareholders present or represented will be specified to you before the vote of the resolutions. As of for now, the general meeting, gathering more than 25% of the share capital, is regularly constituted and can validly deliberate both on an ordinary and extraordinary basis. The members of the bureau will certify the attendance sheet by signing it. The shareholders are invited to decide on the simplified agenda, which is displayed on the screen and will note beforehand in the convening documents.
In accordance with this customary practice, the documents relating to convening of the Shareholders Meeting have been placed on the desk. Provisions of Article R.225-81 to R.225-83 and R.225-88 of the French Commercial Code relating to shareholder information have been complied with. The co-documents referred to in Article R.225-89 and R.225-90 of the same Code have been made available to shareholders within the limits set by the regulations. We ask the Shareholders Meeting to dispense with the reading of the report of Board of Directors insofar as shareholders will be able to read it after the Shareholders Meeting. The legal formalities will have been complete. The Shareholders Meeting having been duly constituted, we may proceed with the proceedings of the meeting itself.
Last year, on a construit une solution avec le digital et l'électrification au service du développement durable. Résultat: en 20 ans, notre chiffre d'affaires a augmenté, notre capitalisation boursière aussi et les indices boursiers ont progressé. Grâce à nos innovations, nos clients ont les solutions intégrées qu'il leur faut. Nous ouvrons la porte sur un nouveau monde, tout digital, tout électrique. Avec EcoStruxure qui apporte la puissance et l'efficacité de l'IoT ou avec notre portefeuille de logiciels intégrés et évolutifs avec lesquels nos clients créent leur jumeau numérique. Une révolution. Grâce à notre stratégie multi-hub, nous sommes devenus un acteur mondial à la présence géographique équilibrée. Nous avons aussi changé notre façon d'être. En 20 ans d'évolution et d'amélioration, on a construit une culture unique axée sur le développement durable. Nous sommes ici pour changer les choses et pour aider tous ceux qui travaillent avec nous à faire de même.
Nous avons pris des engagements, nous les avons tenus. Nous sommes passés de l'idée à l'action. Nous sommes reconnus pour favoriser la diversité et pour être inclusifs et aussi pour notre audace, celle qui fait de nous le partenaire digital de nos clients dans leur trajectoire de développement durable et d'efficacité. Ça, c'était les 20 dernières années. Vous, vous êtes prêts pour les prochaines ? Parce que nous, on l'est.
We're going to move on to the main presentation of the shareholders' meeting after these introductory remarks. I would first of all to say once again how glad I am to be here with you today. We've worked together during the COVID years. We were not able to have the meeting together during the COVID crisis, and it's been a pleasure to resume these shareholder meetings in person. We've explained our operations, and this is a time where we meet and we take the decisions for the company, for the future of the company. For me, this is a very special event because after 20 years as the CEO of Schneider Electric, one of the new piece of news today is I'm gonna hand over the baton to Peter Herweck as CEO.
This brings to the end a cycle of 20 years. Before starting to give some explanations, I'd like to start by thanking you. Thank you for these 20 years where you've supported us. You have been there with us in all the things we've done, the challenges we've taken up, the problems we've had to address throughout the many crises that have taken place during these last 20 years. You have supported us in this industrial technological transformation that we have made during these recent years. All of this would have been impossible without the support of our shareholders. I'm extremely glad to be here with you today and very pleased to bring to the end this cycle and to start a new page. I'd like us to do 3 things.
First of all, that we share with you the changes in our sector, in energy, in digital technologies. Second thing, since we're coming to the end of a cycle and we're beginning a new cycle, is to look at what has been done, what we have achieved during the last 20 years, and to understand what is the basis that we establish for the future to go on and to talk about 2022 and talk about the beginning of the new year. This is a rather intense program, but I'd like to thank you again for your support, for your partnership, for your help in this company that's enabled us to change, entirely change the profile of Schneider Electric. We're ready for the future.
When you look to the future, what you understand is what is happening in the world, where we've just experienced three years of crisis that have accelerated the transitions in our sector, digital transition, dual climate and energy crisis, meaning the world is accelerating in electrification of energy and reduction of carbon energy, fossil energies. There is also a polarization of the political environment. There's more and more relocation of manufacturing around the world and in the sector of Schneider Electric as well. In the world, energy is changing. World needs much more energy for simple reason. We have on the Earth, 800 million people who do not have access to electricity.
In the 30 coming years, there are 2 billion people, more people will arrive in parts of the world where there is little energy, namely in Africa, Southern Asia, and in regions in the world where don't have enough access to energy. At the same time, we know that 75% of carbon emissions and climate change is due to the way that we generate and consume energy. It is essential to give access to all, access to energy, because access to energy is access to a decent lifestyle. At the same time, we have a collective duty to find solutions for the planet.
When we look at the figures. The situation is somewhat worrying, concerning, because when we look at the figures that are published by major research institutes, we have to move 3 times faster and 3 times further, because everything we have to do in the next few years, build buildings that are net zero, the buildings that do not emit carbon emissions, is going to be a challenge. Everything that we will build that has a negative impact on carbon emissions will be there for decades to come. At the same time, we have to do 3 times more, because when we sum up all the commitments of countries and societies in the world and companies in the world, we have 4 megatons of reduction of carbon emissions. We'd have to reduce it 10-15 megatons, so 3 times faster and 3 times further.
There is, however, some good news, because each time that humanity has had to face up to challenges, we've been able to invent technologies that made it possible to solve challenges in different ways, historical challenges in different ways. Schneider Electric has been one of the major players, is to be able to start up two new technologies, participate in the beginning new technologies, such as the development of digital technologies, the internet of people. That has changed the way that we live, the way that we work. That has changed everything in our lives. Today, for a number of years now, it's the second phase of internet, the internet of objects, that's going to completely change the way that we live with our environment and enable us to be much more efficient. The second revolution is electricity.
Electricity is an old technology, but it's not the same electricity. It's a renewable electricity that is decentralized, that can be stored, and that is used everywhere around us. In the last two decades, the increase every 10 years in consumption is 5,000 TWh, and most of this has been in emerging countries. China represent more than half of this increase at the global level. When we make forecasts concerning consumption of electricity, it's multiplied by 2 in this decade, but multiplied by 4 in the coming decade. This means that the world that surrounds us is going to be 2 or 3 times more electrified than today. Our cars are going to become electric. Heating, air conditioning in our buildings is going to be electric with a lot more heat pumps rather than having gas boilers.
We have a complete transformation that's underway that enable us to have the same comfort and same lifestyle whilst emitting less carbon. The solution, as we are working on it at Schneider Electric, is to work on decarbonization with a different outlook or a different approach. When we talk about energy and climate, normally around you, we're always talking about what is supply. People for nuclear, people against nuclear, people who like wind-generated energy and others who are against it. If you look at the reality in energy transitions, it's always been driven by demand. Cars are not gonna become electric because there's more electricity. That is the supply. They'll become electric because one company in California and a French company like Renault have invented the first electric cars that are cost-effective, that can replace traditional cars.
95% of what Schneider does today is to support customers in transition of this demand. If we are able to transition this demand to greater efficiency and electric energy, because electric energy is the only way, or use of electric energy is the only way of eliminating carbon-emitting fuels. That will enable us to decarbonize the energy chain, as long as we are able to produce the solutions and the electricity in a sustainable manner on roofs of buildings, of homes, on microgrids for individual communities. This is teamwork that has to be done. Your company, Schneider Electric, is the global leader in the transition of demand towards more digital technologies for greater efficiency and more electricity for decarbonization. We could take many, many different examples, but one example that we all share is our homes.
Here you have the figures. The figures you see here and what we can do with existing technologies today regarding the average residence in Europe. If you use thermostats and building management systems to control your energy consumption, I suggest to you, Schneider, you can save up 25% of energy. If you transition your model towards electric vehicles and heat pumps, you gain another 25% in energy efficiency. If you produce a great amount of your electricity locally, you can decarbonize all of your energy footprint at an individual level. If we all do this, the collective problem of the management of the electric grid is reduced because this problem will be distributed and be the responsibility of each and every one of us.
That is what we're doing in buildings, in industrial centers, in infrastructures, this is the first objective of Schneider Electric. The problem is more global. It's not just homes, residences. We look at energy forecasts. 8 billion inhabitants today. In 30 years, there'll be 10 billion inhabitants on the planet. We have 800 million people who do not have access to electricity. 10% of the world population do not have access to electricity. In 30 years, I hope that all people will have access to energy and electricity. Lastly, we have a middle class that, less than 50% of global population. We hope in 30 years there'll be a much larger proportion of the global population will have access to the type of prosperity of middle classes.
If we keep the same energy models, we'll have a curve of energy consumption, which is the red curve that you see above, which is not sustainable one bit. The International Energy Agency is working on different scenarios. The yellow curve corresponds to all the commitments of the different world governments. This is where we would be if they commit to this. In fact, what you see in green is what we need to do is to get back to 1.5 degrees in increase in temperature. To keep things simple, the strategy that we have at Schneider is simple. Priority for energy efficiency, which will enable us to mitigate for or compensate or enable to have all the energy we need to have the same quality of life, much more electric energy consumption.
These are not Schneider figures. The Schneider figure is much more ambitious. 20% of consumption will be electric, 30 years, probably 50%. We believe it'll be more 60%-65%. In all scenarios, there remain another 20% at least of fossil energy consumption. Since the scenario put here is one of the most optimistic scenarios for carbon reduction, it is therefore essential that we should continue to work on decarbonization of fossil energies, because in 30 years there'll still be a lot of fossil energies being consumed in the world, this energy has to be reduced. The strategy of Schneider, 95% in efficiency and decarbonization and the rest to accompany fossil energies in their efforts to decarbonize.
Our raison d'être is to enable each individual to be as energy efficient as possible and to help in terms of sustainable development and progress. Provide energy for everyone so that everyone can have an improved living conditions. Our mission is to be the digital partner of our customers in sustainable development and energy efficiency. There you have the global context, the general context. Now we're going to go very close from here. We're going to visit a customer. A building that exists with existing technologies from Schneider Electric to attain energy consumption, which is 1/5 or 1/6 of the average energy consumption in buildings in Europe. Video. There you are, a very practical example of what can be done with technology. This building is as comfortable as a conventional building.
It has higher usability, and it consumes 6-7 times less energy than a conventional building in Paris. If we can do this all over Paris, we can of course reduce energy consumption and the carbon footprint in a spectacular way.
Second topic we wish to review with you today, what we have done together with Schneider Electric in the past 20 years. Taking a step back allows us to realize what we have succeeded in transforming and the robustness of the foundations we have created for the future. If you look at the 20-year balance sheet, we have repositioned Schneider Electric on digital, on sustainable development. We've multiplied its size by 4. We have multiplied R&D spend by the same multiple, and we have increased, grown, the value of the business 7 times. A full positioning change, a change of scale, and a change of valuation. What we have built together is a business that is acknowledged all over the world as a tech company, a leader in sustainable development, a leader in digitalization, a leader in electrification.
The second thing is that we have created probably one of the most global players in the world with a geographical footprint that is fully balanced. Finally, we are a company with an impact, with a unique culture committed to technology and sustainable development. Where did we start from? Everything started with the heritage we took over in 2003, when we were essentially a product-based company. Low voltage leaders already at the time by just a little, and also present in other power distribution elements. Patiently and systematically, what we did over the past 20 years is to complement and strengthen our leadership in low voltage into medium voltage, secure energy, secure power, terminal distribution.
Meaning that we now have the ability to offer our customers global leading products to allow them to create their integrated power systems with digitalized architectures for better mastery of energy. What we conducted in parallel, alongside the products, is to create new value propositions for our customers to allow us to be more present in their life cycle. First of all, a systems activity for their critical missions, data centers, hospitals, which were so very critical during the pandemic and are of course, critical on a day-to-day basis. Water and power networks, smart cities, transportation, all of that requires engineering and engineering capacity, a build capacity that represents revenues of EUR 8 billion today. We have complemented this with a services business that did not exist 20 years ago, EUR 3.5 billion in revenues.
Through digitalization, we have created a software branch with EUR 2.6 billion in revenues and around EUR 1 billion in sustainable development consulting services for a great many customers around the world. If we look at these 20 years, the three major changes were digitalization multiplied by 15, EUR 15 billion last year. Electricity, where revenues were EUR 6 billion in 2003, and today EUR 26 billion multiplied by 4. Global leadership in all fields of the business. A reposition towards energy efficiency and the reduction of CO2 emissions multiplied by 60 are now reaching EUR 25 billion in this year's revenues. Digital was probably the most important transformation at Schneider Electric.
A lot of companies are trying to achieve this, I think we can rightfully say that with EUR 15 billion and more than 40% of our revenues drawn from this business, we have succeeded in our transition while building on our basics, energy, electric power. What we chose to do was to digitalize our activity with customers. We have specialized in projects around the world with our customers, buildings, factories, infrastructure, cities, with a very strong desire to provide our customers with a digital twin from the design phase to the build phase to the operation and maintenance phase, in the interest of circularity, to allow customers to have a collaborative digital platform and reduce wastage that can occur on any construction site anywhere in the world.
What we have done is that we have repositioned all of this in a portfolio, the industrial part, the energy part and the building, the construction part, to achieve a very simple customer experience based on a database, a data hub, a digital twin, a customer experience based on a platform developed by AVEVA, and the ability for our customers to integrate their entire company through EcoStruxure, which is our IoT platform. A lot could be said about this, but I suggest we now share the benefits of this type of software in our next video. Video, please.
Everyone's talking about the Metaverse. What does it really mean? Let's play What If. We'll start. What if this Metaverse could bring power, process, and building data together in one location? One kind of data for the whole of your company, for professionals and industry. What if you could see your data working in real-time, all the time? What if all the data you needed from your enterprise systems came alive in the cloud? What if, before you did anything in the real world, you could build a digital twin and predict outcomes? Not just that, a process twin, an energy twin, an electrical twin to design, build, operate, and maintain. What if the operational cycle was a closed loop, where what we learn from one phase lets us improve the next, and the next, and the next, making you more efficient and sustainable across domains.
How about this? What if people could always be trained virtually? It would be safer. They could access it and collaborate from anywhere, and they could learn to be prepared for any possibility. What if you could pick and choose the specific services and expert support you need when you need it, and just pay as you go? What we're saying is, what if there was one experience, one open platform for all, where you could connect all of your devices and IoT systems to unlock limitless potential for power, buildings, industry, and infrastructure? Potential that can transform businesses and even help transform the world. Welcome to the Enterprise Metaverse.
Oh, that's cool. What we've just presented are things that have already been rolled out with our customers. You can train new entrants, new employees to avoid the dangers of the shop floor, train them before they're actually on the shop floor. You can train them, you can give them fire training, leakage training, and they can just do that with a virtual reality mask. When an operator, and this was very much used during COVID, employees can be remotely assisted and told exactly what they need to touch, what they must not touch, the sequence of operations to guarantee their safety real-time. Before that, people used to manage their business building per building, factory per factory.
You can consolidate all of the data from a company in order to optimize on the scale of the entire company. For all of those who've worked in construction, I'm sure that you're well aware that 30% of the cost is rebuild. Because when you reach the site, the plumbing specialist is fighting with the AC guy and so on, everything is now virtualized, and that helps to cut down construction costs considerably. That's what we're already doing with our customers, with our most advanced customers, and which will certainly be generalized across the company in the coming years. This allows you to connect everything, to access the same data, and to mobilize all of the stakeholders, both internal and external to the company, to work on energy optimization.
In order to achieve this, in the past three years, you have supported the rationalization of our software business portfolio to accelerate synergies between our software companies, to accelerate technological convergence based on a single platform, to allow our customers to integrate it all, build, process, energy. In order to achieve this, we have supported you in the acquisition, the 100% acquisition of RIB that digitalizes buildings, IGE that digitalizes power systems, and AVEVA, a deal that closed earlier this year to integrate the digital twin within a software repository. In doing this, together, we have created a software company with revenues of EUR 2.6 billion, which positions us pretty much in the 30th position of all software developers in any sector and places us in the top three of industrial software businesses. This is just a start.
We're going to be growing this business. Naturally, the big event for 2022 and 2023 is the 100% integration of AVEVA, our industrial software platform. If you remember, because of course you were involved in all of this, we had constituted the birth of AVEVA by acquiring a number of companies, Citect around 20 years ago, Telvent, Wonderware, Invensys until 2013. We brought all of these companies together with a British company, AVEVA, and then we acquired OSIsoft to constitute a unique portfolio of industrial software applications. First point in the transformation, digitalization and software. To show you what our partners are doing with this, how they're leveraging this power, I would like to show you a video about a French partner who uses our automation and software systems.
Master Systèmes is une société de conception d'automatismes. Nous étions à la recherche d'une plateforme d'automatismes moderne qui réponde aux besoins de nos clients en matière d'intégration IT. La solution EcoStruxure Automation Expert est un véritable game changer. Les utilisateurs ne sont plus liés à un seul fournisseur. Ils peuvent faire dialoguer différentes architectures entre elles pour plus d'efficacité. En termes de bénéfices, grâce à ses capacités de simulation, EcoStruxure Automation Expert a permis de tester l'application dans des conditions équivalentes à la réalité, d'opérer des corrections sans mobiliser des ressources et de tenir les délais de déploiement sur site. Le deuxième pilier de notre stratégie.
Second pillar of our strategy, sustainable development, which for us takes on two shapes. First, being a partner in digitalization, strategy, and implementation, decarbonization for our customers. We are partners of around 40% of Fortune 500 businesses. We are recognized as a business that can provide advice and implement decarbonization strategies. Second element, Schneider as a company and its own decarbonization and net zero strategy. It's on this aspect that I'm now going to focus. What we presented last year was our determination to be a business with an impact, with 5 guiding principles. First, performance. Businesses that have performance issues, have behavioral issues. The first aspect of this is good health, what we call do well to do good. If you're not doing good, it's very difficult to contribute new things to your stakeholders.
A contribution of all stakeholders in every dimension of ESG. ESG and strategy are a single thing, and within the executive committee, Gwenaelle is also in charge of sustainable development. A model and a culture that emphasize ESG culture locally because it's within the community that we can provide added value. To give you an illustration of what I mean by multiple stakeholders, Schneider itself has set very ambitious targets in terms of decarbonization. We are also helping our customers to save 100 million tons of carbon a year, thanks to our technologies. In the face of our suppliers, what we call the upstream Scope 3, we are currently leading an operation, a carbon project, to support our key suppliers in reducing, in halving their carbon emissions in the coming years.
As, of course, more than 40% of our work is done in emerging economies, we are committed to providing green electricity to 50 million people on the planet and to train 1 million young people to work in the energy sector. For our investors, we have committed to generate 80% impact revenue by 2027. If you look at Schneider Electric's carbon footprint, I know this is a bit of a confusing graph, but Scope 1 and 2 basically means Schneider in-house, and surprisingly, in fact, only 1% of Schneider's carbon footprint is generated within the company. We are well aware that we have responsibility for our entire carbon footprint. 14% is upstream with our suppliers and 86% downstream or 85% downstream with our customers.
Without going into the finer details, all of this, of course, can be found in our annual report. We are committed to make progress ourselves, but we're also committed to support our customers and help our suppliers to improve their own carbon footprint. Something crucial happened in 2022. We worked with SBTi, an NGO that's recognized as a certification body, certifies the reality of our carbon commitments. We committed first by 2030 to reduce our carbon footprint by 25%, which in absolute terms, with the growth of Schneider Electric, it means much more per production unit or sales unit. By 2050, we are determined to reduce our emissions by 90%. The graph that you can see here, which is, may seem rather unclear up on screen.
There's the green bit in the middle, which is what we call Scope 1 and 2, what happens within Schneider. It's very limited. We have already reduced the carbon footprint by 2 over the past four years. We have already worked very hard to reduce our own in-house carbon footprint. In blue is Scope 3, upstream and downstream, suppliers and customers. The graph at the bottom here is what we call compensation or offsetting, allowing us to offset by purchasing certificates, which at Schneider, of course, we are looking for high-quality certificates for carbon absorption. We've worked with this highly demanding organization, I think we're the 59th company in the world to obtain certification in this field. We are now working on the implementation of an action plan to reach that ambition.
One thing that's very important, you know this, is that our focus is on the people in our company. We believe all the changes need to be done through engagement, very strong engagement on the part of our teams. Therefore, we have, as you can see, once again this year, developed our values and actions when it comes to diversity, equality, inclusion, and value proposition for employees that's meaningful. In the realm of engagement, this is supported by a number of practical programs, including the global employee shareholder plan, which has subscriptions from on the part of employees everywhere in the world. The last transformation I would like to talk about with you has to do with geographical transformation. Schneider is a French company, the case of a French company that has exceedingly well achieved its objectives internationally.
We have multiplied by eight our presence in the world, in Asia, and this is where a lot of urban development, industrialization, digitalization is taking place and where development is strongest. We've developed our presence fivefold in the States, and we've practically doubled our presence in Europe. Today we have a business model which is unique because we believe in globalization. We also realize 'cause people like me have lived in different parts of the world a long time, and we have articulated the organizational accommodation to ensure that it's decentralized and ensure that each region has the means to do its own manufacturing, its own R&D, and to be able to work in an independent way. It's always better to be agile and faster on your feet than to be big.
The idea is to be able to make decisions quickly and to move quickly and to work with local actors and as a local actor. This internationalization is done also in our shareholding at European level. We are one of the companies where the shareholding extra European is most developed, whether it be in North America or in Asia. I'd like also to say how proud I am that we have, during the 17 years of my mandate as the CEO of this company, each year we had an employee shareholding plan. I think there are very few companies in France who have done this. Except one year, which was the year of the COVID, since we didn't know exactly where the world was going, so we took a back seat.
Wherever in the world, whatever the crisis, the crisis in 2009 or the problems that we encountered, we have had an employee shareholding plan, which is represent roughly 4% of the shares on the hands of employee shareholders in France and internationally. The subscription level is very high everywhere in the world. In 2022, the ESG funds investment funds are important proportion of our shareholders. That means that our share has performed well, as you know, and I hope that you have benefited from this performance. If you look at over 20 years, we went from 19th in ranking to 7th in ranking as one of the main European companies.
It proves that a strategy that is carried out with determination and persistence, it does generate value, not only to the company, but also to the shareholders. We are ready for the future, and we are positioned in markets that promise development. We have generated more value, more systems, more services, more software, more consulting in sustainable development. We have a model which is unique with a portfolio of activities that is completely integrated between digital and electric. We have a model completely based on partnerships. We work with distributors, integrators, and suppliers. A multi-hub model that I've described and ESG integrated at every level of our strategies and at every level of our company. I'd like, since we are at the Shareholders Meeting of Schneider Electric today, to look at 2022 and what happened in the previous year.
This year has been extremely difficult year. All the things that have happened, first of all, there were human tragedies, the war in Russia that has impacted us directly. We were a leader in the Russian market, principally with local technologies. It's an operation that we had developed over the last 20 years. We have great teams in Russia. We were confronted with the war last year. We decided to ensure the safety of our Ukrainian teams, 500 people, and to exit people from Russia. This was very difficult. We managed to extract from Russia. We're one of the first companies to do this. Having our employees exit Russia in October last year, we transferred these operations to our local employees so that they continue to have gainful employment in the countries.
We addressed different tensions in the supply chain. I'll talk about the results later. We managed, in this difficult context, to be able to perform historically well, and we managed to make savings on a cost structure. Over and beyond all these objectives, we bought all of AVEVA, the whole of the AVEVA stake. In the three past years, we have disposed EUR 1.7 billion of revenue to be able to focus on what generates the most value. If you look at the figures of 2022, turnover EUR 34 billion, + EUR 5 billion in revenue compared to the previous year. Operating result of EUR 6 billion, EBITDA adjusted EUR 6 billion. Net adjusted result of EUR 4 billion, more than EUR 600 million compared to last year.
Cash flow, free cash flow of EUR 3.3 billion. Operating cash flow being first time EUR 5 billion. The difference between the two comes from the fact that we built up stock to be able to supply our customers in spite of supply chain tensions. A dividend that's increasing. All of these results of 2022 have been confirmed by first quarter 2023, which shows a strong growth, more than 50% for the first quarter, which really confirms this very strong momentum at Schneider. We have two main activities, energy management, industrial automation. In 2022, these two activities contributed to growth and to the increase in operating profit. The two growth drivers have been working perfectly in coordination. Since we're talking about generation of value, we are here with the shareholders.
We have a TSR of five years of more than 100% and a dividend that is increasing for the 13th year in a row, which means that we can go back to pay out part of the results to the shareholders. The 20 years that just been passed and the last year. What is important today is to say that I'm going to hand over the baton to Peter Herweck, and I'm very glad to hand the management of the company to somebody who knows perfectly well the industry. Peter will explain himself. He's been in this sector for 30 years. We've been working for many years together. He's worked in seven different countries, so he's really got this international culture that is part of Schneider's culture.
He was general manager the last two years at the head of AVEVA. He's really been trained in this sector. He knows perfectly our industry and the company. Before handing the floor to him, I would once again to thank you for these last 20 years, for your support, for your help, I'm very proud to have been able to transform Schneider Electric with your support and help. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Jean-Pascal. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, hello. I'm very pleased to be with you today. It's an honor to take over the role of CEO of Schneider Electric. I would like to pay tribute to the French language in my first message. It's a beautiful language, and I speak it just a little bit. To ensure that I can be much more effective in my presentation, I'm gonna continue in English. First of all, acknowledge and thank Jean-Pascal for his leadership over the past 20 years in Schneider Electric. The figures and the recognition of Schneider's transformation speak for themselves. What is not as easy to convey in a keynote presentation is really the impact Jean-Pascal had on people, how he inspired them, coached them, made their lives and society better.
I believe I can speak on behalf of everyone here when I say thank you very much. Thank you very much, Jean-Pascal, for your vision, relentless commitment, your passion for people. Taking over as the CEO of Schneider is a big responsibility. I come to this role with over 30 years of industry experience, having started my career as a humble electrician, becoming an engineer, working at Mitsubishi Electric and Siemens before joining Schneider in 2016 as Executive Vice President of the Industrial Automation Division. Most recently, I was the CEO of AVEVA.
If you look across these experiences, I have both hardware and software experience, worked in a lot of functions, have an affinity for technology and software, and have a diverse cultural mindset derived from leading teams in both mature and emerging markets. As I start the new role, I will build on the strong foundation that exists today. Our leading position in digitization, electrification, and of course, sustainability. Three markets that are in major demand today. Our unique culture, of which meaningful impact and continually strives to more diversity, inclusion, and equity. Our signature multi-local model, which is a real differentiator for Schneider Electric. I promise you, I will bring all my energy, dedication, and experiences to lead this great company into the future, focused on making Schneider Electric even stronger, more resilient, and agile to be able to withstand whatever markets and whatever conditions come our way.
I know as we go through this transition, all of our stakeholders, not just our investors, but also our employees and our customers, are wanting to see continuity in business and in performance. Our priority is a strong 2023 delivery, focused on sticking to our commitments and driving growth. We have started it this year in a very good position with Q1 efforts, and we'll use this as the momentum for the remainder of the year. Personally, I'm very excited for our future and the journey we will go together. I thank you in advance for your trust. Now, Hilary, if you would share the performance of the company.
Thanks, Peter. Jean-Pascal. I'm very happy to continue working with both of you in your new roles. Dear shareholders, good afternoon to you all. I'm delighted to be with you today to comment on your company's results for the past year, to give you some insight on the performance of our first quarter 2023. First of all, I would like to talk to you about a fundamental value for Schneider, as for me, trust. This trust is essential both in our personal and professional lives. We need the trust of our shareholders, customers, partners, and employees. At Schneider, we're committed to high social, environmental, ethical, and governance standards. We have developed a framework, which is our trust charter, that builds trust from three perspectives: integrity, transparency, and resilience, which are the foundation of our culture.
Turning to financial performance, I will begin by presenting the key financials for the entire past year. As Jean-Pascal said, we entered the year 2022 with record revenues of EUR 34 billion, up 12.2% on a comparable basis. A record adjusted EBITDA of EUR 6 billion and a record net income of EUR 3.5 billion. We also delivered a resilience growth margin with very complex year, characterized by sustained demand, high inflation, and logistical constraints. We also continue to improve our adjusted EBITDA margin by 40 basis point on a like-for-like basis, while improving our cash conversion ratio, reaching EUR 3 billion of free cash flow. All of this translates into a good increase in our ROCE.
I would also like to point out that we ended the year with a record backlog of EUR 16.50 billion, or about six months of sales, compared to an average of less than four months in the past. The energy management business generated sales of approximately EUR 26 billion with like for like sales growth of over 13%. We achieved double-digit like for like growth in all regions except Asia-Pacific, which grew by more than 9%, impacted by the resurgence of COVID-19 in China, but with strong growth in the rest of the region, notably in India. Demand remains strong in all end markets, with a slowdown observed in consumer-related segments such as residential biddings and distributed computing. The industrial automation business generated sales of EUR 8 billion, up by more than 10%.
Growth was driven by the discrete industries and sales in the process and hybrid markets also grew strongly, benefiting from the recovery in commodity-related economies. North America and Western Europe experienced a double-digit growth. Asia-Pacific was impacted by the resurgence of COVID-19 in China, with strong growth in the rest of the region, notably in India and Japan. The rest of the world grew by more than 8% despite the negative impacts of Russia prior to the group's exit. 2022 were the first year of execution of the plans presented at our November 2021 Investor Day. In 2022, we have made good progress in our digitalization journey. More products grew strongly by 13%, driven by underlying demand, pricing, and backlog execution.
In software and digital services, our energy management software business and digital services grew by double-digit for the full year. For its part, AVEVA continued to generate positive sales despite the acceleration of its transition to an abandonment model. AVEVA ended the year with 23% growth annualized recurring revenue, or ARR, the key metric we track to measure the transition of this business. On-site services experienced high single-digit growth for the year, impacted by logistical constraints. Our sustainability business had a very good year with over 20% growth for the whole year. Our digital offerings or what we call digital flywheel, represent 53% of group revenues. Within the software and services business, approximately 36% of the revenue is classified as recurring, well on our way to our target of 45%. Let's turn to our income statement.
We ended the year with a record adjusted EBITDA margin of EUR 6 billion, which is up 14% like for like. This increase was driven by revenue and EBITDA margin growth for a 40 basis points. The adjusted EBITDA margin ended the year at a record level of 17.6%, with a significant acceleration at the second half of the year, thanks to the reduction in logistics tensions. This performance in a complicated year is also explained by the resilience of our gross margin, thanks to actions on prices to counter inflation. We are also improving our SFC to sales ratio while investing in our strategic priorities. I will conclude with a quick update on our debt ratio.
Despite the increase in net debt related to financing of the AVEVA acquisition, our balance sheet remains strong with a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of one-tenth of six. This ratio is a bit high for Schneider, but given our strong free cash flow generation, we expect it to normalize over time as it did after the OSIsoft transaction. As Jean-Pascal mentioned, we pay a lot of attention to the return to shareholders. In terms of capital allocation, our priorities remain unchanged. In this context, we are proposing a progressive dividend this year for the 13th year in a row of EUR 3.15 per share, up 9% on last year. In terms of portfolio development, I'm also pleased to announce that we have successfully completed our divestment program for a total of EUR 107 billion in sale.
As you know, we successfully completed the acquisition of the entire share capital of AVEVA in January. Let's now turn to our first quarter sales, which we announced last Thursday. We've had a very good start to the year with a continuation of trends observed in the fourth quarter. Our two businesses had a record first quarter. The energy management business ended the quarter at EUR 6.5 billion, up by more than 18% on a like-for-like basis. The industrial automation business ended the quarter at EUR 2 billion with like-for-like growth of more than 10%. Let's now turn to some specific points about the dynamics and expectations in our markets in 2023.
First of all, we continue to see a persistence of strong demand, supported by underlying trends in electrification, digitization, and sustainability, further reinforced by government incentives and in our key geographies. We continue to expect an improvement in the supply chain situation to support volumes. As well as a reduction in inflationary pressures or tensions. In this context, we're raising our 2023 target for like-for-like growth in adjusted EBITDA to between +16% and +21%. As you know, we pay great attention to the dialogue with our individual shareholders. The cornerstone of this dialogue is our Shareholders' Advisory Committee, with which we have a lot of dialogue. The members of our committee meet with Schneider's management and visit some of our sites. I imagine that you have now many questions, so do not hesitate to ask them to the committee.
Also, in order to be more attentive to your needs, we have changed the way we interact with you. You can reach the shareholder relations team by telephone or directly by email. Thank you very much for your attention and trust. Now, Jean-Pascal, you have the floor.
We can give a warm round of applause. You don't realize as a French speaker how difficult our language is, and when you're talking finance, it's even more difficult to speak in French. Well, thank you. Very well. It was very well done, Hilary. So an American in Paris, completely integrated, we're very proud of Hilary, and the three years we've just passed together. I've experienced every year her great competence, her strong resilience and ability to adapt. Now, thank you, Hilary. Now, before handing the floor to Fred Kindle, who will present the way the Board of Directors functions and the different committees functioned, and he'll give you his report on this as Chairman and Independent Lead Director.
I would like to talk briefly about the Board of Directors and ask the camera if it can focus on the first row where we have the members of our board. A little bit further, I believe. Otherwise, it's gonna be difficult for you. We are very fortunate at Schneider Electric to have a Board of Directors that is extremely committed, and people who come from the four corners of the planet, who provide great expertise. It's a lot of work, being on the Board at Schneider, especially when you don't live in France or in Europe, to come here. We have at least six meetings per year that require preparation. Each decision is reviewed in committee before being presented to the Board.
We have strategic meetings, so it requires a lot of commitment on the part of our members to attend the meetings, participate in the meetings and in the management of the group. I would like to welcome two new members. Giulia Chierchia. Giulia speaks fluent French, and she's a specialist in energy, amongst other things, and has worked in different companies and provides a lot of expertise in the domain. Abhay Parasnis. Abhay comes from California. He came specially from California for this meeting. Abhay is a software specialist and brings this skill to the Board of Directors when it comes to software and applications. I have to insist one point.
We don't talk much about directors, boards of directors, one of the great opportunities, assets at Schneider is to have boards that have been very committed over time and have two chairmen over 40 years. It's enabled to adjust to the short-term contingencies, but also to have a very long-term view, supported by people who are very. There's Léo, in particular, who's been on the Board for a long time, has worked with me as a lead director. Fred, who knows perfectly our industry because in the past, he worked directly in this sector. People who know this industry perfectly and who can be partners to really dialogue and work on the management of the company. I'm gonna hand the floor to Fred, who's going to speak to us in French.
Can I take this?
Yeah, please.
Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen. Good afternoon. Unfortunately, I speak no French. I learned a bit of it in school around 50 years ago. I'm terribly sorry. That's as far as it goes. I'm going to need to do this in English. Sorry again. I'm very happy to be here today and have the opportunity to make a few remarks on a few important resolutions, resolution, that are coming up for your vote today. All together, it's, I think, 28 different votes today. A very large schedule. I will not make remarks on all of them, just highlight a few select ones. Let me start with the first one. It's about the dividend. Jean-Pascal has talked about it already.
I think it's fair to say that we are a little bit proud that Schneider Electric has, for the 13th time, been able to raise the dividend. The proposal today is a dividend of EUR 3.15 per share, which is an increase of 9% versus the last year. I think this is evidence that the company has actually done very well the last year, and Hilary explained more details about that just a few minutes ago. This is about Resolution 3. Let me change topic and talk quickly about the change in governance, which has always also been addressed already by Jean-Pascal, and Peter has introduced himself. Your company today is changing the top governance model. Up to this point, Jean-Pascal was both. He was the Chairman and the CEO.
From today on, you see it up on the slide, we have a Chairman, Jean-Pascal, and a CEO, Peter Herweck. Jean-Pascal continues to serve the company as Chairman, I would say an active Chairman, not an executive Chairman, that's not the idea, a real Chairman, but an active Chairman, especially when it comes to sustainability and also representation in Asia. Then we have Peter, who runs the company. He and his team will develop the strategy, set up the right organization, manage the operations, and take care of the people. Me in between, the smallest figure in this triangle, basically trying to make sure that there's proper governance and the situation in the top governance of the company is in good order, which has been a fairly easy job in recent years. Let me continue then with the Board.
You see a lot of faces on this chart. All together, it's 16 people, including the ones that you hopefully will elect today into the Board. It's a large board, but this is a board that is actually very active. It's not just a sitting board, it's a working board. You see this also, we have 5 different committees, and each committee typically has 4, 5, 6 members. You can only work with 5 committees if you have a large board with a lot of members. Otherwise, you know, the Board members would end up in 3 or 4 committees in the same time, which is not possible. It's a large board, but necessary so. I think it's a board staffed with high-quality members. I would like to point out we have three names on the right-hand side. I come to speak about those.
Those stand for re-election today. We have two faces here, and it was mentioned already, of new board members that will be elected into the Board today, hopefully. Let me first talk about the three that stand for re-election. This is Léo Apotheker, who is here with us today, Gregory Spierkel to far away in North America, and the same with Lip-Bu Tan. I should say, typically, they would be here, but you can imagine how it's quite an effort to make a long journey. They're here, I would say, with their, with their mind more so than with their body. They stand for re-election, and we are very happy about that because they're very competent, very qualified, high-value board members. Their regular term is expiring today of four years. They stand for re-election as it concerns two people, that is Greg and Lip-Bu.
They stand for re-election for another four-year term. With regard to Léo, he stands for two years. You would ask the question, why? Léo has reached a threshold where he is no longer considered to be independent. He's a dependent director. Also with regard to age, we are becoming more considerate to be careful about extending directors' terms into eternity. There's a slight change in attitude. Let me then go on with regard to the new board members. Jean-Pascal has already introduced them. You see a slide here with two faces and a bit of description about them. I think instead of me talking about them, I have them quickly in one or two minutes, tell them who they are and why they're here today. Let me first start, ladies first, with Giulia Chierchia. Please, Giulia.
Merci, Fred. Mesdames, messieurs. Thank you, Fred. Ladies and gentlemen, greetings. My name is Giulia Chierchia. I am half Belgian, which means I can speak French. I am currently Executive Vice President of Strategy, Sustainability, and Ventures at BP. I joined the executive committee at BP, around three years ago to help the oil company with its decarbonization and energy transition and reaching its net zero target set for 2050. Before joining BP, I worked at McKinsey for 15 years, working with clients in the field of energy and industry on issues such as the energy transition. If I could indeed join the Board, I would be delighted because I can contribute expertise from the world of sustainable development and the energy transition. Thank you.
Great to be here. My name is Abhay Parasnis, and as Jean-Pascal said, I live in California. Have spent most of last couple of decades in software, and so my background really is more in software companies like Microsoft, and most recently was Chief Technology Officer at Adobe. Have been fortunate enough to participate in couple of software transformations around cloud and data and now more recently AI. I'm really excited to be here. I mean, Schneider Electric, the transformation the company has gone through over the last couple of decades is just phenomenal. And especially with its mission around sustainability and the strategy around digitization, electrification, they're absolutely at the forefront of where the world is going
As Jean-Pascal was saying earlier, software already is a key part of Schneider Electric strategy today. As we look ahead, that's gonna be even more central to the growth of the next chapter for Schneider Electric. If I were to be elected, I'm really excited to join this esteemed board to be able to go on that next chapter of journey and growth. Thank you.
Thanks, Abhay. Thank you very much to the two of you. ladies and gentlemen, let me just point out that these two people are extremely qualified. They're in high demand. They could have easily taken on another board membership with a different company, and we are very happy that the two of you have made the choice and are here today with us and stand for election into the Board of Schneider. With that, I is changing gear here now to a very interesting topic, compensation. I start off by trying to explain to you very quickly what the situation with regard to the compensation of the Board of Directors. What you see here on this chart, in essence, is nothing new compared to the past. It's the same model.
If you look at the individual details, I refrain from going through each of these boxes. Basically, it's an activity-driven model. The more meetings we have, the more fee we get because we need to get together more frequently, more hours invested, more travel, and so forth. It's also due to function. If you are heading a committee, for instance, then you get a little bit more fee than if you're just a regular member. That's basically the composition of it. You see on the right-hand side, the outcome of this model, what each of the individual directors got in the last year. You see the total is about EUR 2.2 million. That is what the total fees are for all of the directors, excluding the Chairman. The proposition today is to increase the maximum.
The maximum is at the moment at EUR 2.5 million, so we could not issue more than EUR 2.5 million. We would like this to increase slightly to EUR 2.8 million just because we are adding new members into the Board. That's the reason for that. Much about the director's compensation. Let me now look into the compensation for our Chairman and CEO, for Jean-Pascal. This is looking backward into 2022 instead of 2023. This is looking backward. What you see here, again, I can use the same statement, is pretty much the same as in the previous years. If you start at the top left-hand side, there's a fixed salary of EUR 1 million. Frankly, I think we would need to lift this today if Jean-Pascal stayed on as the CEO.
This was set in 2018. If you do competitive benchmarking with other CEOs, it's on the low side. That has a consequence also on Peter Herweck. The same base salary for 2022. When it comes to annual variable compensation, sometimes also called the short-term incentive plan or bonus, the way this is calculated is the same as in previous year. It's a mechanism that is based on several criteria. You can read them for yourself. These criteria have clear benchmarks what need to be reached in order to achieve a 100% level of performance or maybe even more. Here you see the actual figures. You see what the achievement level was in all of these criteria. They yield different numbers. If you add them all up, you end up at 114.9%.
Now, as it happens, the system works such that if Jean-Pascal had reached 100%, he would receive 130% of the base salary as bonus. He achieved actually slightly more, 114%, and the consequence is at the bottom on the left-hand side, the total payout for the bonus is just short of EUR 1.5 million. This is all very systematic. It's perfect in line with previous years. There's nothing special about it. The only thing that really changed is the performance achievement, which was 115%. That's the short-term bonus. I have to go back. We have also the LTIP, the long-term incentive plan, where we have handed out a number of shares. These are performance shares. That means they are subjective to performance criteria.
If the performance criteria are not met, then the value goes down. The value that was handed out in theory in this year, 2022, is EUR 3.4 million. Finally, there is a pension scheme, same as in previous years, which is partly also driven by performance. All in all, the numbers have slightly changed. The methodology has not. What you see here is the compensation for Jean-Pascal Tricoire in his function as Chairman and CEO for 2022. Resolution 6. If I then move to Resolution 8, basically it's the same topic, but now it's for Peter Herweck. In essence, pretty much the same methodology. If you start at the top left-hand side, we did raise the base salary from EUR 1 million- EUR 1.2 million, again, because of what I said.
You know, the EUR 1 million with Jean-Pascal was on the low side. Competitive benchmarking really tells us we need to have a slightly higher base salary, otherwise it would be unfair. We have a short-term performance measurement or mechanism that is still the same as the Jean-Pascal Tricoire with two small exceptions. There is an additional element in this criteria set, the Net Satisfaction Score, which measures the satisfaction of customers and partners, which we think is very, very important. If this measurement was dropping below, you know, it was going down vividly, then it would clearly indicate there's something wrong, and the sales would probably suffer. We added that. Also the 100% achievement on this short-term performance now yields 100% in base salary, no longer 130%. Otherwise, it's the same.
We have the LTIP, where we have decreased the cap somewhat or basically become more, more moderate than in the past. The pension benefit's the same. We also added the so-called clawback feature. That means if something was going vehemently wrong with the company, some sort of fraud or gross misconduct, the company now has a contractual opportunity to claim back money that was paid out. It's like a safety mechanism if something went really bad. This is in Resolution 8, the proposal for Peter Herweck's compensation. Continuing with the topic of compensation, looking at Jean-Pascal again, we're now looking into 2023. In 2023, we have two different situations. On the left-hand side, until today, he's still the CEO and Chairman. Starting today, he is the Chairman. That's the right-hand side.
On the left-hand side, we have more or less the same thing as in the previous year. We didn't make a big change at all. At the bottom you see that actually there's a few things that are relevant because he's changing the function, so he was allowed to keep his previous LTIPs from 2021 and 2022. However, he's now getting a new LTIP, long-term incentive plan, for 2023. He doesn't receive those shares anymore in 2023. He doesn't get any severance pay. As a matter of fact, we're very happy that he continues to serve the company as the Chairman. Thank you. As the Chairman now looking forward, he gets a fixed compensation. On the right-hand side, you see it's mentioned there, the total number is EUR 930,000 .
I think that's a good figure. It's very well justified. It can compares well with competitors. I think we are all very happy that we have a great Chairman of this company. Having said that, Jean-Pascal has voluntarily signed a non-compete agreement. This is not being paid for by the company, so he basically promised once he ever leaves Schneider, he will not work for the company, and he basically makes this commitment for free. Thank you. I think this is all what I wanted to say with regard to compensation. Last but not least, Jean-Pascal talked about it, the Say on Climate. This is a new feature in our resolution process at the AGM. I think thanks to Jean-Pascal and the team's effort, this company has always been at the front when it comes to sustainability.
I can tell you when I joined in 2016, I was surprised how far this company had already gone with regard to sustainability. We want to maintain this leadership. The Say on Climate feature that is introduced now, very few companies have done this already. We want to be spearheading this again. This is now coming up as a resolution as well. I don't think I need to comment further. Jean-Pascal has gone into the targets that we want to become net zero by 2050. The process is now such that you can vote. You can give us your vote, support the Say on Climate, the climate strategy of this company, or alternatively, you can say no if you dislike it. Hopefully you like it and say yes.
Of course, if there was too many dislikes, while this vote is non-binding, it would be a serious concern to us. It would make us rethink what are we doing wrong, clearly. In three years' time, there will be the next vote on the next, on the same subject. We'll follow up, and you can then look what we have achieved and what the new targets are. This is the substance of the resolutions, and then there's a whole slew of additional resolutions that are financial in context. It's typically about share capital increases. Again, they're very standard. They're in no way different from previous years. I spare you the details. In case you have questions, please come forward and ask them. I don't think I need to go into the details of those.
With that, I think I reached the end of my presentation in English, and apologies again. Maybe I will have time at some point to learn French. It's a beautiful language. We will see. Thank you. Thank you.
Merci, Fred. Thank you, Fred. It sounded like as good as French. I would like call on Jean-Christophe Georghiou from PricewaterhouseCoopers, who's going to sum up the contents of the statutory auditor's report.
Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, I have the honor on behalf of the College of Statutory Auditors from Mazars and PwC . We have prepared a report for the Shareholders Meeting. We have drafted several reports for it, for the year 2022 on the consolidated report, the annual report, and then we have our special report on regulated agreements. We also prepared special reports concerning resolutions that have been presented to you briefly concerning the capital of your company. These reports are in the document that is indicated in pages that will be indicated on the screen and propose that I give you a brief summary. Let's start with the report on the accounts. The annual accounts and consolidated accounts, we have certified the accounts without any reservations, and we have established opinions based on due diligence we carried out in France and throughout the world.
Our work is adapted to the organization of the group, the nature of the transactions, and co-take into account our appreciation of internal control. A report presents the highlights of the audit, the points that we believe are the most important within the context of the annual audit consolidated accounts. In each of these reports, we present our point of view concerning risks. Concerning the corporate accounts, the key point of the audit concerns evaluation of the titles and participation that are in the books for EUR 5.5 billion and EUR 2.5 billion, respectively. Concerning consolidated accounts, the key points are two. The first concerns evaluation of goodwill that of more than EUR 25 million in your accounts over in different periods, EUR 5.5 billion.
The second key point concerning the consolidated accounts concerns provisions for taxes, d eferred taxes. For our special report on the regulated agreements, we indicate there have been not any declaration of regulated agreements. I'm now gonna sum up our report concerning the resolutions that are proposed and concern the capital of your company. 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, and 23rd resolutions concern proposals of delegating the authority to decide the issuance of certain shares and capital increases and to cancel preferential right to subscription. There's a maximum amount for these issuances that have been set. Concerning the Resolution 20 and Resolution 21 , we have no observations to make concerning the modalities of these resolutions for the determining the prices given in the Board meeting report. The definitive conditions in which the issuance would be conducted had not been set.
We will not emit any opinion concerning this and concerning the cancellation of the preferential subscription right. There's no modalities for the fixing of the prices. We cannot give any comments concerning those resolutions. We will establish a complementary report when these delegation of authorities would be used or may be used. In the Resolution 25, Resolution 26 , there's a proposal for delegation of authority, the competence to decide or the authority to decide the issuance of shares or assets or securities with a preferential subscription right. This will be reserved to company share savings plan. If these modalities are not fixed for the issuance of these securities, we have no comments to make about this or about the preferential right of subscription.
Once again, we will establish a complementary report if this delegation of authority were to be used. To conclude, in our report concerning the Resolution 27 , we indicate we have no observations to make concerning the causes or the conditions for the reduction of capital envisaged. This would be the result of the cancellation of, within limit of 10% of the capital per period of 24 months, of shares bought within an authorization given by yourselves for the sale of other shares of another company. This is the end of my presentation. Thank you.
Merci, Jean-Christophe. Thank you, Jean-Christophe. Thank you for your detailed report and the work you've accomplished. For a company of our size, this is a major undertaking.
We've come to the Q&A session, I am available with Hilary Maxson and Fred Kindle to answer your questions. Before answering questions, I'd like to inform you that we've received 10 questions from the Forum for Responsible Investment. The answers provided by the Board are published on the site. As to ensure that we can answer maximum number of questions, I would ask you to ask your questions, and if you have several questions, to ask them in one go. One question per person, please, because sometimes we have a lot of questions, and I would like to hand the floor to Pierre-Yves Pélissier and François Guez, representing the Shareholders' Advisory Committee. Thank you.
Hello. Pierre-Yves Pélissier, shareholder and member of the Consultative Committee. In the new organization, what will be the exact role of each participant? What will be the influence of Jean-Pascal Tricoire on strategy in the coming years?
Thank you. I will take this question. I remind you, Fred presented a slide which detailed the roles of each of the protagonists concerned when it comes to governance. I can talk from experience because I was 20 years the CEO of the company, and I always worked on strategy with the leader of the Board. In my case, it was the chair of the supervisory board at the time, Henri Lachmann, and then independent lead administrators such as Léo Apotheker and Fred Kindle. We work on strategy with the Board every year and during the entire year, with a dedicated session that lasts a week every year. That enables us to go in-depth on the main topics concerning strategy.
Fred was saying the Board is very active and that most of the Board's activity is dedicated to discussing strategy. The role of the Board is to provide experience that one has of the industry, because the Board knows the industry. Also to have different outlooks from people working in different industries to look at all the different aspects of strategy.
Hello. François Guez, member of the Consultative Committee for individual shareholders. My question concerns the semiconductor crisis. Your supply chain has been impacted by this crisis. Is it still an issue today? What measures are you taking to avoid in future to be faced with another crisis? Thank you.
If we look at the two years that just gone by, it's been one of the main questions and one of the major concerns that was covered or addressed by the company. I believe because there was an abundant supply, we forgot that electronic components are limited in supply in the end. This is a very complex value chain 'cause there's the design, it's already complex. There is the manufacturing. Foundries are huge plants that require much investment and require a lot of adjustments. Everything that I've described, the digitalization of our environment is accelerating, as I explained. It's exponential change. We have electronics everywhere. In cars, there's a huge increase in the number of electronic components.
The post-COVID rebound, given this acceleration of digitalization and connectivity, there's a major shortfall in components in many areas. The situation today is that this pressure is lessening when it comes to consumer products. We're not in the consumer product market. There's a very strong demand, digitalization is accelerating in the world of Internet of Things. For cars, all cars are connected. Electric car is electronics, batteries, principally, there's a lot more electronics than in traditional cars. All the objects you've seen, the growth of our connectable objects is very strong, it's growing exponentially. We have a great deal of pressure on the number of components in the supply chain. The situation is improving. What have we done and what are we doing?
I believe that our knowledge of the value chain has changed in the last two years. I'm discussing this regularly, and Pete will do this in the future, every month with our main suppliers in electronics at several levels, those who provide components, those who manufacture the components. We have looked at our relationship in more strategic manner, reflect on their innovations, our innovations, and to ensure they are aligned so that we make sure that our products will use the platforms that are being developed and are most available. We have also rationalized our offering when it comes to electronics. One of the values of Schneider is decentralization and empowerment of local teams.
We've had a lot of duplication in electronics. We got around the table and said, "We're going to sort this out and make some rational choices and streamline things and to ensure that we are a major partner for these big suppliers, and that we are going to have pressure on the supply chain in coming years." 'Cause we had one year where the demand from China was relatively low.
Of quarantine and blockage of the Chinese economy. The Chinese economy is going to start up again, and this represents a big part of the electronics sector in the world. We're progressing in this area. We've recruited a lot of skills in this area. No problem in attracting talent, because putting electronics at the service of saving energy, decarbonization, and digitalization of the environment is something that's very attractive for a lot of people in the world.
Hello, Mr. Chair. Thank you. I'd like to thank you for the exceptional growth of Schneider during your mandate. I think you've really. It's going to be a challenge to step into your shoes. I didn't determine if it was American, Australian, or Belgian, so I'd like to know what his nationality is.
If you heard me speak English, you would've known that I'm French. I can tell you, because I started learning English very late. It's a compliment you've just made to Peter, and Peter's going to answer you.
Born in Germany, and I carry the passport. Since then, I've worked in seven countries in the last 30 years. I've moved 17 times. I think our business is a very global and multi-local business, and that's where I feel at home. Thank you.
Merci. Question number two, and then we'll move to the outside.
Thank you for taking my question. If I may, I would like to speak English. Yes? Thank you. Just one question about your share buyback. First, I am aware of everything you have just said about the employee ownership plans or other incentive plans, if I am not mistaken, I have noticed that there is always a big gap between those accounts, which means that the volume of repurchase largely exceeds those needs and those reasons that you gave. There is always a large part of repurchase finished by canceling them. I mean, if there is only 20% used for those plans, there is definitely not the only reason, there are, of course, other reasons. I don't know if you would tell us more about why you do so much share buybacks, please. Thank you very much.
Hilary? You can answer in English.
Luckily. Thanks. Indeed, in terms of share buyback, actually, we've been on a pause for quite some time. I think because of the AVEVA transaction, we're actually a bit late in finishing the current share buyback plan. We announced at the end of this full year that we're still working on that plan, that EUR 1.5 billion-EUR 2 billion worth of plan. In terms of if you compare it to the dilution that's caused by the benefits that we give to our employees, either long-term compensation or participation in share plans, which is very important to us. We've found that's extremely important for employee motivation across the world. Between those, in general, we look over time to offset the dilution. Sometimes we're maybe a little bit behind, sometimes maybe ahead.
In general, on average, I would say historically, we haven't really particularly been ahead. We're a company that we also balance, obviously, with making acquisition for the future, for example, versus doing share buyback. In general, I think we try to balance that dilution, but we haven't announced any new share buyback plans that would cause us to be ahead of buying back that dilution over the last number of years.
Question number one.
Michel Couderc, actionnaire. I've noted that politicians find it difficult to understand what is going on in companies in terms of share buybacks. I would like you to explain the philosophy of your share buyback attempts, both for shareholders and perhaps for politicians and for the general public. Thank you for your answ er.
Okay. I don't know if my answer will be heard by politicians. All of this, of course, is very much in all of our public documents. Everything is done in a fully transparent manner. If we talk about the allocation of our company's cash, because that's in fact what you're talking about, what do we do with the cash we generate? The number one priority is to preserve a high quality rating. What we do is provide solutions, develop technologies. It's not taking financial risks. We always try to make sure that we pay back.
Any loans that we have taken out, we've made an acquisition for around EUR 4.7 billion for the AVEVA deal. Second thing is that we need to pay a fair dividend to our shareholders. As I mentioned in my presentation, this is the 13th year running of rising dividends with an incremental strategy and with clockwork regularity. Again, we need to make choices between share buybacks, and Hilary has just explained that every year, we are very keen to make our employees to allow our employees to benefit from an employee shareholder plan. It was interrupted by COVID and very few companies do that. 4% of our share capital is in the hands of our employees.
In order to do that, we issue shares, in order to avoid dilution, we try to balance out either beforehand or afterwards. We compensate that by through shareback, share buyback mechanisms. The other choices that we have to make are choices between the creation of the future through acquisitions or investments in the future, through acquisitions and share buybacks. Today, we have an official share buyback program, which is currently under development that was paused for a number of reasons, but we're going to be continuing in order to stabilize the number of shares while issuing shares, additional shares for our employees. Hence, the mechanism I discussed earlier. What is being said a lot, talked, a hot topic in France at the moment is sharing value, shared value.
We already have a certain number of profit-sharing mechanisms in place, and we have consistently involved our employees and compensated them for our common progress we've made together. I hope this answers your question.
I would first of all like to start by thanking you for the clarity. I've updated my software since Télémécanique and Merlin Gerin. A lot has been going on since then. You congratulated the shareholders for supporting Schneider. I would also like to congratulate you for the manner in which you have steered this ship with your team for the past 20 years also. I was at Air Liquide yesterday, and indeed, time flies.
I have seen that a number of key figures in our companies are handing over part of their power to others, which is a sign that the world is moving fast, even in boardrooms and businesses. However, my second question, I am very worried about what may happen in the South China Seas. My third question is, could there not be meetings organized for the shareholder club? Because, visiting your connected house was a very enriching experience.
Many thanks for... I don't know if the first thing you said was a question, but it's true that time flies and that business leaders change, both men and women. This is very good news, because it means that Schneider can generate within Schneider its own talents with high-level profiles.
Schneider in France has provided a number of France's biggest companies with top-level managers. Their value is acknowledged, not only in-house, but elsewhere. I'm extremely proud that Peter will be replacing me because he comes from within the company with a team. Hilary, Peter, and all of the executive committee are going to be driving the development and taking the Schneider's development to new levels, to new heights. As for the South China Seas, we can talk about the Chinese-American tension. What can I say? Our number one market is the U.S., our number two market is China, so we're in the crossfire. The world, despite sanctions and saber-rattling... In fact, exports from China to the U.S. remain very high. The supply chain remains highly interdependent and interconnected.
I personally lived in the both of these countries and other countries, too, and we need to accept our differences in a world that will be more multipolar. I think President Macron recently said that Europe needs to define its own position within these political blocks, and I would fully agree with him. What do we do at Schneider? We try to have highly autonomous operations. Our Chinese operations have their own technologies, their own R&D, their own production sites, and the U.S. operations are also freestanding.
Our principle, you know, the manner in which we empower people. I come from the bottom at Schneider. I've worked for the company for 36 years because even when I started out, I felt that I could do something valuable at my level, and that is the culture I've sought to preserve and build. In fact, our U.S. teams and our Chinese teams work very autonomously. I've forgotten your third question.
Oh, site visits. I'm sure we can probably look into that. We still have these smart connected houses with lots of new products. You can discover all of that online too. Why don't we go to this side of the room? I was here when Mr. Lachmann presented you as a general manager, a CEO, and you were walking from left to right with great ease, and I saw great potential in you because there are a number of your... Yes, I can run fast, indeed. There are a few CEOs, if the slides stop, they are lost for words. What you said was extremely interesting over all of these past few years. Of course, you received many congratulations, but no one mentioned the fact that Schneider's valuation is higher than that of General Electric's.
If we look at the, that is indeed the case, which is absolutely extraordinary. General Electric builds aircraft engines. For a company that was an industrial foundry, 40 years ago, achieving that is pretty amazing. My question is, there was research reported by Mrs. Bayard in Le Figaro that said you're probably going to be appointed as head of the French nuclear sector with Atos. Framatome kicked you out 40 years ago, and now you're back in with honors with Luc Rémont. Could you say anything more about your personal strategy or your nuclear strategy?
First of all, it's not because of Luc Rémont, because this partnership that we have set up with, in fact, is runs 10 years back, because when you work on the specifications in nuclear and develop the products that are compliant, and when you obtain certifications and so on, it takes at least 10 years. If it was purely for economic reasons, we would probably not be doing that. It's for reasons of solidarity within France's energy chain to provide energy for future generations and to contribute to electrification for decarbonization, as I described earlier. There are a number of answers to your question. It's true that we did not work so much in nuclear because it was a joint venture with Siemens.
When the joint venture was dissolved, things changed, we put our foot in the door again and tried to gain positions. We work in control systems, which are, of course, essential for safety. There's also the digital studio, which is created on the AVEVA platform, which is, of course, Schneider now. EDF is a highly demanding client in terms of security, and the requirements are extremely strict from a technical point of view. Luc Rémont is another person that we have contributed to the nuclear sector, and he has nothing to do with this decision because it was a decision taken before him. It's true that it's important in our mix to generate electricity that is low carbon or no carbon.
We are focused on decentralized energy, essentially, with micro networks, as I was explaining, on the roofs of buildings and homes, in industrial campuses. Let me just take an example. If you go to the U.S., if you go to New York City, most people land at JFK, which is the biggest airport there, and slightly aging infrastructure. Schneider is currently in charge of new power generation for the facility, the decarbonization of the entire building. It's a digitalized system for more efficiency, and it's based on, broadly based on renewable energies, which will be replacing coal and gas. That's one of the examples of what we do. In the European energy mix, of course, we don't have any natural resources for that.
Nuclear power in countries where it is acceptable, and it's something we are witnessing all over the world, should be ramping up. Now, there's in addition to the intermittent power gen, power
Generation allowed by renewables. Of course, we support low carbon. You know, the energy problem is a huge challenge. It's the challenge for our generation, and we will need every possible energy because electricity won't be everywhere, immediately green power. It's therefore essential as part of this transition, which is going to take a long time, although the climate urgency is very real. Now I have worked for 36 years at Schneider, 20 years at the helm, and I think we really need to do whatever we can to decarbonize every source of power and all of that for the duration of the transition. Meaning that our commitment, of course, our first commitment is energy efficiency. If we all consume a little bit less, it really helps because power generation essentially comes from burning something, burning uranium or other fuels.
To obtain 1 kWh, you need to burn 3 kWh at the source. If you save 1 kWh, you're saving the equivalent of 3 for carbon, in terms of carbon. The second priority is to get rid of combustion and therefore to electrify. Our priority is to produce renewable electricity and store it as close to possible to the point where it will be consumed. That has a huge benefit. It empowers us all. We don't need to wait for the state or for big business to do that. We can all work to reduce our own personal impact and produce our energy locally. I started with nuclear, which brings me to a broader equation. The energy equation is so complex that it cannot boil down to a single point.
Hello. I'm individual shareholder. It's a comment more than a question. With the exposé, in English, but we are a French company, and I'm rather disappointed.
I hear your comment, you know why we managed to succeed within Schneider? Let me finish. It is because of the people who make up this company. 94% of our revenue is outside France. We're present everywhere in France. Under my mandate, under my term of office, we developed many other activities that didn't exist in France. Smart buildings, domotics, industrial software, energy efficiency. This was not part of the company's portfolio in France.
The 94% that we do around the world, we do this with people who don't necessarily speak French. My definition of communication is h ow do I get myself understood? When our coworkers prefer to express themselves in English, they I learned English late in the day. What I'm interested in is communication. I've learned several languages and continue to learn different languages, and I will continue to be tolerant of people who speak other languages, although I prefer French. Second question.
Hello. De Solages for the Association of Individual Shareholders. It seems that you have on your lapel 2 awards, the Légion d'honneur, but can you tell us about the second award that you have on your lapel? My second question, Schneider Electric has signed a partnership with BitSight, leader in detection and management of cyber risks and to develop the capacity to identify cyber risks. The budget for cybersecurity are continually increasing. Are you sufficiently covered the risks of cyber risks because you're developing the activity of the company in softwares? What is the financial commitment of the group at the Saclay site and at the Polytechnic campus, where the ambition is to create a European champion in artificial intelligence. Are you a part of this endeavor?
Thank you. The award or the medal, the pin I have on my lapel is that of. That represents SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals, of the United Nations. Why do I have this pin on my lapel of the Sustainable Development Goals? When I was appointed, and even before I was appointed, when I started working with Henri Lachmann more than 20 years ago, we at the time were convinced, I was convinced that what was important was to define the raison d'être of the company, would really commit all of the employees of the company, and that we should have an objective that really federated us. When you are working in many different countries, you have to have a code of conduct which is clear
Shared by all. Schneider is not just Schneider, it is an ecosystem. It is a company that includes its suppliers, its partners, and its customers that are partners as well. If you have your own set of references that are independent, it can't work. We were the third French company to join the Global Compact with the United Nations to bring together companies to seek to increase the amount of ESGs in companies. I remember the first meeting, there were just three of us around the table. There was Carrefour, Suez, and Schneider. When we went to see our suppliers and said, "You have to adopt these standards." They said, "Well, but who do you represent?" Today, the network of the Global Compact is more than 1,000 companies in France.
I'm very proud to say that the French network is the leading network. There are small companies and big companies working together to progress in ESG and according to the recommendations of the Global Compact and the objectives that have been set. I was in charge of the French Global Compact for two terms of office, and that's why I have this pin on the lapel of my jacket. I was asked at the end of my mandate to be a member of the international board at the United Nations for the Global Compact. I am on this board, and I continue to represent our French Global Compact on that board and continue to promote this cause in different countries.
The Global Compact is undoubtedly the best thing that has been done to change companies because it's a coalition, but it's a coalition of people who want to work together to this goal and who need to work together. I'll give you an examples. Walmart has asked us to work with its suppliers to eliminate 1 gigaton of carbon. It's 1 customer who's asking us to talk to their suppliers to help them to improve 'cause the carbon imprint, footprint is. Their footprint is dependent on these suppliers. In pharmaceutical industry, you have competing pharmaceutical companies who have asked us to work with their suppliers to decarbonize their sector. I was ambassador of the HeForShe Executive Committee, 40% women.
It's relatively rare in technical companies, we have to be ahead in this area, we have to work with other companies, and the Global Compact is a great forum to do this. We should applaud the Global Compact and the Global Compact teams. We are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Global Compact this year, which is the leading global network. Cybersecurity. We have to be very humble, very modest because it's a marathon, but it's a long-distance run. You talked about BitSight. BitSight is one of the few companies that is an outside company that does an appraisal. They're sort of auditors in cybersecurity. They say, you know, how good your security is. It is our cyber department that has conducted this for several years with.
We were doing our self-appraisal, but in this sector, you're better off being appraised by third parties. We have improved. BitSight is one of those companies that challenge us a lot. This is something that will be never-ending effort. We have a cybersecurity service, not to do cybersecurity in the larger sense of the term, but to provide security for IoT to ensure security of different operational levels. Now, when it comes to artificial intelligence, we already have artificial intelligence in many of our products, whether it be on the edge, on sites, or whether it be in the cloud. We have done a lot of work, are doing a lot of work with universities and with the Saclay campus, and not only with Saclay campus.
In the investments we made in the last two years, we invested in several hundreds of recruitment of AI engineers to work on all the avenues for the optimization of energy. It's fascinating. There are a lot of things you can do with digitalizers in this area. So a long answer to a three-pronged question. Question number two, please.
Cantel Omot from Investir. I had a question concerning AI in products like domotique. What do you think is going to be the prospects for product portfolio and the importance that AI will have in your activity in the coming years?
A huge impact. What I presented to you earlier on and what we're doing, before talking about home automation, let's talk about the building activity. To generate efficiencies linked to the quantity of data you can accumulate and put in context. Data on its own has no impact, but data on their own or data with other components, time, location site, and the type of assets, makes it possible to manage operations efficiently. I know that this pump is connected to this command system, connected to this climate control system.
We can maximize, optimize efficiency. Why AI? Human beings are not disciplined. When people leave room, they don't necessarily switch off the lights. When we reduce production, we don't necessarily slow down the production or assembly line. Take the example of a school. A school with digitalization can gain 40% better energy consumption. You know, for instance, during the weekend, you can switch off all the systems and save a lot of energy.
The impact of all this, artificial intelligence is an essential component to learn from data. The driver artificial intelligence is well-organized data. That's what we're doing with AVEVA and all our software assets. We have masses of information, of data, that make it possible for AI to optimize processes. This is how we use, or within this context, we use this data with respect to all the rules concerning data, confidentiality of data. I'm not going to continue to give more laudable comments, but I share with what has been said and would congratulate you. If all French companies were well managed as this, maybe they didn't have the same possibilities of development, but what you have done is a model for French industry. I hope. Now, you've announced an appointment.
You announced something else, I forgot the name, I hope that you're going to celebrate this with more than just orange juice and coffee. You've made some important declarations. Another comment, you offered us a few years ago, a flashlight, an excellent product of excellent quality that was extremely effective. Just one little defect, one little fault, is that it stops all of a sudden. There's no warning that we've come to the end of the energy supply. When you're changing, you're on top of a ladder, changing a lamp, and the light goes out, you're not gonna tell me that we're responsible for an accident.
No, I hope that your successor, based on your recommendations, will do what is necessary next year, as soon as technology makes it possible, to provide us with this type of product with a safety alarm system.
Thank you. I'm not quite sure the Board of Directors will allow my successor to provide you with, torches, electric torches, but thank you, for what you have said nonetheless.
Hello, my name is Dumia. I'm 30, and I'm a shareholder for Schneider because I think you're very brave in your green transition movement. I also work with different environmentally friendly associations, and I see that Schneider wants to participate to the EACOP project, which is the last project of Total in Tanzania and the center of Africa. It's 34 million tons of CO2 emissions per year, 19 million travels from Paris to New York each year. Thousands of people will lose their land, and it is also making drinkable water difficult to access for 40 million people. The International Energy Agency, the IPCC and others say that we could not, we cannot continue having such projects. The European Union also condemned that project. 25 banks decided to leave the project, majority of very, very French companies.
I don't understand why Schneider is not giving up this project. That's my question. Secondly, I would like to turn to your successor now. Are you ready to prepare a dialogue with Stop EACOP Association, which has been working on that topic for years and have many smart arguments and really in tune with the incredible leadership of Schneider Electric in the development, environmental development transition? Thank you.
Thank you very much for your question. As you know, this is something that we have really looked into in depth for a while, and particularly in the past year. I gave you my vision of the future of energy and of Schneider's strategy, decarbonization of fossil fuels, because, of course, we also have a scenario at Schneider that's more aggressive in the sharp drop of fossil fuels. In the International Energy Agency brings us to still a very high percentage of fossil fuels by 2050, and currently, it's 82%. The world is addicted to fossil fuels, and you can't simply deprive an addict from the product. You need to work on the root cause. We are working with these industrials to help them reduce their carbon emissions.
The EACOP project was initiated more than 10 years ago. Our solutions allow the elimination of 30% carbon. Should we drop it? That's first part of my answer. More globally, do we work with these industries? Yes, because we will need these industries throughout the energy transition. This particular project, EACOP, we have, in a very conventional way and traditionally, always worked with France's energy companies. The origins of this project date back to around 10 years ago. We started receiving emails alerting us about the social and environmental risk that came with this project. We immediately reacted for a number of reasons. First, on each of the projects we work on, we closely audit the consequences you're revoking, and what we received was not what we had noted ourselves.
We therefore immediately organized a number of meetings with Total, who are the leading company of the project. Of course, it's not their project, it's the project of a number of African sovereign states. During COP27, the Africans restated their absolute right to use their natural resources. I spent an hour in a conversation with Patrick Pouyanné discussing this. All of that allowed us to generate a number of other meetings of the executive committees with lists of questions about all of the points you've mentioned. We received a lot of emails from a lot of people, and everyone seemed to be saying the same thing, so we had many questions.
For each of the elements, Total and other leaders of the project, including the companies organizing the project in Uganda and Tanzania, answered us point by point. Of course, the social implications are particularly worrisome, and we therefore called upon the services of an independent auditing company to go and examine the situation. If we look at Total, the effects of Total, of course, does have a reputation, does have ethics, does have auditing procedures. We used a third party to confirm that what you have just mentioned is not what can be witnessed in the field. I can see you nodding your head in disbelief, but we spent a lot of money and spent a lot of time in this and worked with auditors who were not interested parties.
Of course, other companies, such as Barclays, went on-site. Of course, we also have teams on-site that we have used to conduct these checks. All of these reports seem to converge to say that the figures are very different from what you have just mentioned, but the measures of mitigation and remediation implemented by the protagonists are extremely positive. We therefore decided to continue with this project. That said, as for the existence and fundamentals of these projects, you need to turn towards those who have chosen to move forward with them, the African governments and companies. I lived for a year in Africa. It was more than 20 years ago. I go there several times a year because I'm deeply attached to the development of that continent.
There are a lot of things I'm prepared to do, but I'm not prepared to decide for the Africans themselves. We could discuss this perhaps outside this room, but what I can tell you is that there are teams locally. We have a lot of people in the field over there. All of this is very much open to discussion. People don't really understand people in the field. People on-site don't really understand what right we have to challenge their legitimacy to conduct these projects. Just a minute. These are, of course, crucial conversations that we need to have. We'll need to discuss this further elsewhere, but I do not believe that we have any plans, alternative plans. If the alternative plans is to force Uganda and Tanzania to buy oil abroad, that will not solve the problem.
We are working on the electrification of our processes. We've replaced the power generators by renewable microgrids. We're working on the decarbonization of the project. We have worked very hard on the various elements that we were challenged on. We've obtained very significant, significantly different answers, and I suggest that we now stop. Point taken, we have worked on this. I have proven that we take all of these issues very seriously. Now let me tell you my belief. Yes, we'll vote in a moment. Don't worry. I strongly believe that the energy transition will be done through a transition of demand. It's not by supply. It's not by reducing supply to drive prices up to impossible levels to create extreme difficulties in people's lives. That's not the way we can do things.
In each of our usages, we need to transition demand, and that is what 95% of Schneider Electric's business is. In any case, thank you very much for your question, and we are fully aware of all of these issues that you've raised. Now brings us to the vote. I think everyone in the room seems to want to vote now.
Very well. Before proceeding to the vote, we have the final quorum. The shareholders present or represented 490,000 . That is 41% of the company's share capital. Before proceeding with the vote of the resolutions, we invite you to watch and listen to the quick film here presented.
This box that was given to you is absolutely personal. The number of votes that you represent is loaded in this device and is on the screen. You just use the three buttons: green, yellow, or red. Green is yes, yellow is abstention, and red is against. After reading each resolution, the vote will take place and it will be said that the vote is open. This is when you see a rectangle indicating the countdown of seconds that you have to vote. Once this countdown is finished, we will hear the vote is closed, and it is no longer possible to vote. The results will be shown on the screen some time just after the vote. One last information. Please switch off your mobile phones during the vote, and don't forget to give back the devices when you leave the room.
Just to remind you must not forget to validate your choice within 10 seconds, as all shareholders have had the opportunity to read the draft resolutions and the documents enabling them to cast an informed vote. Unless you request otherwise, I will not read the full text of the resolution submitted to the vote. R esolution 1: approval of the financial statements for the year 2022. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted.
R esolution 2: approval of the consolidated financial statements for the year 2022. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. R esolution 3: allocation of profit for the fiscal year and determination of the dividend. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. R esolution 4: approval of the regulated agreements governed by Article L. 225-38 and sequence of French Commercial Code. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. R esolution 5: approval of the information of the directors and corporate officers compensation paid or granted for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2022, mentioned in Article L. 22-10-9 of the French Commercial Code. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted.
R esolution 6: approval of the components of the total compensation and benefits of all types paid during the 2022 fiscal year are awarded in respect of the said fiscal year to Mr. Jean-Pascal Tricoire. The vote is opened. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 7: approval of the compensation policy for the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Jean-Pascal Tricoire, for the period from January 1st - May 3rd, 2023. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 8: approval of the compensation policy for the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Luc Erweg, for the period from May 4th - December 31st, 2023. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted.
Resolution 9: approval of the compensation policy for the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Jean-Pascal Tricoire, for the period from May fourth to December thirty-first, 2023. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 10: determination of the total annual compensation of the directors. Vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 11: approval of the director's compensation policy. Vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted.
Resolution 12: renewal of the term of office of Mr. Léo Apotheker. Vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 13: renewal of the term of office of Mr. Gregory Spierkel. Vote is open. The vote is closed. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 14: renewal of the term of office of Mr. Lip-Bu Tan. Vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 15: appointment of Mr. Abhay Parasnis as director. Vote is open.
The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 16: appointment of Mrs. Giulia Chierchia as director. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 17: opinion on the climate strategy. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 18: authorization granted to the Board of Directors to buy back company shares. Vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 19: delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to increase the capital by issuing ordinary shares of securities giving access to share capital of the company with shareholders preferential subscription right. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted.
Resolution 20: delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to increase the capital by issuing ordinary shares or securities giving access to share capital of the company without shareholders' preferential subscription right through a public offering other than those referred to Article L.411-21 of the French Monetary and Financial Code. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 21: delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to increase the capital by issuing ordinary shares of securities, giving access to share capital of the company without shareholders' preferential subscription right through an offering in accordance with Article L.411-21 of the French Monetary and Financial Code. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted.
Resolution 22: delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to increase the number of shares to be issued in the event of a capital increase with or without shareholders preferential subscription right. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 23: delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to increase the capital by issuing ordinary shares or securities giving access to share capital of the company without shareholders preferential subscription right and consideration for contributions in kind to the company. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. R esolution 24: delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to increase the capital by capitalizing additional paid in capital reserves, earnings, and others. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted.
Resolution 25: delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to undertake capital increases reserved for participants in a company savings plan without shareholders preferential subscription right. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 26: delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to undertake capital increases reserved for employees of certain non-French subsidiaries of the group, directly or via entities acting to offer those employees benefit comparable to those offered to the participants in a company savings plan without shareholders preferential subscription right. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 27: To the Board of Directors, sorry, to cancel shares of the company bought back by the company under the share buyback programs. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted.
Resolution 28: powers for formalities. The vote is open. The vote is closed. This resolution is adopted. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Ségolène, for the organization. Ladies and gentlemen, many thanks for your participation. I invite you to take note of the next AGM, which will take place on May 23rd, 2024. I hope you will be attending. My successor will decide whether or not you will be given a pocket torch or not. Let's now reassemble around drinks in the next room. Thank you very much for your continuing support.