• CERAWEEK
  • March 10 - 14, 2025

Barbara Frei

Schneider Electric

Executive Vice President, Industrial Automation

Barbara leads Schneider Electric’s global Industrial Automation Business and has served on the company’s Executive Committee since 2019. Barbara joined Schneider Electric in 2016 as Country President of Germany, and expanded her scope to Zone President of DACH in 2017. In 2019, she was appointed Executive Vice President, Europe Operations and a member of the Executive Committee. Barbara started her career as a development project manager for Motors and Drives at ABB Schweiz AG. She held various senior management positions in the ABB Group, including regional responsibility as Country Manager Czech Republic, Regional Manager for the Mediterranean in Italy, and leadership of the worldwide Drives Business. Barbara holds a PhD in Electrical Machines from ETH Zurich, and an MBA from IMD Lausanne.

Sessions With Barbara Frei

Tuesday, 19 March

  • 02:20pm - 03:00pm (CST) / 19/mar/2024 07:20 pm - 19/mar/2024 08:00 pm

    Different Pathways to Low Carbon

    Strategy and Business Models

    In “Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector,” published in May 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) stated that net zero by 2050 requires “nothing short of a total transformation of the energy system that underpins our economies,” and “the pathway is narrow but achievable.” Three years later, even though there has been a groundswell of net-zero commitments by countries and companies, the pathway seems narrower. Demand for hydrocarbons and the resulting GHG emissions continue to increase. Although there has been considerable progress in reducing emissions in the power sector, the progress in all other sectors—viz. transport, industry, residential and agriculture—has been very slow. What are the technologically and economically feasible pathways to reduce emissions today? Are industrial policies such as Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act  (IIJA) and the European Green Deal having an impact? What is necessary to get buy-in from investors to reward energy transition investments? What approaches are necessary to continue economic growth while flattening emissions in developing economies?