Ten new projects selected by the Rexel Foundation Executive Committee

The Executive Committee of the Rexel Foundation for a better energy future met on May 28, 2015 in order to review 2014 and determine the courses of action for 2015/2016.

The main decisions taken and courses of action adopted by the Committee are as follows:

• Dan Esty, a Professor at Yale University and a major voice on climate change, has joined the Executive Committee (see the press release). Amélie André, a member of the Rexel Group Sustainable Development Division, has been appointed as General Secretary.
• The Foundation has stepped up its involvement in community projects and social innovation, and expanded its actions through three programs: (1) collaborative projects, (2) socially innovative projects, and (3) knowledge and skills.
• The Foundation is expanding its work in Asia and South East Asia, in particular by setting up a sister platform for the social innovation platform, which was created in 2014 in order to support social entrepreneurship in France.
• The Foundation will increase the involvement of its branches and its staff in projects.

Ten projects were chosen to facilitate universal access to energy efficiency, combat fuel poverty, assist with vocational training, raise household awareness regarding energy transition, improve stakeholder understanding and encourage social innovation in the field of energy:

1. Raise awareness among and provide training to high school students in the technical and industrial sectors, in partnership with the Teknik Foundation, which is a branch of the Agir contre l’Exclusion Foundation (“FACE”), and the French Education Minister, with the assistance of around fifty Rexel France employees, who will provide skills mentoring.
2. Joint design of teaching modules led by Schneider Electric and Rexel Quality Trading, a subsidiary of the Group in Thailand, for the training of electricians.
3. Support and assistance for civic “energy transition” services for 20 young people from underprivileged neighborhoods, in partnership with the association Unis-Cité and with the assistance of Rexel France employees, who will raise these young people’s awareness of and train them in energy efficiency solutions.
4. Electrical equipment for a primary school in China through a local social enterprise, Pionovasion, with the assistance of Rexel Asia Pacific.
5. Support for the Europe Tomorrow program, the remit of which is to identify and promote social innovations in the field of energy in Europe: circular economy stakeholders, renewable energy cooperatives, eco-villages, etc.
6. Financial support and skills-based sponsorship for new Rexel Foundation platform innovations: development of new economic models based on bill payment donations, assistance with the promotion of self-build guides for solar concentrators, etc.
7. The creation, in Asia, of a sister platform for the social innovation platform set up in France in 2014, with the assistance of Rexel employees from the Asia Pacific area.
8. Development of knowledge and raising awareness of energy efficiency among all stakeholders via videoconferences and workshops jointly organized with the United Nations Foundation.
9. Provision of grants to three French high school students who won an Open Competition for the Electronics Professions, to enable them to continue their higher education.
10. Support for the Electricians Without Borders association in order to meet the challenge of rebuilding the energy infrastructure in Nepal after the earthquake and, in particular, the installation of 3,000 lighting kits for families who are rehoused in villages and the installation of over a hundred public lighting facilities.