Schneider Electric’s Amel Chadli on The NEST, AI-ready infrastructure

The president of the Gulf Cluster at Schneider Electric, explains how the company is turning sustainability into measurable results and aligning with the UAE’s industrial and clean energy vision

by Neesha Salian

October 8, 2025

Schneider Electric’s Amel Chadli on The NEST, AI-ready infrastructure

Image: Supplied

Few companies have translated the global sustainability agenda into concrete, measurable outcomes as effectively as Schneider Electric. Under the leadership of Amel Chadli, president of the Gulf Cluster, the company has transformed its Dubai headquarters, The NEST, into a benchmark for energy efficiency and carbon neutrality while advancing the Gulf’s transition toward digital, resilient, and locally anchored energy systems.

Amid rapid regional industrialisation, Chadli discusses how Schneider Electric is linking technology with talent, building local capability, and rethinking the future of power and performance across the region.

The NEST is Schneider’s flagship sustainable HQ in Dubai. Beyond the certifications and labels, what concrete results has it delivered so far in terms of energy use, costs, or emissions?

The NEST is more than a new building – it is a living blueprint of Schneider Electric’s commitment to sustainability, innovation, and operational excellence. Beyond its targeted LEED ID+C Platinum, and WELL Equity certifications as well as the recently achieved WiredScore SmartScore Platinum certification, The NEST, designed on four main pillars: Sustainability, People-centricity, Resilience, and Efficiency, offers an energy-efficient environment that is deeply supportive of occupant health, comfort, and productivity. It has already delivered tangible results that underscore its role as a model for future-ready workspaces.

The NEST reached carbon-neutral status within just three months of opening, setting a new benchmark for sustainable commercial spaces in the region.
• Energy efficiency gains: By embedding Schneider Electric’s own EcoStruxure technologies – including Building Operation, Power Monitoring Expert, and Planon – the building has reduced energy consumption by 37 per cent compared to the previous Dubai office.
• Emissions reduction: These energy savings translate into an annual reduction of approximately 572 metric tonnes of CO₂, equivalent to the electricity usage of 77 homes in the UAE. The building is on track to exceed 700 tCO₂e/year in emissions reduction by 2026; equivalent to planting 25,000 trees.
• Operational performance: The NEST anticipates a 30 per cent boost in operational efficiency, driven by AI-powered HVAC systems, occupancy analytics, and automated workflows for facility management.
• Onsite renewable energy: With a target of 47 per cent onsite renewable sourcing, The NEST is actively contributing to the UAE’s Net Zero by 2050 initiative.
• People-centric design: The building integrates daylight harvesting, indoor air quality monitoring, and smart meeting room technologies to enhance employee wellbeing and productivity

When customers come to the NEST, how do you move the conversation from a demo to an actual rollout across their operations?

When customers visit The NEST, they don’t just see a showcase – they see their own future of operations. We start by immersing them in real, tangible demonstrations of how digital energy, automation, and AI-driven platforms perform in practice. Once that spark has been lit, the next step is collaborative – we sit with them to map those solutions against their priorities – whether that is reducing energy costs, improving resilience, or achieving sustainability targets.

Our first-of-its-kind Global Innovation Hub in the Gulf region joins more than 100 such experiential spaces worldwide, offering an immersive walk-through of our technology solutions. A digital twin technology-powered dashboard highlights real-time occupancy in The NEST, as well as which areas of the building are most congested, and how much energy is being consumed in each space.

Featuring IoT-enabled sensors, the interactive environment allows visitors to explore Schneider Electric’s technologies in real-world applications across homes, offices, industrial environments, and data centers.

In the Gulf, cooling demand is massive and building systems are often fragmented. Where are you seeing the biggest roadblocks to sustainable building adoption, cost, regulation, or skills? And if you could fix just one of those tomorrow, which would unlock the fastest progress?

When considering sustainable building adoption in the Gulf’s high cooling demand environment, Schneider Electric sees cost, regulation, and skills as key challenges.

Cost remains the biggest barrier, with high upfront investments in advanced, integrated cooling and building management technologies slowing uptake despite their proven long-term savings. Our focus is on driving down these barriers through scalable, modular solutions and innovative financing models that unlock value from day one.

Regulatory frameworks are advancing but still uneven across the region. Schneider Electric partners closely with governments and regulators to accelerate standards for energy efficiency and smart building integration.

Skills gaps in sustainable building design and operation are also significant, and to be expected for a young and rapidly growing region. We invest in training and digital tools to upskill local talent, enabling successful deployments and long-term value realisation. If one lever could be improved tomorrow, it would be lowering the cost barrier through technology innovation and partnerships. That would have the greatest impact in making sustainable cooling and building automation accessible at scale and accelerating the Gulf’s energy transition.

Schneider just opened a new factory in Dubai and is partnering on Emirati talent development. How do you balance investing in local manufacturing and people with pushing digital services like EcoStruxure and AI?

At Schneider Electric, investing in local manufacturing and people is perfectly aligned with accelerating digital transformation across the Gulf. Our new AI-ready data center manufacturing facility in Sharjah physically roots us in the region, supporting the UAE’s “Make it in the Emirates” vision and advancing supply chain resilience, while creating valuable opportunities for Emirati talent.

Through our Global Innovation Hub at The NEST and training centres, we are equipping local professionals with the skills to lead the region’s energy transition.

At the inauguration of The NEST in May, Schneider Electric announced an Dhs100m education initiative focused on upskilling the next generation of talent in the UAE with the tools and experiences they need to lead in the future.

In line with this announcement, Schneider Electric and DP World collaborated to offer leadership and talent development programs for Emirati youth, including the Future Sustainability Leaders Program and the Talent Exchange Program. Such efforts nurture the UAE’s next generation of leaders in technology and sustainability, aligning with the shared commitment of both entities to Emiratisation and the UAE’s sustainable growth vision.

This investment in human capital amplifies the impact of our digital platforms like EcoStruxure and AI-driven management solutions, ensuring that customers don’t just deploy cutting-edge technology but have the expertise to maximise its value.

Local manufacturing, talent development, and advanced digital services are interconnected pillars of our strategy to enable sustainable, resilient, and future-ready infrastructure in the Gulf.

What are you doing differently in the Gulf compared with, say, Europe or Asia to make that mix work?

In the Gulf, we tailor our approach to localise manufacturing, talent development, and digital services to fit the region’s unique opportunities.

Especially in the UAE, our initiatives explicitly support government-led industrialisation and energy transition programs like the “Make it in the Emirates” strategy. This means our investments are coordinated with national goals, creating long-term ecosystem impact.

Schneider Electric is among the most local of global companies in the region, and we work to create a diverse and equitable talent ecosystem that promotes innovation and addresses local challenges.

While manufacturing in Europe and Asia often focuses on cost efficiency or export, in the Gulf it is a cornerstone of sovereign capability-building and supply chain resilience, critical given the geopolitical dynamics and the push for economic diversification.

Data centres, industry, and buildings all depend on resilient power. What changes in regulation or policy would most help accelerate grid modernisation in the GCC?

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) 2025 report The Future of Electricity in the Middle East and North Africa calls for global grid investments to double by 2030. For the GCC, this means increasing budget allocations for grid modernization and expansion, prioritising both new infrastructure and digital upgrades.

Permitting timelines average seven–10 years, but to meet climate targets, they must drop below three years. The GCC can accelerate progress by fast-tracking permits and harmonising cross-border approvals for infrastructure projects, reducing bottlenecks and expediting renewables integration.

Policies should also mandate the adoption of digital grid platforms, automation, advanced metering, and real-time monitoring.

Deploying these technologies can cut outages by up to 40 per cent and speed up interconnection by 25 per cent, while boosting renewables and resilience.

With average temperatures in MENA rising at more than twice the global rate and electricity demand projected to surge 50 per cent by 2035, regulators should also establish frameworks for inter-GCC power trading and harmonisation to improve resilience and cost-efficiency across borders.

Are customers here showing interest in outcome-based models — where you guarantee performance rather than just selling equipment?

Yes, there is strong and growing interest from customers in outcome-based models where performance is contractually guaranteed. Rather than simply purchasing equipment, customers today want proven, measurable improvements in efficiency, sustainability, and risk reduction.

Our three-year strategy now places outcome-based services at its core, with more customers requesting models that tie compensation to delivered results such as energy savings, uptime, or emissions reduction — not just asset sales.

This trend is accelerating as organisations push for sustainability and operational excellence targets, making performance guarantees and outcome-based partnerships a preferred model for Schneider Electric’s most forward-looking customers.