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21 April 2023
Greenpeace urged Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and other semiconductor companies based in East Asia to increase their efforts concerning the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, the environmental group said, Thursday, that these IT companies use too much electricity and emit greenhouse gases, and that more concrete efforts to reduce gas emissions are needed.
The group said semiconductor manufacturers are among the most electricity-hungry sectors, adding that the industry is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions because most of the electricity supplied to power grids across East Asia is generated through the burning of fossil fuels.
According to its report, Invisible Emissions, the chip industry’s emissions are rising steeply as the industry is on track to consume 286 terawatt-hours of electricity globally by 2030, higher than that of Australia’s entire electricity consumption level for 2021.
“The industry is projected to emit 86 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030, more than Portugal’s total emissions in 2021,” Greenpeace said.
“Zero semiconductor manufacturers analyzed in this report have issued climate commitments in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommendations to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
The Greenpeace report said Samsung is expected to continue increasing the amount of electricity it uses in order to produce semiconductors, but the company has been slow to increase its use of renewable energy.
“The company’s electricity consumption from semiconductor manufacturing is projected to reach 55 terawatt-hours by 2030, higher than Singapore’s national electricity consumption in 2020. However, Samsung has been slow to transition to renewable energy in South Korea,” the report said. “In 2022 nearly 75 percent of Samsung Electronics’ electricity consumption took place in South Korea. However, Samsung has not issued a 2030 climate commitment for its operations inside South Korea.”
Yang Yeon-ho, a climate and energy campaigner from Greenpeace, said Samsung needs to hasten its transition to renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“As the report analyzes that Samsung’s carbon emissions will continue to rise until 2030, the company needs to take responsibility for addressing the climate change issue and accelerate the transition to 100 percent renewable energy for its domestic operations,” Yang said.
“Without thorough medium-term planning, climate risks will grow and become increasingly difficult to control.”
Samsung has announced plans to become carbon neutral in the long term. In September 2022, the company introduced its New Environmental Strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. To that end, the company will continue to develop less-energy-consuming semiconductors and IT devices and convert 100 percent of its electricity supply to renewable resources by 2050.#
Source: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2023/04/419_349432.html