As the one-year anniversary of Samsung Electronics Co.’s mid- to long-term environmental management strategy approaches, the South Korean tech giant has reported that it is on its way to achieving net zero by 2050. Last year, the company released its New Environmental Strategy, which outlined its plan to reach net zero at its Device eXperience (DX) division, covering mobile and home appliances, by 2030 and at the company level, including its chip Device Solutions (DS) division, by 2050.
Samsung has made progress in its sustainability efforts, its report showed. Last year, the company’s use of renewable energy increased by 65 percent to 8,704 gigawatt hours. The DX division reported the highest transition rate of 93 percent, while the rate stood at 23 percent at the DS division and at 31 percent companywide. In 2020, Samsung completed its transition to 100 percent renewable energy in the United States, Europe and China. The company also said it had reduced 10.16 million tons of carbon dioxide compared with business-as-usual, up 59 percent from the previous year.
Moreover, Samsung has increased its use of recycled and recyclable materials, with 98,826 tons of plastic with recycled resin being used last year at a utilization rate of 14 percent and collecting 600,502 tons of electronic waste. Samsung is aiming to expand the use of renewable resins in all its plastic products by 50 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050.
The tech giant has also joined the RE100, a global corporate initiative focused on shifting to 100 percent renewable electricity, and has promised to increase the energy efficiency of its seven biggest-selling products by 30 percent. Despite difficulties in reaching its ambitious goal due to the high energy consumption of its products, Samsung has emphasized that transitioning to eco-friendly production and management is “integral” to remain competitive and continue sustainable growth in a changing global business environment.
In 2022, Samsung maximized water reuse by improving its manufacturing processes and reuse systems, and by reusing low density waste water at the Pyeongtaek Campus, the world’s largest semiconductor facility. Last year, the total amount of reused water had gone up by 29 percent from a year ago. The company’s eco-friendly efforts last year produced a total sustainability value of 116.88 trillion won (US$88.9 billion), including a financial value of 55.65 trillion won, which rose 39 percent from a year earlier.
This year, however, the total value is forecast to sharply decline “due to the global economic recession and industry stagnation.” Despite this, Samsung said it will continue investing in environmental management activities, such as “semiconductor process gas reduction, e-waste collection and recycling, water resource preservation, and pollutant minimization.”