Tech giant Samsung is investing $5 billion in environmental initiatives and programs to eliminate a large amount of emissions from its factories and operations and eliminate its direct environmental pollution by mid-century.
The world’s largest maker of home appliances, gadgets, smartphones, and memory chips from South Korea plans to eliminate carbon emissions as the negative impact on the climate has increased in recent years through the expansion of the company’s energy-intensive production lines.
Samsung hasn’t set clear long-term goals like some of its competitors, but it intends to set future goals.
As part of its plan, the largest South Korean company first intends to completely switch its overseas plants to renewable electricity within five years. At the same time, it is not yet possible to do the same with the largest production complexes in South Korea, where the company is based.
This is because the country does not yet have a developed system of clean energy, which will not allow the transfer of large plant capacities to renewable sources. Fossil fuels accounted for more than 65% of electricity generation in 2021.
In 2021, Samsung’s operations consumed 32,322 gigawatt-hours of energy, including 25,767 GWh of electricity, according to the company’s latest sustainability report. This compares to South Korea’s wind, solar and hydropower generation of 31,323 GWh in the same year, according to data compiled by BloombergNEF.
According to the report, the company’s emissions have risen in recent years due to the installation of new semiconductor production lines. Competition for renewable electricity is also likely to intensify as all of South Korea’s key conglomerates now pledge to operate using exclusively clean energy.
By 2027, local factories’ consumer electronics industry will switch to 100% renewable energy sources, Samsung said in a statement. By 2050, the company intends to transfer its semiconductor factories to environmentally friendly sources completely.
Investors and activists have long criticized Samsung for its lack of climate change action and environmental stewardship, like many other tech giants like Apple, which claims its production is already carbon neutral and requires suppliers to follow suit.