Samsung Electronics officially announced today its plan to commit to 100% renewable energy in the United States, Europe and China by 2020, writes Greenpeace International in a press release Tuesday.
This major commitment – the first by an electronics manufacturing company in Asia – comes after months of campaigning and global protests calling on Samsung to urgently set a clear renewable energy goal for its own operations as well as its supply chain.
“Samsung’s announcement is a major step forward for the movement to build a renewably powered future. If the company follows through with meaningful actions, it will join the ranks of innovative business leaders recognising the sense of urgency around climate change and showing a different future is still possible,“ said Jennifer Morgan, Executive Director of Greenpeace International.
Commitments
In a public statement released on its website, Samsung committed to:
Adopt 100% renewable energy in the USA, Europe and China, where the company has 17 of its 38 global manufacturing factories, offices and buildings;
Join the CDP supply chain program, which helps to identify and manage climate change risks, to lead change in its supply chain; and,
Install onsite solar and geothermal energy in Gyeonggi province, South Korea where Samsung’s key semiconductor factories are located.
The commitment precedes the launch of Samsung’s sustainability report, which will disclose further details on the plan and the steps the company will undertake.
Samsung has the largest smartphone market share globally and is one of the main suppliers of key components to other major tech brands, with 38 production sites and more than 2,000 suppliers across the world.
First in Asia
Renewable energy currently accounts for only 1% of Samsung Electronics’ total energy consumption, which amounted to 16,000GWh in 2016.
“Samsung Electronics is the first electronics manufacturing company in Asia to set a renewable energy target. This commitment could have an enormous impact in reducing the company’s massive global manufacturing footprint, and shows how critical industry participation is in reducing emissions and accelerating the transition to renewable energy. More companies should follow suit and set renewable energy targets, and governments should promote policies that enable companies to procure renewable energy easily,” said Insung Lee, IT Campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia.
“Greenpeace and the thousands who took action with us will be watching Samsung carefully to ensure it follows through on its commitments.”
Greenpeace has been campaigning on Samsung Electronics to show its leadership and commit to 100% renewable energy, following other major IT brands like Apple which committed to renewables in 2012.
Since December 2017, activists called out Samsung to “Stop Fuelling Climate Change” through a series of actions in Seoul, London, Berlin, New York and Taipei, aimed at challenging the tech giant to take immediate action and publicly commit to 100% renewables.
