Samsung leads in green management

Emission output slashed by 31 percent in 1st year

By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff reporter

Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that it had cut its carbon emissions by 31 percent in June from the end of 2008.

In a statement released by the company to mark the first anniversary of its green management strategy, Samsung said that it has improved its energy efficiency by 16 percent on average during the same period, which cut carbon emissions by 9.6 million tons between January and July in 2009.

It added that the reduction is the equivalent, of planting 3.5 billion pine trees, or of the amount of green house gases that are generated by 1 million U.S. households per year.

Samsung had earlier unveiled its four key strategies to boost green management ― cutting carbon emissions, expanding eco tech-embedded product lineups, investing to build green operations, and strengthening partnerships with suppliers for green management.

According to the company, its liquid crystal display (LCD) business got approval from the United Nation’s clean development mechanism or CDM, securing 7.7 million tons in the emissions trading scheme (ETS).

"CDM business has still been regarded as risky due to the lack of preparation. Samsung, however, is trying to link the greenhouse reduction to future business," a representative at the company's LCD complex in Tangjeong, South Chungcheong Province, said, asking not to be identified.

CDM is a scheme designed to encourage governments of developed nations and companies to cut greenhouse gas emissions by investing money in eco-friendly projects and to get credit for cutbacks.

"Samsung sees a drastic external growth in businesses over the next decades. To actively respond with the rising calls for green initiatives, Samsung will apply advanced technologies and stricter guidelines to our manufacturing facilities to cut carbon emissions, more," said Leonor Lee, a Samsung spokeswoman.

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have been taking the lead in industry efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions following the Lee Myung-bak administration's announcement of its green vision to reduce greenhouse gases by 30 percent by 2020.

Samsung is the world's top vendor of computer memory chips and flat-screens, which are used for everything from handsets to televisions. Its core businesses are labor-focused and manufacturing-heavy, which is forcing the company to come up with eco-friendly measures.

Specifically, it runs an LCD complex in Tangjeong, and operates semiconductor lines in Giheung, Hwaseong and Onyang.

Korea, which hopes to shift its economy toward the competitive services sector, is still not required to commit to reductions under the UN’s Kyoto Protocol, which calls for developed nations to make carbon reductions in the next five years.

But President Lee said the country will cut 569 million tons of greenhouse gases over the next decade, which is equal to 70 percent of the projected 813 million tons that it would produce in 2020 but with no major changes to current development schemes.

The Korean economy still depends heavily on exports due to its manufacturing-focused economic structure.

Green investment

In a statement, Samsung said it has invested a total of 1.01 trillion won on developing eco-friendly products and build better eco-systems at its local facilities.

Of the amount, 570 billion won was used to enhance energy efficiency and develop renewable energy sources, while the remaining 440 billion won went to buying related equipment, the company said.

Samsung has been the world’s top manufacturing company over the last four years in terms of its number of eco-products.

Meanwhile, it recycled 240,000 tons in 60 countries outside the peninsula, last year and the voluntary recycling program called the "Samsung Recycling Direct" was expanded to Canada from the United States.

"Samsung will expand the so-called 'greenhouse inventory construction' projects to all our 960 domestic parts suppliers by the end of this year," Samsung's Lee said.

Last year, Samsung was listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index or DJSI after getting credits for its years-long efforts for green management.

But the spokeswoman was unsure whether the government's plans to introduce the "cap-and-trade" act ― setting absolute volume limits on emissions as part of the drive for greener policies ― will affect Samsung’s sustainable growth.

"We will see what happens," she said.

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