LG Chem sets sustainability as core priority
An LG Chem researcher tests the properties of a newly developed biodegradable material at the company research center. Courtesy of LG Chem
LG Chem has made sustainability its core priority and is working to improve its fundamentals in all business areas.
In order to secure preemptive global ESG leadership, LG Chem raised its carbon reduction target recently and declared that it will achieve net zero by 2050.
Achieving the new target will require a total reduction of 20 million tons of carbon emissions, equivalent to the annual emissions of 8.3 million fossil fuel vehicles.
To reduce carbon, LG Chem is actively promoting the introduction of innovative processes, conversion of eco-friendly raw materials and fuels and expansion of the use of renewable energy.
To this end, by 2023, it plans to complete the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which quantitatively evaluates the environmental impact of raw materials used in product manufacturing, for all domestic and international products.
LG Chem will promote Renewable Energy 100 (RE100) at all business sites around the world. RE100 is a global initiative to convert 100 percent of electricity used by a company to renewable sources, thus facilitating the replacement of fossil fuels with alternatives such as solar and wind power.
LG Chem has secured 340GWh of renewable energy through the green premium system and the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) at both home and abroad. This is enough for about 80,000 households to use for a year.
LG Chem is also actively developing products for the virtuous cycle of waste plastic resources, such as eco-friendly post-consumer recycled (PCR) and biodegradable plastic materials.
In July 2019, it succeeded in commercial production of eco-friendly PCR white acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) for the first time in the world. Previously, ABS had disadvantages such as weakening strength and fading when recycled, and could only be made in black and gray. LG Chem enhanced the properties of recycled ABS to the same level as existing products, and developed a technology to make it white for the first time in the industry.
In addition, LG Chem has developed and supplied high-quality/high-content eco-friendly plastic with 60 percent PCR polycarbonate raw material to global IT companies, and its product lineup is continuing to expand to include ABS and polyolefin.