Lyra Martin Tech 09.15.2022 06:Sep AM EDT

Samsung Will Spend $5 Billion to Achieve Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050

Samsung has officially announced that it will participate in the RE100 renewable energy effort and will spend $5 billion in order to reach its goal of having net-zero carbon emissions by the year 2050.

Samsung is Pushing Forward Actions to be Carbon Negative

In a recent announcement, Samsung said that it would be participating in the RE100 project, which is an effort to persuade major corporations all around the world to jointly pledge to use only renewable sources of energy.

According to an article published by Engadget, the South Korean Electronics Corporation said that it plans to spend $5 billion over the next seven and a half years as part of its participation in the said program. Through this, it expects to see a net zero level of carbon emissions by 2050.

A year ago, 10% of Samsung's 17.4 million tons of total greenhouse gas emissions were attributed to its DX department. The company's consumer electronics operations, which comprise the manufacturing process of the company's smartphones and displays, are under the control of this division. The remainder of these million tons of emissions come from the company's semiconductor and component operations which produced 90% of its carbon output.

As a consequence of this statistic, Samsung recognizes that it must spend a large amount of labor on its chip department. As a result, the business plans to create technologies that may significantly lower the quantity of gaseous emissions generated by this sector. It aims to create a technology for alternative energy and consumption with the purpose of capturing and storing greenhouse gas emissions and transforming them into an extra energy source.

In response to the worries of its investors over the firm's put off towards engaging in matters such as renewable energy, Samsung's Kim Soo-jin, the head of its ESG, said, "We are a company that manufactures directly, so there are various, layered challenges."

However, Kim recognizes that since Samsung is a substantial technological corporation, it should participate in environmental efforts. This is also due to the fact that its involvement would have a considerable effect considering its business influence.

Microsoft's Greenhouse Output Reduction Goal 2030

Two years ago, Microsoft announced a similar objective as it aimed to reduce greenhouse gas output by 2030. In a report made by Engadget on the said year, the firm's president and vice chairperson, Brad Smith, believes that those who have the capacity to go faster and farther in terms of carbon reduction should go ahead of the curve.

Smith said that Microsoft has finally chosen to start on an ultimate vision and a radical approach to remove its carbon effect in light of the information mentioned above and the fact that 2019 was the second warmest year on record.

Microsoft cautions that such progress will take time, but it has vowed to help this effort by increasing its internal carbon price to include supplier and value chain emissions. Additionally, it has established a $1 billion climate innovation fund to encourage carbon-cutting solutions and has mandated carbon removal from supply chain partners to account for emissions fully.

Smith was critical of the earlier efforts made by Microsoft and claimed that achieving carbon neutrality is not enough of an accomplishment. According to him, achieving balance does not address issues; as a result, they have established a target to achieve negative carbon status by 2030 and a net-zero level by 2020.