LG Electronics joins RE100 to go net zero by 2050

LG Electronics plays a video created by the UN Environment Program raising awareness on plastic pollution on a digital billboard in Times Square to mark World Environment Day, in New York, Monday. (LG Electronics)

LG Electronics announced Monday it has joined RE100 initiative to go net zero by 2050.

The RE100 initiative, introduced by The Climate Group in partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project in 2014, sets a 2050 target for using 100 percent renewable electricity. Global tech giants such as Samsung Electronics, Apple, TSMC and Sony have already joined the initiative.

LG Electronics said it will gradually increase the percentage of renewable electricity usage to 60 percent by 2030, and then to 90 percent by 2040.

To achieve these goals, LG said it will not only be utilizing its high performance solar panels already installed at worksites, but also purchase renewable energy certificates, arrange power purchase agreements and consider Green Premium, an electricity purchasing program operated by Korea Electric Power Corporation.

LG Electronics is already working together with GS EPS to build a solar panel plant at LG’s Smart Park factory in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, for electricity supply.

While the construction is expected to complete in 2025, some parts of the plant has already begun operation, the company said. LG and GS signed an off-grid direct power purchase agreement last year.

LG’s domestic and foreign offices and factories -- such as Magok LG Science Park in Seoul; its US headquarters in New Jersey; as well as its appliance manufacturing plants in Noida, India and Rayong, Thailand -- consume electricity generated from its own solar panels installed on rooftops, the company added.

LG said it will speed up the transition for renewable energy and also ramp up efforts to cut down carbon emissions. The transition to renewable energy will help the company reduce the indirect greenhouse gas emissions as well, supporting its carbon-neutral goal to go cut down direct and indirect emissions to 0 by 2030.

“We will carry out various means for 100 percent transition to renewable energy and go net zero, to achieve our ESG vision of making better life for all,” LG Electronics Chief Strategy Officer Lee Sam-soo said.

Marking the World Environment Day on Monday, LG is playing the video created by UN Environment Program raising awareness on plastic pollution, on its digital billboards in Time Square New York and Piccadilly Circus in London, the company said.

By Jo He-rim(herim@heraldcorp.com)