Hansae installs solar panels in overseas facilities for carbon neutrality

[Photo provided by Hansae]

South Korean apparel manufacturer Hansae Co. said on Wednesday that it has been implementing carbon neutrality by installing solar panels in its overseas operations in Nicaragua and Myanmar.

In October, Hansae installed solar panels for the first time in its warehouse facility in Nicaragua, which allowed the company to replace 16 percent of its total electricity consumption with solar energy in November and 18 percent in December. Until February of this year, the amount of electricity supplied by solar power accounted for about 20 percent of the company’s total power consumption.

In January of this year, Hansae installed solar panels at its newly established factory in Myanmar. The company was able to generate 50 megawatt hour of electricity from solar power in February, which accounts for 75 percent of the local operation’s total electricity consumption.

Hansae said it has been making various efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as replacing the lighting in its production facilities with LED lights and introducing a water-cooling system to regulate the temperature in the workplace instead of using air conditioning.

These eco-friendly management activities have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 1,722 tons at its overseas sewing factories last year and the purchase of electricity and water usage have also significantly decreased.

“We are expanding the production of solar energy with the goal of reducing total carbon emissions by 25 percent by 2029,” said Hansae Chief Executive Officer Kim Ik-whan. “We have consistently achieved more than our target every year and will become a global eco-friendly fashion company that actively responds to the climate crisis through continuous monitoring.”

Hansae, founded in 1982 by Kim Dong-nyung, chairman of Hansae Yes24 Holdings Co., operates in nine countries around the world with 21 entities and 10 offices.