Asian chip makers must cut soaring emissions: Greenpeace

Green Peace

The energy required to make chips for electronics, used in everything from smartphones to AI hardware and cars, will skyrocket this decade, Greenpeace said on Thursday.

This requires major firms to commit to seriously cutting emissions, the activist environmental NGO said. The global semiconductor manufacturing industry is projected to emit 86 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030 -- more than double Portugal's total emissions in 2021 -- Greenpeace said in a new report.

The group flagged high electricity consumption by semiconductor manufacturers as one of the major reasons behind rising emissions from the global electronics industry.

Its report focused on companies with operations in East Asia, home to major global semiconductor manufacturers that include Apple chip supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics, South Korea's largest chipmaker.

Electricity grids in East Asia are highly dependent on natural gas and coal-fired power generation, Greenpeace said. None of the companies analysed in the report has climate commitments in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommendations to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, nor to adopt 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, the report said.

"Most electronics industry suppliers studied have set long-term targets for carbon reduction, but their timelines do not reflect the level of ambition that is necessary in the face of catastrophic climate change," it said.

Greenpeace said TSMC's electricity consumption was projected to grow the most among all the semiconductor manufacturers studied -- 267 percent by 2030, when it will consume as much power as roughly a quarter of Taiwan's population.

Samsung Electronics has not made firm 2030 climate commitments for its South Korea operations, Greenpeace said, despite 75 percent of its electricity consumption happening on home soil.

Samsung announced last year a commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions across all global operations by 2050.

"We are committed to achieving our goal announced last year and will continue to share our progress with various stakeholders and listen to their feedback," the company said in a statement when contacted for comment about the Greenpeace report.

Emissions from South Korea's semiconductor manufacturing industry are projected to rise due in large part to Samsung's "continued emissions growth," Greenpeace said.

Samsung will use more electricity to make chips in 2030 than all of Singapore did in 2020, the group said. (AFP)