UMC Pledges Net Zero Emissions by 2050
June 01 2021 - 2:00AM
Business Wire
First Semiconductor Foundry to Commit Net
Zero, not only Joining RE100 but also Driving Supply Chain
to Support
United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303)
(“UMC”) today announced its pledge to reach net zero carbon
emissions by 2050 and to take concrete steps to Net Zero Action
as the first semiconductor foundry globally. UMC is ardently
responding to the Paris Climate Agreement goal and pursuing efforts
to limit the global warming not exceeding 1.5°C. In the meantime,
UMC has obtained admission into RE100, becoming the second
semiconductor wafer foundry in this initiative, and committed to
use 100% renewable energy by 2050 by setting progressive
goals of 15% by 2025 and 30% by 2030. Additionally, UMC is teaming
up with more than 500 suppliers, including Applied Materials, Inc
(AMAT), Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL), and Photonics DNP
Semiconductor Mask Corp. (PDMC), in cutting carbon emissions
with the goal of a 20% reduction and raising renewable
energy to 20% of total power consumption by 2030 in UMC
supply chain. Together with its suppliers, UMC aims to build a
low-carbon and sustainable supply chain.
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UMC is joining RE100 (Graphic: Business
Wire)
To reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, UMC has three
resolutions to cover direct emissions from fab operations (Scope
1), indirect emissions from energy consumption (Scope 2), and
indirect emissions from value chain (Scope 3). The three
resolutions are:
- Persistent and proactive carbon
emission reduction: Through continually developing
advanced foundry process technologies, enhancing productivity and
improving energy efficiency, UMC is able to minimize carbon
emissions in both manufacturing stage of wafers and using stage of
IC end products.
- 100% renewable energy: A
3-stage objective of 15% by 2025, 30% by 2030, and 100% by 2050 is
set to substantially increase the proportion of consuming renewable
energy, UMC will also invite its value chain to support the
low-carbon energy transition.
- Investment in net-zero
technologies: UMC commits to invest in net zero
emissions technologies and participate in Carbon Offset Projects to
remove and offset carbon emissions that are inevitable or still
subject to technical restrictions.
Sam Kimmins, Head of RE100, The Climate Group said: “I am
delighted to welcome UMC to RE100. By committing to 100% renewable
electricity by 2050, UMC joins over 300 of the world’s leading
businesses committed to driving market change. This sends a
powerful message that renewable electricity makes good business
sense, and we encourage others to follow.”
SC Chien, UMC co-president and Chief Sustainability Officer
(CSO), stated: “Climate change is the single biggest threat to our
planet’s sustainability. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we still
make efforts to fight climate change, which is why we are able to
unveil our pledge to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 just ahead
of World Environment Day on June 5. As a global citizen, we are
doing our part to build sustainable living for mankind.”
UMC established the Corporate Sustainability Committee in 2008,
leading the industry to systematically promote corporate
governance, environmental protection and social participation. And
since then, UMC has been listed as a global index component of the
Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for 13 consecutive years. In
response to greater level of concerns about ESG governance, UMC
established the ESG Steering Committee in 2020 Q4 to strengthen ESG
governance within existing corporate structure. Two co-presidents
are heading the committee as chairs and all management team members
are involved in. A CSO, Chief Sustainability Officer, is also
appointed. Furthermore, UMC has issued green bonds for the first
time in early April 2021 to promote ESG. The funds raised are
mainly used for projects such as the construction of renewable
energy systems, the improvement of equipment energy efficiency, and
the prevention and control of manufacturing process pollutions.
UMC’s practices on climate change governance are also in line with
the international TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial
Disclosures) initiative. In May 2021, UMC led its global wafer
foundry peers to pass the “TCFD Third-Party performance
assessment,” and was rated as the highest “pioneer level” by the
inspection agency SGS Taiwan Ltd., endorsing that the climate
change risk assessment system promoted by UMC and associated
financial disclosure data are highly credible and transparent,
which are fully in compliance with stakeholders' expectations.
UMC has consistently upheld the concept of “Green Production,”
and has implemented energy and resource reduction plans since 2010,
including “Project 333” (from 2010 to 2012),” Project 369+”
(2013–2020) and “Green 2020” (2016–2020). As of 2020, total carbon
reductions reached 12.26 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent
(CO2e), equal to 8.17 million hectares of forest annual carbon
absorption. On the other hand, UMC is also working vigorously with
its suppliers to make sustainability a reality. In 2017, UMC
introduced the “Triple-R League” to promote Reducing, Reusing and
Recycling with supply chain partners.
Over the past three years, 39 suppliers have joined the initiative
and together they made remarkable achievements - the carbon
reductions efforts made by this project were about 4.09 million
tons, equal to 27,000 hectares of forest annual carbon
absorption.
Note: the factor of yearly forest carbon absorption is reference
to Taiwan EPA, which is 15 tonnes per hectare.
About RE100
RE100 is a global initiative bringing together the world’s most
influential businesses committed to 100% renewable power. Led by
international non-profit the Climate Group in partnership with CDP,
the group has a total revenue of over US$6.6 trillion and operate
in a diverse range of sectors. Together, they send a powerful
signal to policymakers and investors to accelerate the transition
to a clean economy.
About UMC
UMC (NYSE: UMC, TWSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor
foundry. The company provides high quality IC production with a
focus on both logic and specialty technologies to serve every major
sector of the electronics industry. UMC’s comprehensive technology
and manufacturing solutions include logic/RF, embedded high
voltage, embedded flash, RFSOI/BCD and IATF-16949 automotive
manufacturing certification for all its manufacturing facilities.
UMC operates 12 fabs that are strategically located throughout Asia
with a maximum capacity of more than 750,000 8-inch equivalent
wafers per month. The company employs approximately 19,500 people
worldwide, with offices in Taiwan, China, United States, Europe,
Japan, Korea and Singapore. For more information, please visit:
https://www.umc.com.
Note from UMC Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are
forward-looking within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities
laws, including statements about introduction of new services and
technologies, future outsourcing, competition, wafer capacity,
business relationships and market conditions. Investors are
cautioned that actual events and results could differ materially
from these statements as a result of a variety of factors,
including conditions in the overall semiconductor market and
economy; acceptance and demand for products from UMC; and
technological and development risks. Further information regarding
these and other risks is included in UMC’s filings with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission. UMC does not undertake any
obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise, except as required
under applicable law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210531005337/en/
Media UMC Corporate Communications Jenny Yeh
+886-3-578-2258 ext. 31752 jenny_yeh@umc.com
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