Samsung’s PlanetFirst Reduces GHG’s by 31%
Original Source: http://www.sustainablelifemedia.com
Author: Thomas Miner
Original Publication Date: July 30, 2010
July 30, 2010 – Samsung’sPlanetFirst initiative, a program instituted to make Samsung one of the world’s most sustainable companies by 2013, recently turned one year-old. In that first year, the company spent over $800 million on the program and reduced normalized GHG emissions by 31% from 2008 levels.
In addition to reducing company-wide GHG emissions by 31%,Samsung has increased the average energy efficiency of new products by 16% over 2008 levels.
The company reported their progress in the framework laid out in their Eco-Management 2013 initiative, based around 4 core objectives: reducing greenhouse emissions from facilities and products, expandingeco-friendly products offering, investing in eco-friendly R&D and manufacturing facilities and building eco-management partnerships with customers and suppliers.
Highlights of the achievements include:
- Samsung collected and recycled a total of 240,000 tons of discarded electronics products across 60 countries in 2009. In April 2010, Samsung also registered as an e-Steward Enterprise, meeting the rigorous recycling and e-waste materials management standards of the Basel Action Network, a U.S. non-governmental organization.
- Samsung also announced plans in May to invest a total of 6 trillion won (about US$5.1 billion) through 2020 in the development of its solar cell business, as part of a new focus on renewable energy.
- In 2009, Samsung completed a greenhouse gas inventory encompassing 107 partner companies supplying its LCD Business. It will expand the inventory to include all suppliers in South Korea this year, and to its more than 4,000 global suppliers by 2013, establishing a comprehensive carbon management system for its supply chain.
