SEOUL, Korea - July 29, 2010 - Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital convergence technologies and device solutions, today announced the first year results of its sweeping PlanetFirstTM initiative, a companywide commitment to become one of the world's most environmentally friendly companies by 2013.
Outlining its progress in achieving the comprehensive sustainability goals laid out under the PlanetFirstTMinitiative, Samsung said it invested a total of 1.01 trillion Korean won (about US$865 million) in developing environmentally friendly products and building green manufacturing sites in 2009. The company has also reduced sales-normalized greenhouse emissions* from its manufacturing facilities by 31 percent and increased average energy efficiency of its new products by 16 percent.
"Over the past year, Samsung has made a global, companywide commitment to meeting and surpassing our Eco-Management 2013 goals," said Park Sangbum, senior vice president and head of the CS & Environment Center, Samsung Electronics. "We're focused on understanding the impact of everything we do and becoming a true leader in sustainable business practices."
Samsung reported its progress across four core objectives laid out under the Eco-Management 2013 initiative, which was unveiled in July 2009:
Reducing greenhouse emissions from facilities and products
- As of the first half of 2010, Samsung has reduced sales-normalized greenhouse gas emissions* at its manufacturing facilities by 31 percent from 2008 levels. This puts Samsung well on-track to exceed its target of a 50-percent reduction by 2013.
- New Samsung products are on average 16 percent more energy efficient compared with 2008 levels. With this, estimated indirect carbon emissions from newly introduced Samsung products were reduced by 9.6 million tons from January 2009 through June 2010. This reduction is equivalent to offsetting the greenhouse gases emitted in generating the electricity to power 1 million U.S. households for a year.
- As part of its commitment to transparency, Samsung is also undergoing a third-party verification of greenhouse gas emissions for 39 global manufacturing sites, to be concluded July 2010.
Expanding eco-friendly products offering
- Samsung has attained global eco-labels for 2,134 product models as of June 30, making the company No. 1 in the world for environmentally friendly products for the fourth straight year. Samsung has also already surpassed its intermediary 2010 goal of achieving Good Eco-Product** ratings for 80 percent of its product lines.
- 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.
Investing in eco-friendly R&D and manufacturing facilities
- Samsung invested a total of 1.01 trillion Korean won (about US$865 million) in environmentally friendly product development and green manufacturing sites in 2009. Of this, 570 billion won (about US$488 million) was invested in development of energy-efficient technologies, environmentally friendly materials and renewable energy projects, and 440 billion won (about US$377 million) was put into pollutant-reducing and energy-efficient manufacturing facilities.
- 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.
Building eco-management partnerships with customers and suppliers
- 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.
- To support supply partners, Samsung has created a greenhouse gas management module in its e-CIMS (environment-Chemicals Integrated Management System), and will provide information and education for partner firms on greenhouse gas management.
Looking ahead, Samsung has pledged to cut cumulative indirect greenhouse gas emissions from all products by 84 million tons over five years and invest a total of 5.4 trillion won (about US$4.28 billion) in various eco-management programs through 2013.
Samsung Electronics released its 2009 - 2010 Sustainability Report in July. For additional information, the report can be located at:
http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/citizenship/oursustainabilityreports.html
* Greenhouse Gas Emissions Normalized by Sales - Total greenhouse gas emissions are divided by annual revenue in order to provide a consistent measure of green manufacturing efficiency. (unit: tons of CO2e/100 million Korean won revenue)
** Good Eco-Product - Samsung assigns each newly developed product an eco-rating (Eco-Product, Good Eco-Product, or Premium Eco-Product) based on strict internal evaluation criteria.. In order to be considered a Good Eco-Product, products must exceed basic industry requirements, exhibit differentiating eco-friendly features and satisfy global eco-mark standards.
