On November 3, 2022, the International Semiconductor Industry Association (SEMI) announced the establishment of the Global Semiconductor Climate Alliance (SCC). At present, more than 60 founding enterprise members across the semiconductor value chain have responded and participated together, hoping to accelerate the pace of reducing greenhouse gas emissions through implementing the purpose of the alliance and the industrial ecosystem.
SEMI is an industry association serving the global electronic manufacturing and design supply chain. It is established by more than 60 semiconductor founding member companies. James Amano, senior director of SEMI International Standards Department, told EE Times, a sister platform of International E-Commerce, that in recent years, sustainable development has become the focus of the industry and SEMI 2500 members. Although many members have their own sustainable development initiatives, SCC focuses on the voice of all members, not just the voice of individuals.
Amano said that the SCC project will be jointly launched by SEMI member companies in 2021. SCC focuses on non climate related environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Specifically, SCC includes three key points: collaboration, transparency, and goals. SCC will help member enterprises cooperate in common methods, technological innovation and communication channels to continuously reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The transparency of SCC is reflected in the form of annual public reports on progress, including the disclosure of emission report data of scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3.
Amano pointed out that their goal is to set short-term and long-term decarbonization targets, and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. All founding members of SCC support the Paris Agreement and promote the implementation of relevant agreements on the 1.5 ℃ goal oriented transformation path. 'Our fundamental goal is to improve and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the semiconductor industry,' he added.
Sustainable development is always closely related to energy conservation and emission reduction. In a sense, low-power and high-efficient power management is also helping enterprises achieve sustainable development goals. On November 10-11, 2022, AspenCore will hold the 'IIC Shenzhen - 2022 International Integrated Circuit Exhibition and Seminar' at Shenzhen Greater China Trade Center, and the '24th High Efficiency Power Management and Power Devices Forum' will be held at the same time. At that time, speakers from Innosico, Nanochip Microelectronics, Tektronics, Zhuhai Gallium Future Technology, COMSOL and other enterprises made wonderful speeches around the themes of efficient power management chip, SiC, GaN and so on. Click here to register.
In the view of different member companies, the realization of SCC goals has different meanings. For example, for wafer fabs, promoting SCC can help them achieve their energy saving goals. In addition, sustainable development will also affect the types and sources of materials, because the core issue is greenhouse gas emissions.
SCC will work to help members of the organization address Scope 1 emissions. Scope 1 refers to direct emissions, i.e. direct greenhouse gas emissions from fuel burning activities and physical and chemical production processes directly controlled by enterprises; The emissions in scope 2 are indirect emissions, which are greenhouse gas emissions generated by enterprises' outsourcing energy, including electricity, heat, steam and cold air; Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions from upstream and downstream activities of the value chain, covering a wide range of upstream and downstream activities.
Amano believes that Scope 3 emissions are the biggest challenge for most supply chains. Scope 3 emissions come from a variety of sources, such as the production and transportation of materials, waste disposal, commuting of employees and the use of the company's own vehicles. It is considered to be one of the key issues for sustainable development in the future.
He also said that SCC would seek cooperation with other associations, non-governmental organizations and the investment community. 'We need everyone to participate, which will drive the whole value chain forward. The collaborative nature of SCC will mean that all participants can benefit from shared intelligence and practices.'
The founding member companies of SCC such as Micron Technology have increased their attention to sustainable development. Micron will release a progress report on its ESG priority milestones every year. In addition to Micron, Applied Materials also released its annual sustainable development report. Amano revealed that companies focusing on sustainable development have made progress in reducing emissions accumulated in the past decade.
Schneider Electric is also a founding member company of SCC, which attaches great importance to the sustainability of the entire ecosystem. At the recent infrastructure/structure meeting held in Toronto, Canada, Carsten Baumann, the director of Schneider Electric's strategic planning, said that sustainable development is no longer 'good ownership', but more 'must have'.
Due to the challenges faced by the current supply chain, long-term sustainable development must address the complexity of the supplier ecosystem and pay attention to transparency. Schneider released a quarterly scorecard (2021-2025 Schneider Electric Sustainable Development Impact Index (SSI) plan). As part of the company's commitment to sustainable development, Schneider also listed the use of electronic materials, water and electricity, including the use of the entire manufacturing industry.
The research of KPMG shows that enterprises are taking practical actions to measure and reduce adverse impacts on the environment. The study also shows that sustainable business practices are increasingly seen as corporate obligations and are part of the overall ESG strategy.
本文翻译自国际电子商情姊妹平台EE Times US，原文标题：Chip Sustainability Efforts Get Their Own Consortium