Green Samsung – Latest PlanetFirst™ Milestones

Samsung’s Latest Milestones in its PlanetFirst™ Initiative to Become Leading Eco-friendly Company by 2013

The environment has always been a priority for Samsung Electronics, so it’s ‘natural’ that Samsung’s PlanetFirst™ initiative is starting to see its fruits. PlanetFirst™ is Samsung’s company-wide commitment to become one of the world’s most environmentally friendly companies by 2013.

In order to make this commitment a reality, Samsung targeted four specific areas: reducing greenhouse emissions, offering more eco-friendly products, building eco-management partnerships around the world, and investing in eco-friendly R&D design facilities. Obviously, this is a huge project, but we are proud to share some of the outcomes.

• 38% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing facilities between 2008 and 2011.
• 2,210 Samsung products with global eco-labels making the company No. 1 in the world for environmentally friendly products for the fifth straight year in 2010.
• 1.4 billion USD additionally invested in environmentally friendly product development and green manufacturing sites in 2010.

“Samsung continues striving to meet the global, companywide commitment laid out in 2009 under our Eco-Management 2013 initiative. We’re focused on instilling an eco-management mindset in all employees in order to become a true leader in sustainable business practices.”

– Park Sangbum, Senior Vice President and Head of the CS & Environment Center

Here are the specifics:

Reducing greenhouse emissions from facilities and products

• As of the first half of 2011, Samsung has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions at its manufacturing facilities by 4.58 tons per 100 million won, equivalent to a sales-normalized* cut of 38 percent from 2008 levels. This puts Samsung on-track to exceed its target of a 50-percent reduction by 2013.
• New Samsung products are on average 18.5 percent more energy efficient compared with 2008 levels. With this, estimated indirect carbon emissions from newly introduced Samsung products were reduced by 22.89 million tons from January 2009 through June 2011. This reduction is equivalent to offsetting the greenhouse gases emitted in generating the electricity to power 2.6 million U.S. households for a year.
• In addition to carbon emissions inventorying for Samsung Electronics manufacturing sites, the company has established a system to track emissions of partner and supplier firms globally as well as indirect emissions generated by employee air travel.
• Earlier this year, Samsung received the Energy Management System certification (EnMS) for its Tangjeong Display City, and in July acquired ISO 50001 certification for its “Smart City” initiative in Gumi, Korea.

Expanding eco-friendly products 

• Samsung has attained global eco-labels for 2,210 product models as of the end of 2010, making the company No. 1 in the world for environmentally friendly products for the fifth straight year. Additionally, Samsung achieved Good Eco-Product** ratings for 90 percent of its product lines in 2010, surpassing its intermediary goal.
• In recognition of its efforts, Samsung received six Eco-Design honors at the prestigious International Consumer Electronics Show 2011 Innovation Awards, the most ever for the company.
• Samsung has established an internal eco-product development committee, where all product development team leaders across the enterprise participate to encourage the creation of innovative green products and solutions.

Building eco-management partnerships around the world

• In Korea, we held an ecosystem conservation campaign in the Korea National Arboretum and the adjacent Gwangneung Forest, a UNESCO-designated biosphere. We know how important it is to also educate children about climate change as well as renewable energy, so we organized a family-friendly event for employees and their kids to teach them about being green.
• In the United States, the company’s Solve for Tomorrow initiative encourages local communities to find solutions to environmental problems.
• In Europe, the PlanetFirst™ campaign highlighted the potential for future eco-friendly products and services.
• In China and Southeast Asia, Samsung has embarked on a campaign to “adopted” mountains and rivers.
• In Brazil, we’ve partnered with the Sustainable Amazonas Foundation to promote environmental conservation and improve the quality of life for members of the communities in the Amazon conservation areas.

Investing in eco-friendly R&D and manufacturing facilities

• Samsung invested a total of 1.6 trillion Korean won (about US$1.40 billion) in environmentally friendly product development and green manufacturing sites in 2010. This brings Samsung’s total investment during the first two year of the PlanetFirst initiative to 2.7 trillion won (about US$2.37 billion).

Samsung understands the need for a greener future, and we are proud of our commitment to the environment.

Samsung Electronics released its 2011 Sustainability Report in June. For additional information, the report can be located at:
http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/sustainability/sustainabilityreports/sustainabilityreports.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.