Taiwan’s TSMC and Pegatron have seen noticeable progress on supply chain decarbonization among 11 electronics suppliers with operations in East Asia, according to the latest report assessing decarbonization efforts by Greenpeace East Asia.
TSMC announces in September to achieve RE100 by 2040. (Photo: Shutterstock)
Three Taiwanese electronic manufacturers were assessed this time. Apart from Foxconn, TSMC and Pegatron’s overall ranking both improved, indicating the growing awareness of climate action among Taiwanese electronic suppliers, according to Greenpeace.
TSMC fell behind Intel, Samsung in terms of green electricity ratio
TSMC announced this September to bring the RE100 deadline ahead to 2040, helping raise its score for climate commitment from C- to C; however, Taiwanese companies in general fall behind international standards in terms of carbon reduction and renewable electricity ratio, said Fang Chun-wei (方君維), climate & energy campaigner of Greenpeace East Asia.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and International Energy Agency (IEA) both believe that 2030 is the crucial point for limiting the global temperature by 1.5 Celsius. Companies should act fast to meet the 100% renewable energy goal by 2030, the report said.
In terms of the share of renewable electricity, TSMC, Pegatron, and Foxconn represents 10.4%, 19.42%, and 8.28%, respectively. TSMC and Foxconn made slow progress in the adoption of renewable electricity, increasing by a mere of 1.20% and 3.11% from last year respectively, falling far behind from Intel’s 93% and Samsung’s 31%.
Carbon emissions from TSMC and Foxconn grew along with their electricity consumption, up by 22.6% and 5.13% respectively from last year. Pegatron, in contrast, cut emissions by 26.29%.
Comparison of RE ratio and ratio increase in 2021 and 2022. (Source: Greenpeace)
50% of TSMC’s renewables come from RECs
Foxconn must accelerate the adoption of renewables and take more active climate action instead of sticking to its 2050 net-zero goal. For TSMC to achieve RE100 by 2040, it must wean itself off RECs, Fang said.
Currently, TSMC acquired nearly 50% of renewable energy through RECs. Greenpeace suggests the company prioritize methods such as self-consumption, direct investment or signing PPAs to obtain renewable energy.
According to the report, the total revenue of consumer electronics industry hit US$10 trillion in 2023. The industry relies heavily on fossil fuel, with semiconductor, panel display manufacturing, and assembling accounting for 70% of the total emissions in its supply chain, in which many suppliers are based in East Asia.
It’s expected that emissions from the semiconductor industry will reach 86 million tonnes by 2030, the report said.
Taiwanese businesses should be more active in building and investing renewable energy to resolve the bottleneck of green energy market in Taiwan and increase the ratio of renewable electricity to secure competitive edge, said Greenpeace.
Comparison of supply chain decarbonization ranking in 2021 and 2022. (Souce: Greenpeace)
