LG Innotek (CEO, Cheoldong Jeong) plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. The company announced on March 23rd that it had finalized the ‘2040 Carbon Neutrality Plan’ at a recent ESG committee meeting. With this declaration, LG Innotek expects to gain further momentum for its ESG management.
Carbon neutrality means the state where a company achieves zero carbon emission by carrying out plans to remove as much greenhouse gases as it produces. As climate change and ESG management rise as global topics, many companies are pursuing to be carbon neutral.
LG Innotek announced the carbon neutrality plan in order to raise awareness of climate change and lead the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, thereby keeping abreast of the global effort to cope with climate change.
The 2040 Carbon Neutrality Plan includes yearly goals and detailed strategies for achieving carbon neutrality. The company will switch to renewable energy for all electricity used in its business sites around the world by 2030 and achieve zero carbon emission by 2040.
The first step is to use 100% renewable energy in all of its business sites by 2030. Electricity accounts for more than 90% of LG Innotek’s greenhouse gas emissions. This is why it is so important for the company to secure its electricity from renewable energy for carbon neutrality.
To achieve this, LG Innotek plans to introduce and expand solar energy generation facilities in its Korean business sites. Also, the company will make use of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) program, where a company purchases electricity directly from a renewable energy generation company, and the Green Premium program, where a company receives renewable electricity from Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) at an additional fee.
In fact, LG Innotek is receiving 192 gigawatts of renewable electricity through the Green Premium this year. This amount corresponds to the electricity that 65,000 households can use for one year.
The company also has a plan to increase the use of renewable energy in overseas production facilities such as the one in Vietnam. It will use programs such as PPA and renewable energy use certification in each country and consider the introduction of solar energy generation facilities.