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Goal: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Lumileds supports SDG 13 through the development of low-carbon LED lighting solutions and an ongoing commitment to reduce GHGs in our operations.
Lumileds is facilitating a global transition to a low-carbon economy through innovation in LED lighting solutions. Lumileds LED lighting products reduce the amount of energy needed to produce light by a factor of 10 compared to traditional incandescent lights.
A recent external market analysis by IHS Markit estimated that Lumileds LEDs reduced the total carbon dioxide emissions of lighting globally by an estimated 39 million metric tons in 2017 —the equivalent of shutting down 10 coal-fired power plants in the United States.
In addition to creating low-carbon products, we are reducing the climate impact of our operations. The majority of our GHGs are produced through the use of energy and the release of perfluorinated compounds in our manufacturing. Throughout 2017, Lumileds oversaw energy reduction initiatives (see Improving Operational Efficiency) and an emissions abatement program in our Singapore manufacturing facility that led to a dramatic decrease in our emissions. Lumileds is on track to meet our 2020 carbon reduction goal.
2020 GOALS (2015 BASELINE) | PROGRESS IN 2017 |
---|---|
20% reduction in carbon emissions | On Track |
Greenhouse Gas Emissions | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
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Total scope 1 emissions (CO2e metric tons) | 19,252 | 72,780 | 73,064 |
Total scope 2 emissions (CO2e metric tons) | 110,563 | 104,282 | 74,702 |
Total emissions | 129,815 | 177,062 | 147,765 |
Just as we push the boundaries of what is possible for light, we also look for opportunities to push the boundaries of sustainability in our operations. Although LEDs dramatically reduce GHG emissions during their use phase, their manufacture releases perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), a type of GHG emission. PFCs serve two important roles in the semiconductor manufacturing process—chamber cleaning and plasma etching. While PFC use is limited at Lumileds, their high potency as a greenhouse gas compared to CO2 makes these significant emissions.
In 2015, Lumileds invested in a “GHG plasma destruction system” at our San Jose manufacturing site. The technology has reduced emissions from PFCs at the site by approximately 90 percent. The success of the program encouraged our team to look at similar opportunities in Singapore—the only other Lumileds manufacturing location that uses PFCs. In 2016, Lumileds invested in three new emission reduction units in Singapore. Throughout 2017, we reduced the GHG impact of our PFCs in Singapore by more than 90 percent and reduced the total GHG impact of the site by 66 percent.