News Article
Industry exceeds emissions targets
Global semiconductor industry exceeds goal to reduce greenhouse gases
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and design, today announced that the worldwide semiconductor industry, through cooperation in the World Semiconductor Council (WSC), has exceeded its initial 10 percent reduction goal for perfluorocompounds (PFCs) emissions, bringing total PFCs emissions down by 32 percent over a ten-year period. Additionally, the industry has set a new ten-year goal to implement state-of-the-art practices at all new semiconductor fabrication facilities, operated by members of the WSC, which is expected to result in a 30 percent reduction in normalized emissions by 2020.
The WSC is an organization with representatives from the semiconductor industries in Chinese-Taipei, Europe, Japan, Korea, the United States and the newest member, China, joining in 2007. The WSC meets annually to address issues of global concern to the semiconductor industry and to expand international cooperation in the semiconductor sector. The WSC met last week at the 15th annual meeting in Fukuoka, Japan.
"This accomplishment is the result of industry wide commitment to environmental stewardship," said Ray Stata, chairman of the board, Semiconductor Industry Association and founder & chairman of the board, Analog Devices, Inc. "Each member company within the WSC associations has made environmental protection a key tenet of long-term strategy and continues to make significant investments to ensure that our valuable natural resources are protected."
PFCs are a group of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that are essential to the semiconductor manufacturing process. To achieve critical GHG emissions reductions, WSC members developed new manufacturing techniques, optimized processes to use PFCs more efficiently and applied point-of-use abatement devices. Further, the industry has eliminated all non-essential uses of perfluorooctylsulfonate (PFOS) which are used in the photolithographic process for imprinting circuitry on silicon wafers. These accomplishments solidify the industry's commitment to implement innovative solutions and voluntarily reduce emissions even while substantially increasing production output.
"The announcement that we have surpassed our ten-year goal, along with our commitment to further reductions over the next ten years, demonstrates the continued leadership of the U.S. and global semiconductor industry on addressing climate change," said Brian Toohey, president, Semiconductor Industry Association. "Not only are semiconductors at the heart of innovative products and services that conserve energy and help address climate change, but our industry is also taking steps to reduce the impact of our own operations."
Semiconductor industry emissions comprise approximately 0.12% of the total annual GHG emissions in the United States. The U.S. semiconductor industry has nonetheless made substantial investments to reduce PFC emissions. The global efforts through the WSC complement a collaborative partnership initiated in 1996 between the SIA and the U.S. EPA. The 2010 data shows that U.S. industry surpassed its goal, reducing emissions 31 percent below 1995 levels, successfully concluding the industry's commitments under the voluntary PFC Reduction/Climate Partnership for the Semiconductor Industry.
In addition to ongoing recommendations to further environmental objectives, the WSC issued a joint statement that focused on creating common and unified positions on; expanding trade in semiconductors through duty free trade agreements, promoting international standards, acknowledging public concern on conflict minerals, addressing regulatory issues, promoting intellectual property rights and reaffirming that government stimulus measures be guided by market principles.
