EHS & Sustainability
Mike Halblander
Hardware Engineering Manager / Product Sustainability Strategy
Silicon Photonics ATE Group
Teradyne, Inc.
North Reading , MA, United States
Sara Turner
Climate Program Manager
Lam Research
Category 11 downstream emissions, resulting from the use of sold products, represent a significant portion of many companies’ Scope 3 emissions. As the semiconductor industry continues to grow and evolve, these emissions are expected to become even more prominent.
The electricity consumption of our industry has more than doubled since 2015 and is projected to continue rising in line with industry growth. This trend is already impacting the industry: in key manufacturing regions, electricity prices are increasing, and emissions taxes are being introduced. Meanwhile, while global grid emissions intensity is improving year over year, progress remains limited in several critical semiconductor manufacturing regions.
With the industry expected to grow significantly by 2030, our emissions profile is likely to follow the associated increase in electricity demand. This underscores the urgent need for accurate tracking and transparent reporting of the electricity used throughout the lifecycle of semiconductor products, particularly in downstream applications such as data centers, building HVAC systems, and industrial systems.
To address this challenge, the industry must focus on three key areas. First, accelerating the transition to lower-carbon and renewable electricity sources is the most impactful lever for reducing Scope 3 emissions. Whether in manufacturing or end-use environments, cleaner electricity will be critical to aligning the semiconductor industry with global climate goals. Second, improving emissions estimation and measurement methods is essential to understanding product-level impacts and enabling meaningful comparisons across companies and technologies. And third, promoting industry collaboration and the use of common emissions accounting methods and techniques, as well as using common sources of data when/where possible.
By combining robust emissions accounting and industry collaboration with aggressive decarbonization of the energy supply, the semiconductor industry can continue to grow while minimizing its environmental footprint.