How can semiconductor businesses take the lead on environmental issues

Sustainability challenges are becoming more important than ever on the business, consumer, investor, and government agendas as global demand for semiconductors continues to rise and companies seek to boost capacity. 1. The global imperative to slow climate change poses a slew of concerns for semiconductor businesses to address as they assess their current and future operations. These considerations are translated into short-, medium-, and long-term action items. Here's a look at some of the issues that lie ahead, as well as some strategies for dealing with them.

ESG in the near future

Progress toward sustainability targets is being measured and documented.

The necessity for semiconductor businesses to make substantial, verifiable efforts toward more sustainable designs and processes is highlighted by increased environmental concern. The pace of determining how businesses can and should document their performance in those areas has picked up, but companies would be wise to stay ahead of regulatory mandates and approach reporting on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance with the same rigor as financial reporting.

In an effort to help businesses align their strategic aims with those of the broader society, the EY organization played a key role as a member of the World Economic Forum's International Business Council. More than 60 corporations and global business leaders promised to report a set of universal ESG measures in 2021 as a result of these initiatives. More firms are publishing sustainability reports than ever before, and semiconductor companies that establish and meet strong sustainability goals have a competitive advantage not only in the consumer market, but also in the competition for the next generation of talent.

Material sourcing optimization:

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the significance of shortening the supply chain and enhancing its resilience, but there was already an environmental justification for doing so—reducing an organization's overall carbon footprint. This entails making core materials more accessible. Building silicon manufacturing capability and developing more foundries near fabrication plants are two examples.

Materials and suppliers should also be scrutinized more closely. Suppliers should be integrated into sustainability efforts and evaluated based on their performance against environmental goals. Conflict minerals and other materials of questionable sourcing should be removed from the supply chain, and suppliers should be integrated into sustainability efforts and evaluated based on their performance against environmental goals.

Reducing waste

Leading semiconductor businesses have used a number of strategies to reduce the amount of waste produced by their operations. Community-level initiatives, such as initiating environmental awareness campaigns in the communities where they operate and optimizing recycling opportunities on their grounds, are among these efforts. They also include larger-scale activities like setting aggressive waste-reduction targets through circular economy strategies, lowering test wafer consumption, and inventing to find ways to reuse consumables and spare parts, which will become increasingly crucial.

Water preventing manufacturing plants from depleting critical water supplies in the medium term

Of course, where semiconductor fabrication facilities are located has a big impact on the companies and the towns they pick. Companies should avoid arid or drought-prone regions when considering new capacity expansion alternatives, as their operations could further pressure an already unstable water supply. Water management is a constant concern, regardless of location.

As they attempt to recapture the resource, categorize its quality, and boost it to ultrapure levels as needed, companies building new operations will need to focus on water independence. Companies can allocate priority to its uses by classifying the purity of treated water, with the best grade being purified for use in manufacturing and the next-highest quality being treated and utilized for non-production purposes. 4, Companies can also take steps to encourage equipment vendors to use less water in their designs.