Interview • Portraits
Sustainability Spotlight | STMicroelectronics - Integrating Sustainability Strategy and Initiatives into Operations
How does STMicroelectronics (ST) integrate sustainability into its overall business strategy, and what are the key initiatives and commitments?
At STMicroelectronics, sustainability is at the core of our business model. Since adopting our first sustainability policy in 1993 and publishing our first environmental report in 1997, we have consistently prioritised sustainable practices. STMicroelectronics' mission is to create technology that fosters safer, greener, and smarter living, delivering long-term value for all stakeholders.
Our sustainability charter, endorsed by our President and CEO Jean-Marc Chery, outlines our guiding principles and 24 sustainability goals. We emphasise transparency in tracking our progress toward annual targets. Our sustainability efforts are led by a dedicated team of 23 experts, supported by a broader community of nearly 600 contributors, including site sustainability champions and Environment, Health & Safety (EHS) teams.
Since 2010, we have conducted annual materiality assessments to identify and prioritise significant sustainability topics. This helps us align our strategy, programs, and objectives with the most relevant issues. In 2011, we also launched our Sustainable Technology program to ensure sustainability is considered in the development of new products and technologies. This program classifies our products into four categories:
- Low-carbon products: Reduce the footprint of production equipment, utilities, and supply chain through optimised design.
- Power-efficient products: Minimise electricity consumption or power losses, reducing the footprint of end-devices.
- Planet-friendly applications: Key contributors to eco-friendly applications like automotive powertrain electrification, solar panels, and LED lighting.
- Human-welfare applications: Enable medical, health, safety, and security applications.
Through these initiatives, we remain committed to creating sustainable technology for a sustainable world.
At STMicroelectronics, we believe that everyone has a role to play in sustainability. To support our sustainability ambitions, we also integrate sustainability criteria into the performance indicators for both short-term and long-term incentive plans for all senior executives and eligible employees. Short-term incentives are weighted at 10% and focus on health and safety, environment and climate, diversity and inclusion, and people management. Long-term incentives are weighted at 33.3%, covering environment and climate, diversity, inclusion, people engagement, investor ESG index, and carbon rating.
Could you provide more insight on the STMicroelectronics Ang Mo Kio (AMK) TechnoPark district cooling project?
The District Cooling System (DCS) at AMK TechnoPark involves a central plant that cools water and distributes it through a network of underground pipes to various buildings. This centralised approach enhances efficiency, reduces environmental impact, and saves space, as individual buildings no longer require their own chillers. This setup also lowers power and maintenance costs. The system recirculates water back to the plant for re-cooling and includes water storage to facilitate cooling during off-peak periods, further improving efficiency. On top of achieving energy efficiency, a large portion of DCS water needs will be met by ST’s recycled water, boosting ST’s commitment towards water conservation.
The AMK TechnoPark is ST’s largest wafer-production fabrication by volume. Bringing DCS to AMK will thus have significant ripple effects. Conventionally, projects of this size target mainly urban developments. The ST and SPGroup infrastructure is thus unique because it is one of the first at such a scale to cool an industrial manufacturing plant and the largest in Singapore. Most projects from competing fabrication retrofit new chillers.
The project will cost an estimated USD 370 million, including the construction of the central cooling plant right next to the TechnoPark. Beyond energy savings, removing chillers and cooling towers within the ST plant becomes a strong key enabler for ST decarbonisation journey. These valuable free-up spaces aim to cater for abatement systems of greenhouse gases, water treatment systems for enhanced water recovery, volatile organic compounds (VOC) scrubbers among other environmental conservation programs.
This initiative showcases how industrial innovation can harmonise with environmental responsibility, in adequation with ST’s approach to sustainability, in Singapore, and everywhere where we operate.
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