Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) shares vault Tuesday, on the publication of its latest Sustainability Report, detailing its ESG (environmental, social and governance) initiatives and results over the past year. The report highlights the impact of the company’s ESG efforts within its own organization, with its suppliers and customers and on the global electronics ecosystem.
Driven by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and a sharp increase in the number of smart, connected devices, the market for semiconductors is projected to approximately double and reach $1 trillion over the next decade. It is imperative for the chip manufacturing ecosystem to work collaboratively to decouple this expected growth from the industry’s carbon emissions.
In 2022, Applied continued to make progress in reducing its carbon footprint, achieving 100% renewable electricity use in the U.S. and 69% globally, resulting in a 3% reduction from its 2019 baseline in the company’s Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions – those produced directly by the company and by the energy it purchases. During the same period, Applied’s energy consumption rose by approximately 13%, which demonstrates the company’s progress in decoupling emissions growth from business growth.
Recognizing the need to redouble its efforts in the future, Applied submitted science-based reduction targets for its Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions – those generated across the entire value chain – to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and the company set a new goal to reduce its Scope 3 - Category 11 (use of sold products) emissions per wafer across new semiconductor products by 55% by 2030.
AMAT shares soared 94 cents to $139.86
