SEOUL : LG Energy Solution announced its plan to achieve RE100 at all of its global production sites by 2025.
In its ESG Report 2021, which was published today, the company stated that it will complete its conversion to RE100 across all its global battery manufacturing sites (in Korea, North America, Europe, China, etc.), which means they will run entirely on renewable energy.
RE100 is the acronym for “Renewable Electricity 100%,” a global initiative for businesses to convert the 100% of their energy sources to renewable energies, such as wind and solar.
According to the RE100 2021 Annual Disclosure Report released by international non-profit, Climate Group, and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), LGES global business sites’ conversion rate of renewable energy reached 33% in 2020, the highest percentage among the 14 domestic companies committed to the RE100 initiative. The company now aims to boost its conversion rate to exceed 60% by the end of this year.
LGES also announced a specific roadmap to successfully complete this mid- to long-term initiative and realize carbon neutrality, which centers around the previously mentioned goal for RE100.
The company first plans to achieve RE100 at every global production plant by 2025, with its non-manufacturing business sites, such as R&D centers, to follow by 2030. By 2040, LGES intends to implement the reinforced version of carbon neutrality, which entails converting all energy sources aside from electricity, including fuels and gas, to renewable energy sources. By 2050, the company will have achieved carbon neutrality across the entire value chain, from mining resources all the way up to manufacturing the batteries, with its suppliers also achieving RE100 within their own businesses.
“We will achieve RE100 across the entire value chain by 2050 by monitoring our suppliers’ carbon emissions, endorsing their RE100 participation and encouraging their carbon reduction campaigns,” said LGES. “After that, we will actively pursue our goal of becoming ‘Carbon Negative,’ which involves converting carbon emissions to minus values.”
In the recently published ESG Report, LGES also introduced its visions and accomplishments in four priority tasks for successful ESG management. These tasks are as follows: 1) Beyond Carbon Neutrality, 2) Perfect Closed Loop, 3) Supply Chain Sustainability, 4) Diversity, Equity, Inclusion.
First, the company aims to establish a perfect closed loop by achieving zero waste to landfill across all business sites by 2023. To make this happen, LGES is developing various technologies to properly dispose of waste with the goal of acquiring Landfill Zero certification for every business site by the end of next year.
In this respect, China’s Nanjing LGESNJ Plant has already attained the highest platinum rating from Underwriters Laboratories (UL), the global certification agency. Also, the company’s Michigan plant (LGESMI) has been certified as Landfill Zero for five consecutive years (since 2018) by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) for its less than 1% of the overall landfill rate (waste sent to landfill as a proportion of the waste generated).
Next, LGES is committing its efforts to ensure the sustainability of supply chain by carrying out inspections and improvement activities at its domestic and overseas business sites, as well as suppliers, in accordance with the Responsible Business Alliance’s (RBA) Code of Conduct. Through these efforts, the company specifically aims to prevent the risks associated with labor, health & safety, the environment, and business ethics. In November 2021, LGES became the first Korean battery manufacturer to join the RBA, a global coalition dedicated to sustainability in global supply chains.
Last, LGES will pursue an organizational culture that takes into account diversity, equity, and inclusion. The company is putting efforts into establishing a culture in which 1) all members respect each other without engaging in discrimination on ethnicity, nationality, gender, religion, or disorder, 2) all members are subjected to fair treatment, and 3) mutual understanding and respect among all employees are present.
“LG Energy Solution has established a sharing culture to create an environment in which outstanding individuals from various backgrounds can come together to create the best output and focus on key tasks,” said LGES.
The six key organizational culture activities include: 1) reporting and meeting culture focused on key tasks, 2) autonomous working culture solely focused on performance, 3) horizonal culture with no titles attached, 4) positive culture full of gratitude and praise, 5) pleasant workplace culture that cares for physical and mental wellness, and 6) sharing culture that conveys love to one’s neighbors.
In addition, the ESG Report 2021 highlights the ESG activities executed by not only LGES’s employees in Korea and overseas, but also employees from the supplier side. The report also bears meaning as it was printed on 100% recycled papers using soy ink.
“The battery, by nature, is closely related to the concept of eco-friendliness, and is a key driver to sustainable life and a core industry of the future,” said Youngsoo Kwon, CEO of LG Energy Solution on his preface. “Going a step further from carbon neutrality, we will pursue ‘Carbon Negative’ as our ultimate goal in all aspects of management and commit our best efforts to demonstrate our leadership in countering global climate change.”
