Environmental sustainability and climate protection - Infineon

Infineon has set itself the target of becoming carbon-neutral by the end of the 2030 fiscal year. Even before the end of the 2025 fiscal year, Infineon aims to have achieved 70 percent of this target.

www.infineon.com, Mar. 01, 2024 – 

Our global management system IMPRES integrates targets and processes relating to environmental sustainability as well as occupational safety and health. IMPRES has been certified worldwide in accordance with environmental management system standard ISO 14001 and in accordance with occupational health and safety standard ISO 45001. Additionally, it has been certified in accordance with the energy management system standard ISO 50001 at our largest European manufacturing sites as well as at our corporate headquarters Campeon (Germany). Changes in legal requirements and potential improvements in performance are continuously evaluated as part of our integrated management system. The main results of the evaluations are reported to management, including selected members of the Management Board, and the appropriate measures are decided on.

Sustainable use of resources at our manufacturing sites

Climate change is a global challenge. The consequences of changing climate conditions threaten regional ecosystems and present major challenges to humans. Climate change can only be tackled if all the players in society plan ahead and act boldly and decisively together. Countries, businesses and private individuals will increasingly need to consider social, ecological and economic aspects when making decisions. Comprehensive climate protection and sustainable action will be essential for success. In this context, another vital task will be dealing with the limited availability of natural resources to preserve our planet for future generations. Increasing resource efficiency offers both ecological and economic potential and is therefore a key pillar in our sustainability strategy.

Carbon neutrality and energy efficiency

Our carbon neutrality goal Today, Infineon is already making a valuable contribution to climate protection through its products and solutions and its own efficiency measures. We plan to do even more. Infineon has set itself the goal of becoming carbon-neutral by the end of the 2030 fiscal year in terms of scope 1 and scope 2 emissions. We want to make an active contribution to global CO2 reduction and to the implementation of the targets set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. By the end of the 2025 fiscal year, Infineon is aiming to reduce its own emissions by 70 percent compared with the 2019 calendar year. In the 2023 fiscal year, KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Munich (Germany) conducted an independent reasonable assurance audit, inter alia, of Infineon's scope 1 and scope 2 CO2 emissions, in accordance with the relevant assurance standard for sustainability reporting, the International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (Revised).

"Infineon is already one of the most sustainable semiconductor producers," says Infineon's Chief Executive Officer, Jochen Hanebeck. "CO2 avoidance and resource efficiency in production have been a priority for us for years, as in the setting up of our 300-millimeter thin-wafer technology. With our goal of becoming carbon-neutral, we are strengthening our efforts through electricity from renewable sources and investment in exhaust air abatement that far exceeds the industry standard." To achieve its targets, Infineon focuses, in particular, on avoiding direct emissions and increasing energy efficiency.

The continuing expansion of its energy efficiency program and its efforts to achieve intelligent exhaust air abatement are playing a key role here and are contributing significantly to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce emissions even further, the company is focusing on purchasing green electricity. To confirm this approach, Infineon joined the corporate initiative RE1100 in the 2021 fiscal year. RE100 is a global initiative bringing together many of the world's major businesses committed to 100 percent renewable energy. The group, which is led by the international nonprofit organization Climate Group in partnership with CDP, represents more than 400 companies in a variety of economic sectors. Together, they are sending a strong message to political decision-makers and investors to accelerate the transition to a decarbonized economy.

In the future, and to a lesser extent, it is also planned to offset emissions that cannot be avoided by purchasing CO2 certificates that combine development aid and CO2 avoidance.

Already by the end of the 2023 fiscal year, our scope 1 and scope 2 emissions were 56.8 percent below the emissions of the base year 2019. Factors contributing to this reduction were the expansion of smart abatement concepts and the implementation of energy efficiency programs as well as the switch to green electricity in Europe and North America and at our largest sites in Malaysia. Our decarbonization program is thus being implemented successfully.

Efficient energy management

At Infineon, energy is used mainly in the form of electricity. Primary energy sources such as oil and gas play only a minor part. Within our manufacturing sites, the frontend sites consume most of the energy since the physical conditions for production are particularly demanding there. Thus, for example, an additional amount of energy is needed to establish the highly stable climatic conditions in the cleanrooms. In comparison, the backend sites have lower energy consumption due to the nature of their processes. Research and development sites and office locations have the lowest energy demand.

Already in the 2021 fiscal year, Infineon switched to purchasing green electricity for its sites in Europe and, in the 2022 fiscal year, the North American sites followed suit. In the 2023 calendar year, our sites in Kulim (Malaysia) and Melaka (Malaysia) switched to green electricity. This is another milestone for the company, given its aim to switch all its production sites to 100 percent electricity from renewable sources by 2025.

At the end of the reporting period, this figure was 82 percent. Infineon is endeavoring to minimize its energy consumption. For years, it has maintained special energy teams at its sites who are responsible for the optimization and continuous evaluation of our energy efficiency. At our production sites in Dresden (Germany), Regensburg (Germany) and Villach (Austria), significant amounts of heat are already being generated from integrated energy recycling via the recovery of exhaust heat, thereby greatly reducing the demand for energy to produce heating power. At our main manufacturing sites, we have implemented the methodology of the energy management system standard ISO 50001 in accordance with local requirements. The ongoing transition to the latest 300-millimeter technology and the promotion of Industry 4.0 are helping to increase efficiency.