TSMC shares strategies for decarbonizing with its suppliers

Taipei, March 20 (CNA) A manager from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) shared the company's net zero path and low-carbon supply chain strategies at the Net Zero City Expo in Taipei on Wednesday.

Amy Tu (凃秀妹), a technical manager in the chipmaker's material and supply chain management division, told the forum that TSMC's strategy for promoting a low-carbon supply chain has several dimensions, including cooperation with suppliers.

"Helping the suppliers sort out accurate and transparent data on their carbon emissions is the first step," Tu said.

Other measures include collaborating with suppliers to create new low-carbon raw materials -- an example is the successful creation of eco-friendly hydrofluoric acid for the semiconductor manufacturing process -- and developing new recycling technologies such as transforming process chemical waste into electronic-grade products, Tu added.

"Reusing waste as electronic-grade chemicals is a lot more difficult than for industrial-grade chemicals, the latter of which has already been widely done."

TSMC is also pioneering in "joint procurement of renewable energy" in Taiwan, Tu claimed.

She explained that this was because local suppliers had complained about the difficulty in purchasing green power, which requires a credit rating of a certain threshold and a long-term (20-year) power purchase agreement (PPA).

"We would sign a long-term PPA and have half of the amount subscribed by our local supply chains, guaranteed by TSMC, which would buy up the amount should one of the suppliers back out."

At a time when many are calling for net zero in "scope one" and "scope two" greenhouse gas emissions, TSMC has long been a step ahead in reducing "scope three" emissions.

Scope three has the widest coverage that includes emissions occurring in a company's value chain.

Scope one emissions cover emissions from sources that an organization owns or directly controls while scope two emissions are those that a company causes indirectly, such as the purchase of electricity or heat.

"Around one-third of our emissions is scope three," Tu said, "which means we have a great task in working with our supply chain partners on decarbonization."

TSMC aims to return to its 2020 levels of carbon emissions by 2030, 100% renewable energy use by 2040, and net zero by 2050, Tu said.

According to data provided by environmental groups, TSMC's 2020 carbon dioxide equivalent emissions were about 9.37 million metric tons, making it the third biggest emitter in Taiwan that year.

In 2022, this figure rose by more than 20 percent to 11.59 million metric tons.