The post Our ESG Progress, Visualized: SK hynix’s Innovations for a Greener Environment first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

According to projections, the global water demand will be 40% more than the available supply by 2030, making what we do with water once we use it incredibly critical. Implementing meaningful wastewater discharge processes as part of manufacturing is essential to protecting this resource for the future.

As a reflection of its corporate values and commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), SK hynix has developed ridged wastewater discharge protocols. These efforts extend the lifecycle of industrial water, water mainly used in the cleaning process —allowing for the safe return of the resource to local waterways for the betterment of biodiversity.

What is wastewater discharge?

Quite simply, it is as named. In the case of semiconductors, the term wastewater discharge applies to any water dispelled from the manufacturing process into rivers and other bodies of water after treatment per water quality standards.

During production, industrial water is used in different processes, including wafer cleaning, machinery cooling, and wet etching. Specifically, ultra pure water, or UPW is water treated to be similar to ionized water, removing all soluble solids, bacteria, and organic matter. Afterward, the water must be treated again before it is released back into the environment.

Wastewater discharge recycling system at SK hynix fab

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Expectations regarding wastewater discharge vary from country to country as individual governments determine regional regulations. South Korea is considered to have some of the strictest wastewater discharge management policies, and the responsibility of adequately processing falls on manufacturers. This is primarily due to the fact that South Korea is a geographically small country, meaning local water resources are precious and must be used sustainably. As a result, SK hynix’s domestic water management is extremely strict and of the highest priority

How does wastewater discharge impact local biodiversity?

Improperly treated wastewater discharge can affect local ecosystems in two critical ways; it can reduce the saturation of oxygen in the water and can result in wildlife ingesting hazardous chemicals. These effects are significant as they both have long-lasting impacts on the health of local biodiversity.

SK hynix takes great responsibility in properly processing the dispelled industrial water from its manufacturing sites and has gone above and beyond to introduce initiatives that are helping to reclaim wastewater discharge. The process to reclaim water involves retreating wastewater discharge in a manner that makes it eligible for reuse. In fact, by 2030, SK hynix aims to triple the 21.63 million cubic meters of water it reclaimed in 2019 in its South Korean fabs.

How does SK hynix set the standard in wastewater discharge management?

For one, the company’s approach doesn’t end at properly treating wastewater discharge; it extends to reducing the volume of water it uses as well. In 2020, SK hynix conserved 42.77 million cubic meters of water, approximately the same amount used by 400,000 Koreans annually. The company was also awarded the Grand Prize in the CDP Water Security program due to its reduction and reuse efforts.

Extending the positive impact of the water it uses, SK hynix also developed a small hydropower station in its Icheon location. The hydropower station leverages the flow of wastewater discharge through an elevation change in its treatment center, thus creating a source of renewable energy on-site that produced 174MWh of power in 2020.

The 45-kW hydropower generator at SK hynix’x Icheon wastewater discharge treatment facility

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When wastewater discharge finally must be dispelled, SK hynix is extremely sensitive about its release. Achieving a Good Water wastewater discharge classification was essential for SK hynix. It prides itself on maintaining a premium wastewater discharge quality to create a healthy habitat for all local wild and plant life.

SK hynix and Microsoft came together last year, signing a memorandum of understanding to pursue a study of the impact of purified water released into the Anseong stream, which runs near the future SK hynix site in Yongin. This research will leverage Microsoft’s AI technology Azure to observe and record changes to the local biodiversity. The new semiconductor cluster project in Yongin is expected to release significant volumes of purified water. The research project’s initial hypothesis is that the increased volume of water in the stream will result in a more active ecosystem due to a rise in the quantity of prey.

SK hynix has been actively performing similar research since 2019, monitoring aquatic ecosystems at five locations. The monitoring includes the analysis of several factors, such as sediment, topographical structures, and wildlife. Temperature is also very closely monitored, and temperature management facilities are installed to lower the temperature of dispelled wastewater discharge.

In Jukdang stream, located near SK hynix’s Icheon site, cameras recently spotted a Eurasian otter. As a Class 1 endangered species, the otter is of particular interest to SK hynix. The company has implemented more frequent monitoring of this stream and applied even stricter wastewater discharge management standards. The stream is also home to many other important wildlife, including leopard cats, mandarin ducks, and even the odd eagle and owl.

The Eurasian otter it its Jukdang stream home

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SK hynix distinguishes itself from its peers as a champion of sustainable practices by pursuing environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) management policies with fierce determination and enthusiasm. The company strives to continue identifying, developing, and optimizing new sustainable processes to reduce its environmental impact. Improving the quality of wastewater discharge expelled from its manufacturing process may only be a drop in the global pond of sustainability, but ripples quickly become waves.

The post Green Goggles: SK hynix Envisions Cleaner Waterways to Help Preserve Local Biodiversity first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

The signing event, which was held virtually a day earlier, was attended by Dong-sub Kim, President of SK hynix’s Communication & External Affairs and Youn-wook Kim, Vice President of SK hynix’s Corporate Sustainability Management. From Microsoft, Andrea Della Matea, president of the Asia Pacific region and Ji-eun Lee, CEO of Microsoft Korea, attended.

According to the MOU, SK hynix and Microsoft will cooperate in observing changes in biodiversity of the Anseongcheon with the help of the technology and providing an opportunity to local young talent to grow into experts in environment and data.

Yongin semiconductor cluster project, which SK hynix has been pursuing with an aim of enhancing the competitiveness of the domestic industry by having around 50 local and foreign partner companies in the same space, is currently under reviews for government approvals and expected to start operation in 2025. Once started, the cluster is likely to discharge a lot of purified water to the Anseongcheon, leading to an increase in the volume of the stream and thus positive results such as a more active ecosystem as a result of a rise in the quantity of prey.

The two companies will observe and record changes in the aquatic ecosystem using Microsoft’s Azure AI to help scientifically prove that the changes are taking place in a healthy environment where various stakeholders also participate.

Collecting raw data needed for the AI analysis will be done by residents of the local community and SK hynix employees. When these participants save the ecosystem data they collected using IT devices such as smartphones on Microsoft’s cloud system Azure, AI will identify and classify them. The collection of data accumulated through repeat of this process will be provided to experts who will lead the study on biodiversity and the outcome will be made public.

The collaboration between the two companies will also provide the young generation of the local community an opportunity to grow into experts in data analysis and environment through a training program by Microsoft and a cooperation with environment experts. The program will also help the young talent to find jobs in the relevant field.

Dong-sub Kim, President of SK hynix’s Communication & External Affairs, said, “We share a common goal of addressing social issues and enhancing ESG management by taking advantage of the IT capabilities for this collaboration with Microsoft. We will continue our efforts to cooperate and communicate with various stakeholders in a parent way to make the Yongin semiconductor cluster a healthier place for coexistence.”

Andrea Della Matea, President of Microsoft Asia Pacific, said, “I am proud to see this collaboration between Microsoft and SK hynix as we share a common goal of saving the Earth, the most finite resources we have. Korea has been at the forefront of the green growth initiatives powered by technology and data that have resulted in tangible outcome such as job creation, energy security as well as a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. It is our role, as an industry leader, to support with technology, competitiveness and resources to help build a better regional foundation. This is the purpose-driven technology based on our mission of cooperating for public interest and making the world fairer, more environment-friendly and sustainable.”

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The post SK hynix Signs MOU with Microsoft for Study on Biodiversity of Anseongcheon and Training of Digital Green Talent first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

But many people still don’t have a clear understanding of ESG and are often confused with corporate social responsibilities, or CSR.

Corporate Social Responsibility from Investors’ Point of View

The most common misunderstanding about ESG is that it is little different from CSR. To some extent, it may be true as both ESG and CSR cover the same topics. The seven core subjects of CSR stipulated by the ISO 26000, the international standard for CSR, are: ① Organizational Governance; ② Human Rights; ③Labor Practices; ④ Environment; ⑤ Fair Operating Practices; ⑥ Consumer Issues; and ⑦ Community Involvement and Development. So, topic-wise, these are similar to ESG’s environment (④), social (②, ③, ⑤, ⑥, ⑦), and governance (①). This is probably why so many people find little difference between CSR and ESG.

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Nevertheless, there is a fundamental difference between CSR and ESG: “perspective”. CSR is a concept that covers comprehensive activities of a company to establish proper relations with “various stakeholders”including customers, business partners, local communities, and civic groups. On the contrary, ESG is a concept from investors’ perspective. It was investors who drove the concept of ESG as they started considering non-financial factors in addition to financial information when making investment decisions.

For those who wonder why perspective matters, I suggest you search Google for images with the keyword of “differences in perspective”. You will see how the same issues can be told differently depending on whose perspective is taken.

Screenshot of the Google search results of “differences in perspective” images

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A difference in perspective doesn’t only apply to visual images, but also to the definition of terms of a concept. That ESG is a concept from the investors’ side means that you need to start with what investors are mostly interested in in order to fully understand ESG. Only then, you can properly respond to the requests from the investors and effectively communicate with them, not being at cross purposes.

ESG for Risk Management

The dictionary definition of investment is “an act of deferring consumption and purchasing various assets for future profits”. Thus, the ultimate goal of investment comes down to “profit generation”. Having said that, the goal of institutional investors such as asset managers including BlackRock and pension funds can be defined as “maximizing long-term returns”. There is one premise here. It is avoiding the possibility of losing the principal as much as possible, that is, minimizing risks.

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Why do you think investors ask companies to respond to the climate change crisis, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and waste? Do you think it is simply because they want to save the Earth and preserve the Nature? While that would be one of the reasons, it’s probably not the only intention. Such calls from investors are based on concerns that the current climate crisis has come to a level to threaten to cause enormous financial losses to the assets that they have invested during the times that fossil fuels led the economic growth. So, it is their sense of crisis that their principals could be lost that’s making them to look to ESG.

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What would be the first thing that investors want to do in this situation? It will be figuring out the level of the risks their investment portfolios are exposed to. To do this, they need to estimate the cost of the risks that are expected to cause a significant financial impact in terms of ESG. This is why investors are asking companies to increase the level of disclosure related to ESG. In other words, investors are asking companies to disclose what the relevant ESG risks are and what efforts they are making to prevent their investments from being damaged.

This could be a puzzling request for companies. Take SK hynix for example. We have been providing all the information we thought were necessary in our sustainability reports for over 10 years, so we could wonder what kind of additional information investors would want from us. However, there is a reason for this.

The sustainability reports have been so far prepared mainly in accordance with the guidelines by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the global sustainability reporting standard adopted most widely in the world. However, as this is a guideline for “all” stakeholders not limited to investors, investors believe this alone is not enough to estimate ESG risks expected to cause significant financial impact. For example, information such as how much a company has donated to a local community and what kind of social contribution it has made is very important for the relevant community or civic group, but not as valuable to investors. Clearly, investors would react more to information related to financial impact, rather than heartwarming stories.

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After all, what investors would want from the ESG point of view is information that can help estimate the risks. This is why investors are asking companies to transparently disclose the risks that can lead to a significant financial impact in terms of the ESG factors according to the appropriate criteria and how they can be addressed.

Importance of Comparable Standards

Unfortunately, there is no single international standard for ESG measurement commonly accepted like the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)¹. Still, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, or SASB, is one of the standards that most investors including BlackRock take for now.

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SASB was founded in 2011 with an aim to set standards for corporate sustainability disclosures required for filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Its purpose was to provide investors with “comparable” non-financial information to create metrics with which investors can compare performance on important ESG issues by industry. As a result, in 2018, the SASB created and announced the sustainability disclosure standards for 77 industries. Although it was relatively late in entering the sustainability reporting standards market that GRI was dominating, it has been rapidly adopted by companies with the strong endorsement of the investors.

“Comparability” also leads us to think about the correlation between ESG and the social value (SV), the core value of the broader SK Group. The SV initiative focuses on the measurement of the value for monetization. For example, SK hynix makes public information on how much its low-power semiconductor products helped reduce electricity usage and CO2 emission and how much those achievements are worth in numbers. But as investors can’t make decisions based on our own SV methodology, which is not for comparison with others, we should consider ESG from investors’ point of view.

More investors are likely to join the trend of evaluating companies in light of ESG achievements going forward. It’s critical for companies to integrate ESG factors into their long-term strategy and set goals in line with such strategy in order to generate differentiated values.
Only company-wide efforts to reflect both ESG risks and opportunities across all business activities under a strong leadership would lead to a meaningful outcome of ESG management.

¹In September 2020, the IFRS Foundation announced that it would join efforts to establish standards for sustainability reporting through its Consultation Paper on Sustainability Reporting.

The post Understanding ESG: from investors’ perspective first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

SK hynix is also spurring its movements as an eco-friendly company. SK hynix has announced a roadmap for SV2030, the company’s mid- to long-term plan to maximize social value (SV) creation and is carrying out various eco-friendly projects through Green2030, which includes mid- to long-term goals and plans for environmental protection. In particular, as the water shortage issue caused by climate change is emerging, the company is continuing the activities for water management more thoroughly. On the occasion of the “World Water Day”, the newsroom team took a look at the water management by SK hynix.

“Thirsty Earth”, Even Companies Set out to Protect the Environment across Borders

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March 22 every year is World Water Day designated by the United Nations (UN). This day was first formally proposed in the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. The purpose is to protect and improve water resources by recognizing the seriousness of water-related issues such as water pollution and water shortages caused by the damaged environment due to indiscriminate development.

According to the “UN World Water Development Report 2020 – Water and Climate Change”, water consumption worldwide has increased sixfold over the past 100 years and has increased steadily by around 1% per year due to growing population, economic development, and changes in consumption patterns. In addition to this, irregular water supply due to climate change is aggravating the situations in the areas affected by the water shortage. It is also expected that even regions with abundant resources will experience water stress¹.

Many international organizations worldwide are raising awareness about the water stress issue. The data from “WRI’s Aqueduct tools” by the World Resources Institute (WRI), reveal that 17 countries – home to 25% of the world’s population – face “extremely high” levels of baseline water stress. Also, a high level of water stress is expected in 44 major countries in the world.²

What is the water stress index of South Korea? According to the WRI, the water stress level of South Korea is medium-high, with a water stress index of 20 to 40%. Also, according to the water stress level by country in the “UN World Water Development Report 2019”, South Korea has a water stress index of 25 to 70% and classified as water stress country.³

These environmental issues are bound to have a direct impact on companies, not just on countries. Due to a drought in Taiwan, the water level of the reservoir tank in central and southern Taiwan was expected to drop below 20% in several months and the Taiwanese Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua urged companies to reduce their water consumption. Accordingly, big Taiwanese companies began procuring external water in the situation where the region-wide water-saving measures were implemented and is also preparing plans for the further future.

For companies, there is an increasing need for ESG management that considers non-financial factors including environmental impact, social responsibility, and transparency of governance, away from the management pursuing profits only. For this reason, water resource management is one of the important items in the evaluation by investors and stakeholders. Technical Leader (TL) Yong-Je Lee at SK hynix’s Icheon Environment Team said, “Water is used in the manufacturing process as an essential utility. Water management is fundamental for companies as issues like water shortages are highlighted worldwide.”

SK hynix’s Endless Efforts with Sincerity on Water Management

In line with this global trend, SK hynix is also committing itself to water management. SK hynix has recently announced the Green2030 roadmap for SV2030. The company’s core goals in the water management field include maximizing water management efficiency through the expansion of reuse and securing ecological health. From the perspective of resolving the global water shortage issue, SK hynix plans to increase the amount of water saved by 300% (more than three times compared with 2019). Also, as it is necessary to analyze the influence of effluent water on the aquatic ecosystem, SK hynix is carrying out activities to secure biodiversity and prove the healthiness of water quality through constant monitoring. How is SK hynix carrying out “water management” based on its core goals?

Point 1 Transparent Disclosure of All Information Related to Water Management

Due to the recent climate change issue, companies are now asked to engage in eco-friendly activities and disclose information about the product’s environmental impacts. In particular, even from the perspective of companies, the water shortage issue is directly related to productivity, so this is a very important evaluation factor for stakeholders. Accordingly, SK hynix is making great efforts on the transparent disclosure of information to stakeholders.

Yong-Je Lee, TL of the Icheon Environment Team

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SK hynix discloses water-management-related activities transparently by participating in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)⁴ Water. CDP analyzes the information and indicators related to eco-friendliness submitted by companies to evaluate each company’s activities every year. TL Yong-Je Lee explained, “The evaluation items of the CDP Water are various, including disclosure (completeness of corporate response), awareness (corporate awareness level of environmental issues, risks, and impact on business), management (corporate activities, policies, and strategies to respond to environmental issues), and leadership (best practices related to environmental management and leadership). However, what’s important is defining risks that may arise from water shortages and establishing a mid- to long-term strategy for efficient water resource management.”

SK hynix, which has been participating in the CDP Water since 2015, has been highly evaluated for its excellence in water resource management such as water recycling and saving. As a result, SK hynix received the “Leadership A” grade in the “water management” category and won the grand prize at the 2019 CDP Korea Awards. TL Yong-Je Lee said, “At that time, SK hynix announced ‘ECO Vision 2022’5 for the efficient water resource management and set a goal to increase the average daily water resource recycling amount of domestic business sites to 62,000 tons. We could win the grand prize because we saved water resource and strengthened the monitoring system for the water treatment process.”

In addition, SK hynix is working hard for the “water footprint” certification. The water footprint is a system that quantitatively indicates the amount of water used to display the environmental impact of the entire manufacturing process, including raw material collection, production, transport/distribution, use, and disposal. This can induce continuous improvement of the environment by accurately and transparently disclosing the environmental impact of products and services. For the life cycle assessment (LCA), the company has collected a vast amount of data.

Eun-kyung Lee, TL of the Icheon Environment Team

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With these efforts, SK hynix has obtained the water footprint certification for a total of six products. This includes 1Xnm 6 Gb LPDDR4 DRAM and 72 layer 256 Gb TLC NAND Flash that were certified in February this year.

Eun-kyung Lee, TL of the Icheon Environment Team said, “SK hynix has been selecting two representative products to receive the water footprint certification since 2018 and the company plans to gradually increase the number of certified products. TL Yong-je Lee said, “Water certification is used as an index to identify factors that can reduce environmental impact, as it accurately measures the amount of water consumed to produce a single semiconductor. It is also used as a standard for stakeholders to select eco-friendly products.”

Point 2 Establishment of Various Systems to Reduce the Water Consumption

If the semiconductor industry can be called “an essential of industry”, water can be called “an essential of the semiconductor industry”. In particular, in the semiconductor manufacturing process, it is essential to use ultrapure water (UPW) with ions, particles, chlorine, and silicon dioxide removed, which makes it important to achieve the stable water quality management. It is also important to implement subsequent management for the water used in the manufacturing process.

SK hynix is treating wastewater through a system that includes advanced treatment methods, such as using activated carbon and a facility to remove total phosphorus. The company has further enhanced the quality of the effluent as well by utilizing advanced and integrated wastewater treatment facilities to treat the wastewater that used to be treated in the partly deteriorated facilities.

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In addition to stable management of the effluent through advanced wastewater treatment, SK hynix is recycling the effluent, taking the lead in the activities for the water consumption reduction. These activities include using a wastewater recycling system and a cooling tower reuse system.

Inside the wastewater treatment plant, SK hynix established the “wastewater recycling system” that treats wastewater to the level of industrial water through ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) processes, and supplies it to the places where it is needed. Since the UPW is essential in semiconductor manufacturing, the UF process, which is a filter treatment method that filters down to nanometers (nm), and the RO process, which uses a pressure stronger than osmotic pressure to obtain clean water, were used. The RO process that plays a key role here is a highly advanced water treatment system mainly used to purify seawater. TL Eun-kyung Lee said, “Through the process like these, SK hynix carries out the quality control strictly according to the water quality standards required for each use. The amount of water reused through the process is up to 60,000 tons a day.”

SK hynix established a cooling tower reuse facility as well. A cooling tower prevents the introduction of external pollutants thoroughly by maintaining constant temperature and humidity, which is essential in the semiconductor manufacturing process. During the summer season, the water consumption of the cooling tower greatly increased, nearly double compared to the winter season, due to the increase in outside air temperature, and it was necessary to establish a system to reduce this. Accordingly, a plan was prepared to reuse the water discharged from the cooling water by using the microfiltration (MF) and ultraviolet (UV) ray sterilizer processes. The MF process treats the water by filtering 0.1 to 10.0 nm particles and removes lipid droplets, proteins with high molecular weight, and microbial cells, and the UV sterilizer sterilizes the water through UV. After going through the MF and UV processes, the discharged water is reused in the cooling tower or reused as water to wash scrubbers (equipment that collects solid or liquid particles floating in a gas using a liquid). TL Eun-kyung Lee said, “The amount of water reused per day through the cooling tower system is 26,000 tons as of December 2020. When the entire system is operated normally, it is expected that up to 10,000 tons of water can be saved per day

Point 3 “Aquatic Ecosystem Preservation” through Water Quality Management and Monitoring”

The water management areas of SK hynix extend to local communities as well as its business sites. Since 2019, SK hynix has been monitoring the aquatic ecosystem in a total of five locations, including a regional stream called Jukdangcheon and Bokhacheon that joins the Namhan River. Along with water quality, physical environments of bottom waters such as sediment (the bottom of a flow path in a certain direction where the river water flows), geographical features, and structures, and aquatic ecosystem including plants and mammals are checked in real-time. This is to preserve the ecological environment by identifying how the operation of business sites affects the aquatic ecosystem.

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For the aquatic ecosystem monitoring, ecological changes are monitored in comparison with the reference streams in accordance with the National Natural Environment Survey Guidelines (National Institute of Ecology, 2015) and Assessment Guidelines for Aquatic Ecosystem Health (National Institute of Environmental Research, 2016). In the case of Jukdangcheon, the species inhabiting are various including floras, mammals, and birds when comparing to the reference streams such as Jangrokcheon and Wonducheon. TL Eun-kyung Lee said, “In the case of Jukdangcheon, the inhabitation of legally protected species including otters, leopard cats, and common kestrels is confirmed. When checked quarterly, the number of species inhabiting increases over time and it can be confirmed that there is no abnormality in the aquatic ecosystem through the stable inhabitation.”

Also, an “emergency detention facility” was installed to prevent damage to the aquatic ecosystem in the event of an unexpected environmental accident. In this facility, when a real-time automatic water quality meter detects an abnormality in water quality, the water is transferred to the emergency detention facility to stop discharging the water. In other words, whether to discharge water is determined only after safe water quality is assured.

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In addition to the telemetering system (TMS, an automatic measuring device) that measures physical and chemical indicators, a special system unique to SK hynix exists in the automatic water quality meter of the emergency detention facility. It is a biomonitoring device that uses changes in the behavioral patterns of underwater organisms, caused by the inflow of pollutants. The presence of toxic substances can be determined by converting and quantifying the changes in behavioral patterns that Daphnia pulex (water flea), algae, and sulfate bacteria show for heavy metals, organic substances, and ionic substances, respectively, into electronic physical quantities.

These bio-monitored species are cultured according to appropriate water quality conditions and the survival and status of each individual are checked in real-time. The monitoring results are managed in four stages, which are interest, attention, alert, and severe. TL Yong-Je Lee said, “SK hynix is playing a role in ensuring the stability of effluent water by directly checking the impact on organisms, in addition to the pollutant indicators managed by the government. SK hynix is the only company in the world that operates an emergency detention reservoir through biomonitoring devices.”

Thanks to the sustainable water quality management activities, SK hynix could issue a green bond (a type of bond with a special purpose, limited to be used only for eco-friendly projects) successfully. With the green bond funds, SK hynix plans to continue to invest in treatment facilities for recycling water used in the production, as well as wastewater treatment plants. Also, the company plans to further reinforce emergency detention facilities and provide a space for locals to enjoy leisure through ecological parks.

“To Communicate with Stakeholders Continuously by Contributing to the Environment through Eco-friendly Projects”

What kind of future is SK hynix, which is gradually expanding its areas for water management, planning ultimately? In terms of water management, SK hynix is dreaming of the future of expanding water resource reuse, proving aquatic ecological health through stable water treatment, and securing technological prowess to identify micro-pollutants in addition to legally managed substances.

SK hynix has established a water resource recycling target of 138,000 tons/day in average by 2030. To achieve this goal, SK hynix plans to install and operate a reuse system of 40,000-ton scale at the wastewater treatment plant. Also, it plans to reinforce various technologies to establish a world-class level water quality management system. Lastly, the company expects to strictly manage drinking water at SK hynix as well and expand the related businesses by understanding overseas drinking water management cases and standards. TL Yong-Je Lee said, “It is expected to be able to communicate with stakeholders while managing and preventing actual environmental risks at the same time.”

SK hynix is growing into an eco-friendly company in the current times where environmental issues such as abnormal climate and water shortage are affecting our daily lives. The two TLs expressed their sincerity about water management.

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“The semiconductor industry uses various types of chemicals and consumes a lot of water, so strict management of water is needed. However, SK hynix is proactively researching not only pollutant treatment technology, but also toxicity and the impact on nearby ecosystems. We believe that the company is moving forwards as an eco-friendly company with world-class expertise and technological prowess. We promise to continue to work harder to lead the way in this technology in the future.”

¹Water stress: The share of water demand in water resources that can be used annually on average; the water stress level can be calculated as follows: 100*(fresh water intake)/(total water resources – environmental maintenance water); A higher value indicates a more serious water shortage. https://www.unwater.org/publications/world-water-development-report-2020/
²https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/08/17-countries-home-one-quarter-world-population-face-extremely-high-water-stress
³https://www.unwater.org/publications/world-water-development-report-2019/
⁴Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP): An organization that evaluates companies’ responses to the reduction of carbon dioxide, targeting “FT 500 Global Index” companies, which are the world’s top 500 companies based on the market capitalization (In the case of Korea, top 50 companies based on the market capitalization); headquartered in the UK, a non-profit organization founded in 2000 with the support of 35 European institutional investors; since 2003, the organization has been investigating corporate risks related to climate change, social enterprises, carbon emission reduction methods, annual reduction plans, etc., of major global companies to publish the results.
⁵ECO Vision 2022: A vision that adds the meaning of “Environmental & Clean Operation” to ECO, the word for environment and ecology; a sustainable management mission and mid- to long- term goal aiming for an eco-friendly semiconductor plant

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