GENEVA, Switzerland -- In its fifth annual corporate environmental report, STMicroelectronics said it made $29 million of environment-related savings in 2001. The company said it has also extended the report's scope to highlight social as well as environmental issues.
ST's initiatives in environmental conservation and recycling led to savings of $29 million during 2001: $5 million in energy costs, $4.5 million in water costs and $19.5 million in the cost of chemicals, the company said.
Given that the total value of semiconductor chips sold worldwide in 2001 by the industry is reported to have dropped by 30% compared with 2000 that ST reduced consumption is not surprising.
Also, in ST's report key environmental measurements are normalized on financial added value, so the company's environmental performance in 2001 was slightly below target in some areas, the company admitted.
However, ST also pointed out that absolute savings were achieved while the company gained market share and jumped three places in the rankings of chip makers to third position, making the case that environmentally-friendly manufacturing and business success are linked.
On top of reporting its work towards environmental goals, such as becoming carbon-dioxide neutral by 2010, ST has, for the first time, added a social element to its report.
Under that aspect the report summarizes ST's participation in a number of global and United Nations sponsored initiatives.
"We believe that the wealth creation and economic growth needed to fund a better quality of life for present and future generations can only be achieved by treating economic prosperity, environmental protection and social equity as mutually interdependent goals," said Pasquale Pistorio, president and chief executive officer of STMicroelectronics, in a statement.
"The real world in which we do business is complex and challenging - as is the achievement of sustainability in economic, environmental and social issues. As a member of the United Nations Global Compact, which addresses corporate social citizenship, STMicroelectronics will remain total in its pledge to its people, to the planet and to the prosperity of its stakeholders," he said.
The company also reports that, as in previous years, investments in environmental responsibility continue to pay back quickly. None of its energy conservation investments has taken longer than three years to pay back, with an average time of two years, the company reports, claiming this supports the idea that `ecology is free'.
The full 2001 corporate environment report is available as a PDF file from ST's website.
RSS
Digital
FPGA startup crunch:
These articles are part of a series that examines the status of various FPGA startups in light of the economic recession. Startups Abound Logic, Achronix Semiconductor and Cswitch are all on the hot seat.
10 fab technologies on the hot seat:
There's trouble brewing in chip-making paradise. Delivery of chips at 32-nm and beyond won't be a cool breeze. EE Times has constructed the following list of 10 fab technologies that could make or break future IC scaling.
6 fab technologies on the bubble:
It isn't going to be a slam-dunk to deliver chips at 32-nm and beyond. See our story about 10 fab technologies on the hot seat. Then read this article: 6 technologies on the bubble.
Our take on Intel-River:
With its acquisition of embedded software leader Wind River Systems Inc., Intel Corp. has unambiguously signaled that it is again attempting to diversify beyond X86 processors. Here's our take on the deal.
CEVA's reversal:
When Gideon Wertheizer, CEVA's CEO, came to New York to ring the closing bell at Nasdaq to celebrate the company's 10th year anniversary, he talked about CEVA's 21.6 percent revenue growth in 2008.
Hot technologies to watch for in 2009:
Every technologist, marketer, industry analyst and reporter on a hunt for the next big thing is bracing for the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show scheduled less than a month away.
Top 20 predictions for semis in 2009:
To help sort out the confusion in the market, EE Times has released its own chip forecasts--and other predictions--for 2009. So, what will happen in analog, FPGAs, foundry, memory, MPUs and other sectors?
Silicon 60 version 8.0
The EE Times 60 Emerging Startups list, first published in April 2004, has been updated to version 8.0 to reflect the latest corporate, commercial, technology and market conditions.
RSS| 
Digital| 
Mobile
