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RE100 promises to cover 100% of the electricity used by companies only with renewable energy such as solar and wind power by 2050.

Samsung Electronics, which consumes the most electricity in the world, has been hesitant for a while, but today (15th) declared its membership.

Using only renewable energy means that you will have to pay higher electricity bills.



Environment reporter Jang Se-man pointed it out.



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Samsung Electronics announced that it has joined RE100 with the declaration of carbon neutrality in 2050.



In the home appliance sector, such as TVs, by 2027, and in the semiconductor sector, which uses more electricity, by 2050.



[Soojin Kim / Vice President of Samsung Electronics: (Samsung Electronics) plans to actively participate in overcoming the climate crisis and do our best to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.]



RE100 is influential enough to attract nearly 380 global companies within 8 years of its inception .

I lost.



what is the background



RE100 was initially led by IT companies and automakers with high electricity usage or environmental issues.



However, a loophole was revealed.



For example, Apple's headquarters designs the iPhone, while Foxconn in Taiwan takes over the actual production.



Even if Apple's headquarters uses a lot of renewable energy, Foxconn has to step in to reduce the iPhone's carbon footprint.



In this way, global companies pressured their subcontractors and suppliers to influence the spread of RE100.



In the semiconductor industry, as competitors such as TSMC and SK Hynix joined RE100, Samsung Electronics can no longer ignore it.



The problem is the amount of renewable energy generation.



Last year, renewable energy generation required 44 terawatt hours, and only Samsung Electronics needed 18 terawatt hours.



Moreover, the government plans to reduce the share of renewable energy while increasing nuclear power generation.



[Kim Tae-han / Senior Researcher, Korea Social Responsible Investment Forum: It is a general trend to continuously push the target period forward (attainment of RE100).

(Considering this trend), there is a very high possibility that the supply of (renewable energy) will be insufficient in response to demand in Korea (I think)]



In addition, in Korea, renewable electricity is 10-40% more expensive than conventional electricity.



How to reduce high energy costs while following the trend of carbon reduction is a task that Korean companies and the government must solve together.



(Video editing: Lee Seung-yeol, CG: Jegal-chan·Choi Ha-neul)