In recognition of Earth Day, SEMI’s Climate Equity & Social Impact Working Group (CESI) organized a series of lighting talks from member organizations to highlight their progress on sustainability. We heard from companies around the semiconductor industry, as well as Entegris engineer Paola Gonzalez. They shared a number of different strategies for mitigating climate impact. Here are some of the key takeaways.

1. Fix things that aren't broken

One speaker shared a valuable learning – when facility management only focuses on fixing things that are broken, functional yet inefficient processes can continue to persist indefinitely. For example, they discovered that some of their cleanrooms were built with an older engineering methodology, which meant that they were overperforming while using more energy than needed. By questioning their assumptions about energy usage and optimizing usage, they were able to save over 1.49M kWh.

2. Create awareness and let contributors take ownership

Another speaker highlighted that their company formed a community-based environmental action plan with over 2,000 members worldwide at all levels of the organization. Their purpose was to challenge the status quo, ensuring that sustainability was factored into every level of decision making – from offices to the factory floor. By taking a ground-up approach to environmental activism, the employee network has accomplished dozens of projects. They’re on track to achieve zero waste within their company by 2030, they’ve removed tons of waste from local beaches and parks, and they have planted over 40,000 trees.

3. Consider broadening your scope

Many organizations focus on reducing scope one and two emissions – the emissions that they are personally responsible for. In some industries, however, 99% of emissions come from scope three, which are emissions from the supply chain and the downstream value chain. One organization has made it their mission to reach out to both vendors and customers and ask how they can help reduce emissions. As with other organizations, this is a bottom-up approach that asks employees to take personal ownership of the project. In response, over 800 employees have become part of the program, and have already delivered tangible results.

4. There is no Planet B

We’d be remiss if we didn’t spend some time talking about the Entegris program. Paola Gonzalez is a co-leader of the Entegris Sustainability Network, and she’s part of an employee-led program that helps bring attention to environmental issues within our organization.

Her personal project took the form of environmentally friendly packaging. Entegris products can be found in every part of the semiconductor fab, and all of our products are shipped in some form of packaging to protect them in transit. We’d like to minimize the amount of packaging that ends up in the landfill. She’s also gone beyond packaging to look at end-of-use scenarios for all Entegris products.

As part of this project, the Entegris Green Packers team is looking at sustainably sourced materials, providing green disposal options for packaging, and optimizing our packaging to minimize waste without reducing protection.

This program aims for the adoption of several biodegradable and compostable packaging options. We’re also looking towards the elimination of bubble pack and polystyrene foam. Any new Entegris product must now consider a green packaging option.

We need increased collaboration on sustainability initiatives

Paola ended her presentation with a call for feedback from our customers and partners, many of whom were represented at the event. In order to ensure that we invest in sustainable packaging that continues to meet customer needs for safety and sustainability, we need to hear their thoughts!

In this vein, SEMI’s Earth Month Lightning Talks were a great way to hear from other companies and learn about their effective approaches to sustainability. We look forward to working with them in the future and increasing collaboration on climate action. For more information, you can find a complete recording of the event at the SEMI website, and you can learn more about Entegris’ sustainability goals by reading our most recent Corporate Social Responsibility report.