Samsung commits to using 100 percent renewable energy by 2020

Samsung is making a major environmental commitment, pledging to access power from 100 percent renewable energy sources in its major facilities. That includes all of the company’s factories, office buildings, and operational facilities in the U.S., Europe, and China. Samsung says this move will be made by 2020. This is the first time that Samsung has made such a public pledge to use clean energy sources.

Samsung has already installed solar panels to power some of its buildings. Today, it said it would add a total of 42,000 square meters of solar panels in its main Samsung Digital City headquarters, located in Suwon, South Korea. It will also add solar panels for power and geothermal facilities in its Pyeongtaek campus in 2019, and in its Hwaseong campus in 2020. In addition to its own efforts, Samsung indicated that starting in 2019, it will offer some kind of assistance to its top 100 partner companies so they can set up and achieve their own renewable energy plans and timeframes.

Samsung has been the target of protests by a number of environmental groups, including Greenpeace, for its previous lack of commitment to using renewable energy sources. In its own press release, Greenpeace stated that the company’s new pledge was a “major step forward for the movement to build a renewably powered future.”

Samsung’s announcements comes a few months after its main smartphone rival, Apple, revealed that all of its own facilities, retail stores, offices, and data centers around the world now access 100 percent clean energy. It also said that 23 of its own partner suppliers are working to achieve their own renewable energy goals.