Intel pledged Wednesday to effectively eliminate all its greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, following a wave of other large tech companies that have made similar promises.
Intel faces a particular challenge, though, because most of its emissions come from materials used to manufacture its core product — computer chips. Intel may find it difficult, or perhaps impossible, to find alternatives that do not contribute to climate change.
So Intel said it may resort to “carbon offsets,” a practice that seeks to reduce climate impacts by taking steps to compensate for its own emissions. Environmentalists say offsets don’t fully compensate for carbon emissions; Intel said it will count them toward its “net zero” goal “only if other options are exhausted.”
Intel’s pledge came amid a stretch of extraordinary Oregon weather. An unprecedented April snowstorm Monday coincided with a ceremony to mark the opening of a $3 billion expansion of Intel’s D1X research factory in Hillsboro. It was the latest measurable snow to hit the Portland area in at least 80 years. And last June, temperatures in Portland hit an alarming 116 degrees, smashing prior records.
It’s not possible to connect any single weather event to climate change, but scientists agree that the altered climate is responsible for increasingly extreme weather.
“The impact of climate change is an urgent global threat,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said in a statement Wednesday. “Protecting our planet demands immediate action and fresh thinking about how the world operates.”
Intel is Oregon’s largest corporate employer and — excluding electric utilities — the state’s seventh-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality.
Oregon says Intel’s Washington County chip factories emitted the equivalent of 331,620 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2019, the most recent year for which the state publishes data. (Georgia Pacific Corp. emitted more carbon in Oregon than any other manufacturer, according to the state, nearly 1.6 million metric tons.)
Companywide, Intel says it emitted the equivalent of nearly 3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2020. About a third of that was from electricity usage; the rest was associated with the company’s manufacturing process, refrigeration and air travel.
Working with others in the chip industry, Intel said it hopes to swap out chemicals it currently uses to make semiconductors with alternatives that have a lower carbon footprint — and yet still provide technological advances. The company said it will also develop new equipment to abate those chemicals’ impact.
Intel says its U.S. operations have been running on renewable energy for about a decade, a standard it plans to replicate across its operations in other countries by 2030. Additionally, Intel said it will work to hold its suppliers to higher environmental standards and design more efficient computers.
“This will require significant innovation and investment, but we are committed to do what it takes and will work with the industry to achieve this critical mission,” said Keyvan Esfarjani, an Intel executive vice president and chief of its global operations.
