As world leaders, industry, academia and the wider public unite at Expo 2020 Dubai to share their ambitions for a brighter future, three principles are at the heart of dialogue: opportunity, mobility and sustainability. Accordingly, Hongju Jeon, President, LG Electronics Gulf explores trends in the field of sustainability and shares how the company aims to lead environmental best practice – from its operating model, through to every stage of the product lifecycle.
Expo 2020 Dubai seeks to deliver one of the most sustainable events in World Expo history, with sustainability ingrained into every process – from building design and construction, to establishing a lasting legacy for years to come. While the push for greener solutions is by no means a new topic, the sustainability agenda has accelerated in recent years – owing to a wider call for accountability and in many cases, out of sheer necessity. Now more than ever, nations and organisations must use their platforms, experience and reach to amplify the green cause.
At LG Electronics (LG), Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) management forms a key cornerstone of our approach, by which we deliver market leading technology designed with the environment.
Setting Goals to Ensure Accountability
Earlier this year, we made public LG’s commitment to completely transition to renewable energy by 2050. LG manufacturing facilities outside of Korea are already on target to convert 50 percent of their electricity needs to renewable energy over the next four years and we are rolling out green initiatives across our offices worldwide.
This announcement joins our earlier promise to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, through the Zero Carbon 2030 initiative, in which LG pledged to reduce carbon emissions in the production stage to 50 percent of 2017 standards by 2030.
Eco-Friendly Product Design and Packaging
In 2012, LG established guidelines for reducing the weight and volume, reuse and recycling of packaging materials. We have also delved deeper into R&D to make our products themselves more sustainable. Our 2021 LG soundbars use recycled materials such as resin for the outer cases of many of the models, while some even feature jersey fabric made from recycled PET bottles and have been certified as meeting the Global Recycled Standard.
The entire 2021 LG soundbar lineup adopts packaging constituting largely of recycled molded pulp, and greatly reduced quantities of EPS foam and plastic. As a result, the packaging has earned Eco-Product certification from SGS – the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company. Our soundbars have been assessed by SGS to have minimal environmental impact, emitting less air pollutants and providing a high degree of recyclability. Additionally, the packaging is designed in unique “L” shape, enabling more soundbars to fit in a typical delivery truck and lowering CO2 emissions as a result.
Empowering Smarter Living
It is essential to implement policies and practices which also help everyday consumers live more responsibly. Over the years, LG has developed intelligent electronics which not only add greater convenience and enjoyment, but also solve common pain points – such as excessive electricity and water consumption.
For certain LG appliances and electronics, this means deploying the use of AI to evaluate areas for optimisation, steam in the place of water, or simply modes for power saving and standby. Furthermore, the LG ThinQ smartphone application gives homeowners deeper insight into the performance of their smart home technologies in real-time, alongside recommendations related to improved performance and energy saving.
Closing the Gap with Responsible Waste Management
At LG, we also ensure compliance with regulations on the collection and disposal of home appliances and electronics around the world, while continuing our efforts to build new infrastructures for waste collection.
In order to achieve a cumulative collection of 4.5 million tons of e-waste by 2030, LG is conducting various activities to collect discarded appliances and electronics, such as increasing the recycling rate of collected products and designing in consideration of the proportionate use of raw materials and their recycling potential.
By 2030, we aim to utilise almost 600,000 tonnes of recycled plastic, in a concerted effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the value chain. The goal forms part of LG’s wider initiative to create a take-back ecosystem for electronic waste and increase the use of post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials in its consumer electronics and home appliance products.
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