Samsung
CEF Lead Executives
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MARK NEWTONList Item 1
Head of Corporate Sustainability, Samsung Electronics North America
Mark leads environmental, social and operational sustainability for one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electronics in one of its most important markets. Mark’s specialty is cross-functional stakeholder engagement and strategy development with a focus on risk management and product and business process innovation. Throughout his professional career, Mark has held corporate responsibility and sustainability leadership roles at some of the world’s most respected corporations including Motorola, Apple, Dell, Timberland and VF, achieving top rankings for sustainability and environmental performance. Mark holds a Doctorate and Master of Science in Chemistry from the University of Texas and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Chemistry from Keene State College. Mark has served on the advisory boards of E-Stewards, the Electronics Recycling Representative Organization (ERRO), Clean Production Action and is a director of the Smallholder Farmers Alliance, an agroforestry social enterprise operating in Haiti.
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CASSIE SMITH
Senior Manager, Corporate Sustainability
Cassie is responsible for accelerating the scale and impact of Samsung Electronics’ sustainability programs in the U.S., one of the world’s leading consumer electronics brands in one of its most valuable markets. Cassie oversees sustainability strategy execution and the integration of sustainability practices in the U.S. through strategic partnership engagement and stakeholder collaboration, with a focus on brand reputation and ESG communications. Cassie holds a degree from The Ohio State University in International Relations & French and completed a Masters in International Business in London through the University of Chester. Her previous experience includes working in local government, financial services, and the United Nations Global Compact, where she was responsible for driving corporate engagement on topics of environmental and social sustainability to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through strategic programs, partnerships and campaigns.
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LAWRENCE FINKEL
Senior Pricing Manager, Samsung Electronics North America
Lonnie is the Senior Pricing Manager at Samsung Electronics America. He manages and maintains all volume discounting, special pricing, and bid submission programs for the Display Division. Lonnie also is a member of the leadership council in Samsung’s Next Generation Leaders group in charge of Sustainability. Given that working for an ethical and sustainable company is important for this generation of Samsung employees, Lonnie leads conversations about environmental trends and works with the Vice President in charge of sustainability to extol and promote Samsung’s conservational goals to the entire organization. Lonnie holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Penn State University. In his free time, Lonnie enjoys running, gardening, rock climbing, and played in a Men’s soccer league prior to covid.
Sustainability Goals
Current Sustainability Goals
Ongoing Goals
- 1.55 intensity-based GHG emissions for global worksites
- 90%+ of new product development to be environmental conscious
- 100% use of sustainably sourced paper packaging
2025 Goals
- Reduce the environmental footprint of its Galaxy products by:
- Using recycled materials in all new mobile products
- Eliminating single-use plastics from product packaging
- Sending zero waste to landfills
- Achieving zero power standby consumption for smartphone chargers
2030 Goals
- Cumulatively take back 7.5 million tons of global e-waste
- Recycle 500,000 tons of plastic
Past Goals Achieved
- Sourced 100% renewable energy for all facilities in the U.S., Europe, and China as of 2021
- 250 accumulated GHG reduction for product use phase (reduced CO2 emissions in the product-use phase by 301 million tons and collected 4.54 million tons of e-waste as of 2021)
- 95% waste recycling rate at Samsung locations (achieved as of 2021)
Latest Sustainability Reporting
Highlights
- Reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 10.16 million tons compared to business as usual, a 59% YoY increase in reduction amount.
- Sourced 31% of energy consumed globally from renewable sources, totaling 8,704 GWh of renewable energy; experiencing an average annual increase of 59% in the use of renewable energy since 2018.
- Reduced GHG emissions from product use phase of 13 product categories by 914,000 tons CO2e (refrigerator, air conditioner, washer, dryer, microwave oven, vacuum cleaner, TV, monitor, PC, HHP, tablet, wearable, and base station).
- Reused 116.59 million tons of water, a 29% increase compared to 2021.
- Collected 600,502 tons of E-Waste, a 9% increase compared to 2021.
- Product energy use efficiency improved by 16% across seven major product categories compared to 2019.
- Achieved the Zero Waste-to-Landfill Mark (Platinum) at 12 business sites.
- 98,862 tons of plastic with recycled resin used, achieving a utilization rate of 14%.
- Joined global initiatives such as RE100, the Asian Clean Energy Coalition (ACEC) and Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE), and collaborated with Patagonia to launch a filter that reduces microplastics released from washing machines.
- Ranked 2nd (among ICT manufacturers) in the World Benchmarking Alliance’s 2022 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark.
- Recognized as the Leader (highest rank) in the Global Child Forum’s 2022 Children’s Rights Benchmark.
Recent News
2024
Is expanding its self-repair program (which enables consumers to repair their devices) to nearly 50 models across its product portfolio, including expanding parts available to enable a wider variety of repairs. It is also evolving its partnership with Encompass Supply Chain Solutions to give customers access to genuine parts, tools, and repair guides. (Jan 2024)
Consumer Technology Circularity Initiative — Launched by the Consumer Technology Association, this voluntary industry initiative aims to reduce waste, encourage reuse, enhance recycling, reduce climate impact, and see less disposal of consumer electronics. The initiative will build on the eCycling Leadership Initiative launched in 2011. Founding members, including Lenovo, LG Electronics, Panasonic, Sony Electronics, and CEF member Samsung, have pledged to increase e-scrap processing, improve repair and reuse, and incorporate more recycled content into products, according to Sustainability Magazine. (Jan 2024)
2022
Asia Clean Energy Coalition (ACEC) — ACEC aims to drive corporate clean energy procurement in Asia, accelerating its overall demand and supply. ACEC will strategically improve the policy and regulatory environments for clean energy, in both national and regional Asian markets. The coalition seeks to align the world’s leading clean energy buyers, project developers and financiers, to help policymakers, utilities and energy regulators innovate and deploy cost effective clean technologies across the Asia-Pacific region. Founding members include CEF members Amazon, Apple, Cisco, Google, Meta, and Samsung. (Nov 2022)
The Semiconductor Climate Consortium — Aims to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the semiconductor value chain and will work together along three objectives: collaborating on common approaches and technology innovations to reduce GHG emissions; publicly report progress on Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions annually; and set near- and long-term decarbonization targets with a net zero goal by 2050. The consortium is made up of 60 founding members, including CEF members: Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and Schneider Electric. Companies can learn how to join here. (Nov 2022)
New Secretariat to Address Connected Device Emissions — Global climate consultancy, the Carbon Trust, and technology companies Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Samsung and Sky, are developing the industry’s first specification for measuring, accounting for, and decarbonizing the emissions associated with connected devices while being used by customers. Connected devices, which include phones and laptops, used a total of 500 Terawatt hours in 2020. The group aims to produce an accurate baseline for reporting energy efficiency improvements and establish rules for matching electricity consumption with renewable energy generation, as well as applying technology to optimize energy use of connected devices by consumers. (Sept 2022)
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS — Announced a commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions (Scope 1 & Scope 2) across all global operations by 2050, and a pledge to achieve net zero carbon emissions (Scope 1 & Scope 2) for all operations in its consumer electronics businesses (its “Device eXperience Division”) by 2030. The company also joined RE100 and committed to “match electric power needs of all international markets where it operates, outside of Korea, with renewable energy within five years.” Samsung Electronics will invest over $5 billion by 2030 to advance its environmental initiatives, which include reducing process gases from semiconductor manufacturing, conserving water, expanding electronic waste collection, and reducing pollutants. Samsung plans to run all operations outside of Korea and its DX Division on renewable energy within 5 years. (Sept 2022)
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA — Announced a new do-it-yourself repair program for owners of its Galaxy S20 and S21 product family and the Galaxy Tab S7+. The company will partner with online repair community iFixit and provide genuine parts, repair tools, and step-by-step repair guides. The project is intended to help customers prolong the life of their devices and reduce e-waste. (April 2022)
2021
CDP “A LIST” — 272 out of nearly 12,000 companies scored by CDP made CDP’s 2021 “A List,” which includes a climate change A List (200 companies), a water security A List (118 companies), and a forests A List (24 companies). The lists recognize companies for their “environmental leadership,” all of which are reducing their value chain emissions and have verified Scope 1 and 2 emissions, SBTi-approved emission-reduction targets, evidence of targets that cover their Scope 3 emissions, “robust governance and oversight of climate issues,” and “rigorous risk management processes.” A record 14 companies received Triple A scores for their work across all three themes, including: Danone, Firmenich, Fuji Oil Holdings, CEF member HP, International Flavors & Fragrances, KAO Corporation, Klabin, Lenzing, L’Oréal, Metsä Board Corporation, Mondi, Philip Morris International, Syrmise, and CEF member Unilever. Additional CEF members on the A Lists include: Ecolab (water security), Ford (climate change, water security), General Motors (water security), HPE (water security), Microsoft (climate change, water security), PepsiCo (forests), Samsung (water security), Schneider Electric (climate change), Visa (climate change). (Dec 2021)
Reuters announced its 2021 Responsible Business Awards winners, recognizing companies that are truly having an impact on business, society and the environment, and delivering a new blueprint for business in the 21st Century. The following CEF members were classified as winners in the following categories (Oct 2021):
- Samsung earned the Circular Transition Award
- Trane Technologies earned the Business Transformation Award
- Morgan Stanley earned the Sustainability Trailblazer Award
- PepsiCo was highly commended for the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award
Committed to
reducing the environmental footprint of its Galaxy products with new 2025 targets to: use recycled materials in all new mobile products; eliminate single-use plastics from product packaging; send zero waste to landfills; and achieve zero power standby consumption for smartphone chargers. (Aug 2021)
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The company’s board of directors approved the reorganization of its Governance Committee into a Sustainability Committee. The committee will deal with a range of ESG issues (e.g., circular economy, diversity and inclusion, climate change) and ultimately set the direction of and monitor Samsung’s sustainable management. (Aug 2021)
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Over 80 companies—with combined annual revenue of $1.5 trillion, $341 billion in assets, and over 3 million U.S. employees—called on federal lawmakers to support ambitious climate policy action to address the climate crisis and advance environmental justice
as part of the Ceres-led “LEAD on Climate” advocacy day. CEF members participating included Amazon, CBRE, Dell Technologies, Dow, HP Inc., McDonald’s, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Samsung Electronics America, Siemens,
and Unilever. (May 2021)
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Earned the EPA’s ENERGY STAR Corporate Commitment Award, becoming the first company to earn the distinction in the last 9 years. The award recognizes Samsung’s longstanding and multifaceted commitment to demonstrating leadership and partnership with ENERGY STAR and mitigating climate change. (April 2021)
Businesses Support Moratorium on Deep Seabed Mining — A global moratorium on deep seabed mining initiated by WWF and BMW drew support from Google, Samsung, and Volvo. The companies pledged not to source any minerals from the deep sea, refrain from using mineral resources from the deep sea in their supply chains, and not finance deep-sea mining activities. Companies may sign the moratorium statement here. (April 2021)
Israel-based startup
StoreDot claims to have
produced the first commercially-viable battery samples capable of charging in 5 minutes. The startup company envisions applications
eliminating range and charging barriers for electric vehicles. Investors include
BP, Daimler, Samsung Ventures,
and TDK.
(January 2021)
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Samsung ranked #10 on the EPA's Top 100 National Green Power Partnership list (January 2021)
2020
“2020 Information and Communications Technology Sector Benchmark” (KnowTheChain) scores the
49 largest companies in the Information and Communications Technology sector
based on their actions to
mitigate forced labor in the supply chain. The report gave the highest score to
Hewlett Packard Enterprise, followed by HP Inc., Samsung, Intel,
and Apple. (June 2020)
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Samsung earned the EPA's highest honor—the 2020 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence Award. (March 2020)
2019
A group of companies — including
Apple, eBay, Samsung, and Sprint — have signed a joint
agreement with Apex Clean Energy to
purchase a combined 75 MW of renewable energy from a 500 MW wind farm in Texas. The wind farm is expected to come online in 2021. (November 2019)
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BASF partnered with
BMW Group, Samsung SDI and Samsung Electronics to
launch “Cobalt for Development,” a cross-industrial
pilot project aimed at improving working conditions at an artisanal cobalt mine site in the
Democratic Republic of Congo. (September 2019)
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Samsung Electronics announced
plans to replace its plastic packaging with packaging made from sustainable materials, such as recycled/bio-based plastics and paper. (February 2019)
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