By Adedapo Adesanya

As part of efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, global electronic giant, LG Electronics, has pledged to launch technologies that will drive the attainment of this.

The SDGs provide a powerful aspiration for improving the world, laying out where they collectively need to go and how to get there.

LG in its own little way said it has worked with the UN and other notable non-government organizations across the world to support the SDGs and reiterated its commitment to better the life for all through its products and services.

Its commitment to the planet is evident in every one of its core technologies.

According to Mr Il Hwan Lee, President, LG Electronics, Middle East & Africa Region, LG is committed to the triple bottom line of people, planet and profit.

“As a responsible global corporate citizen, LG Electronics is set to contributing to the achievement of the SDGs as the main goal of its social contribution activities. Our focus is on developing new innovations across Sustainability for the Community.

“We are committed to providing electronic products that help customers live better. To support this, we have developed a mid to long term plan themed: LGE & SDGs which we are working towards”, he said.

“In the last couple of years, LG has introduced a wide range of products across the areas of TVs & Home Entertainment, Kitchen, Laundry, Computers, Air Conditioning & Solar that fit into the technologies of the future with the SDGs at heart. Some of such that promote eco-friendly society include LG DUAL Inverter, LG NeON 2, LG WashTower and the CordZero M9 robot vacuum cleaner.

“The revolutionary DUAL Inverter Compressor technology inside LG’s air conditioners never stops adjusting speed for the perfect temperatures without wasting electricity thanks to its lower speed. The compressor reduces electricity usage by 70 per cent despite cooling rooms 40 per cent faster than conventional models.

“When it comes to TVs, LG’s OLED self-lit technology ticks the most environmentally-friendly boxes. They have been recognized as Eco Products by SGS, especially its OLED models with no backlight meaning fewer plastic parts, less indoor air pollution and 50 per cent less VOC emissions. OLED has a comparatively high recycle rate and doesn’t contain hazardous substances like cadmium and indium phosphide.

“LG OLED TVs are easy on the eyes and have been engineered to cause minimal eye strain via low blue light modes and zero flickering, with certification from TÜ V Rheinland of Germany and UL in the United States.

“This year, LG Soundbars are the first of their kind to receive SGS Eco Product Certification. Many LG soundbars use polyester resin sourced from used plastic bottles or recycled plastics, one using jersey fabric sourced from recycled PET bottles – so for every unit produced, almost seven plastic bottles are saved from the hazardous landfill.

“Even the packaging is greener, more recycled moulded pulp and less EPS plastic and foam are used, and the new L-shaped packaging lets more units be transported at once for fewer trucks on the road,” he said.

Recently, LG unveiled Net Zero homes to demonstrate innovations that reduce energy consumption, increase efficiency and enhance daily life. The New American Home and The New American Remodel showcased the wonders of an LG-solar-powered house filled with energy-efficient consumer electronics, appliances and air solutions.

Key to the homes’ environmental sustainability and appealing designs are rooftop installations of high-efficiency solar modules from residential renewable energy leader LG Business Solutions. Forty LG NeON 2 60-cell modules help power each home to support their Net Zero designs. These popular high-efficiency modules generate more power from the same amount of sunlight than lower-efficiency modules of the same size while blending in unobtrusively to the look and feel of the home’s design.

LG Electronics a few years ago set a new direction for its social contribution efforts by reflecting the opinions of the management and key stakeholders, and identified five of the 17 SDGs as its priority. LG Electronics continuously develops and implements initiatives that contribute to achieving these 5 SDGs, and monitors the progress.

The company’s SDGs plan was categorised into three, which are the promotion of an intelligent lifestyle, creation of a better society and realization of carbon and circular economy.

LG has long been committed to projects that benefit the environment. LG Carbon Fund was established in 2017 to support the development of GHGreducing technologies and solutions through the virtual cycle concept wherein all profits from LG Carbon Fund investments are funnelled back into the effort to reduce greenhouse gases.

LG is also an active participant in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project, which seeks to curb harmful emissions through investing technology and capital in developing countries.

Towards the realization of zero-carbon and circular economy, the electronic giant has reduced carbon emissions in its production level by 150,000 tons by 2020 compared to the base year 2008 (i.e 1 million tons in cumulative reductions).

In its mid to long term plan, LG wants to achieve 80 per cent Green 3 Star Products by self-assessment of environmentally friendly products and achieve a 95 per cent recycle rate of waste from production sites by 2030.

To establish a sustainable supply chain, the company plans to use 100 per cent RMAP conformant smelters by the end of this year, assess the CSR risks of all its tier 1 suppliers and expand the scope to include its tier 2 and 3 this year as well. Its plan is to establish the highest level of safety culture in the manufacturing industry (independent stage) by 2030.

Achieve 100 per cent low risk for all the production sites in CSR self-assessment; improve work efficiency and the level of employee satisfaction by achieving work and life balance through fundamental changes in work style.