Effects on the environment and climate

Environmental risk chip production?

Although environmental and climate protection has been demanded and practiced for decades, it has become particularly important in recent years. In 2019, for example, the European Parliament, driven by public protests, declared a climate emergency. In 2020, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on all countries to do the same.

At the same time, not only political but also economic actors are adapting to the new reality. More and more companies are stating sustainable management and carbon dioxide (CO2)-neutral production as goals, and in the financial industry “dirty” sectors and companies are being given risk premiums. The semiconductor industry, as a rapidly growing branch of the economy that is becoming increasingly important for the standard of living of billions of people and also geopolitically, is part of this development. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, which represents 98 percent of the US and around two-thirds of the global semiconductor industry, 1.15 trillion semiconductor products were shipped worldwide in 2021. Sales rose 26.2 percent year-on-year to $555.9 billion. Behind these record values ​​is a continuously increasing demand, which was partly boosted by special effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but is also of a structural nature: the global population is growing, more and more people are gaining access to electricity, more and more areas of life are being digitized.

PC Games Hardware Plus

or freedom from advertising and access to all PLUS articles (monthly subscription)




Sign up for a Plus subscription for EUR 4.40



Please log in to your PCGH Community account to purchase this item.

All offers for Plus (monthly subscription, annual subscription, upgrades for ad-free) can be found on our supporter page