E Ink becomes first display company to reach RE20 sustainability goal

 

E Ink Holdings Inc. (Billerica, Massachusetts), originator, pioneer, and global commercial leader in digital paper technology, has announced that by December 2022, its global operations and sales sites will have achieved RE20, where 20% of the energy used by the company is generated from renewable sources.

E Ink's factories and offices in Billerica, Fremont, and South Hadley in the United States, as well as sales offices in Tokyo, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea, have achieved the RE100 goal of using 100% renewable energy. In addition to actively introducing the use of renewable energy in its global sites, E Ink has optimised power consumption through highly efficient energy management systems to move towards its goals of Net Zero 2040 and RE100 by 2030 to address the challenges of climate change and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

E Ink’s original goal was  to achieve using 10% of renewable energy (RE10) by 2022, 40% by 2025 (RE40), 100% by 2030 (RE100), and fulfil its commitment of Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2040. To accelerate the implementation and use of renewable energy, E Ink has signed Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) and purchased Renewable Energy Certificates (REC). These efforts have contributed to the success of E Ink's reaching the milestone of RE20 ahead of schedule in 2022.

“At the end of 2021, E Ink pledged to reach Net Zero 2040 and RE100 2030, the two main goals to achieve environmental sustainability. Since then, E Ink has been actively examining its environmental indicators in global sites and assessing the greenhouse gas and energy consumption in our global operations and manufacturing sites. We have been improving energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption in manufacturing in our company. We have also been actively purchasing and using renewable energy from diversified sources to accelerate the realisation of the goal to use 100% of renewable energy in global factories,” said Johnson Lee, CEO of E Ink Holdings.

E Ink believes that sustainable manufacturing and innovation can bring benefits to both the environment and shareholders.  The company is committed to working with ecosystem partners to create and promote applications where E Ink’s low power consumption and energy-saving ePaper is an ideal fit. At the same time, they are committed to joining international initiatives related to carbon reduction, including participating in international programs such as RE 100, EP 100, The Climate Pledge, and SBTi science-based targets. E Ink has adopted the TCFD framework to disclose financial impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities.

According to the evaluation of the Green Revenue 2.0 Data Model by FTSE Russell under the Energy Management Efficiency IT Process sub-sector, E Ink was identified as having 99.98% Green Revenue in 2021 and has contributed a positive impact on the environment and grown Green Revenue since 2020. As part of this effort, E Ink has been studying the CO2 effects of displays using paper or LCD versus electronic paper (ePaper) displays. Findings have shown significant CO2 savings with the use of E Ink ePaper displays.

As an example, a financial institution with 125 branches saves 16.5 million A4-sized paper sheets each year when they adopt an eNote using E Ink’s technology, and contributes approximately 1100 tons of CO2 reduction each year. In the past 5 years, 130 million eReaders have been in use globally, replacing the purchase of paper editions of books. It is estimated that paper books would emit more than 100 000 times the CO2 versus eReaders with an E Ink display and LCD devices would emit more than 50 times the CO2 versus eReaders throughout that time.

Over the past seven years, 600 million electronic shelf labels (ESLs) of around three inches in size have been installed worldwide. If it is assumed that the price and information is changed four times a day, ePaper tags can reduce CO2 emissions by 32 000 times versus single-use paper price tags.

Comparing the energy usage of ePaper retail tags versus LCD retail tags over a period of five years, with four updates per day, for every kilowatt hour (KWh) consumed to manufacture the ePaper material a savings of 400 KWh is realised. Low power ePaper enables solar-powered signage and bus stops around the world to be net-zero devices, using 100 percent renewable energy.

In addition to the environmental goals, E Ink is also focused on social good. E Ink joined hands with ePaper ecosystem partners and launched the "eReading for the Future – the eReader mobile library project". This programme provides ePaper-based eReaders, along with content, for elementary and junior high school students. Kobo joined E Ink for this programme to provide digital books for students. E Ink is planning to expand the programme with more partners and customers to promote digital reading in schools with an ePaper-based eReaders that create less eye strain than other display technologies and which reduces paper usage.

With operations and business growing steadily, E Ink's demand for talent has also increased exponentially. As the leading company in the ePaper industry, E Ink has focused on attracting and retaining professional talents through a competitive salary structure and comprehensive benefits, and providing careers with global opportunities. E Ink has been actively recruiting like-minded talents to join the team to work together in advancing ePaper technology and expanding into applications of ePaper that are both smart and environmentally friendly.

Caption: E Ink Announces reaching RE20 ahead of schedule (photo: E Ink)

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