OHIO — As Intel continues to grow, so does the company's sustainability goals.

What You Need To Know

  • Technology giant Intel is building a $20 billion semiconductor manufacturing complex in New Albany 

  • The company said the chip factories will be built using green building principles and will use all renewable electricity

  • Intel has many company-wide sustainability goals

  • The company aims to become a leader in helping protect our climate

The company has placed a focus on environmental sustainability for decades and has taken action to help protect Earth's climate.

“Sustainability and corporate responsibility in general, ... it really is part of our DNA,” said Fawn Bergen, manager of corporate sustainability at Intel.

Intel has offices in more than 25 countries and 10 states in the U.S. Bergen said the company has a responsibility to help our climate. 

“It has to start with us," Bergen said. "We have to reduce our environmental footprint across the company, and then as programs mature, we also look outside of our four walls up to our supply chain that use our products.”

Intel has some substantial sustainability goals, some of which they’re well on their way to achieving. In four countries, including the U.S., all of Europe, Israel and Malaysia, Intel’s operations are run by 100% renewable energy. Bergen said they achieve this a few ways including the purchase of RECs, or renewable energy certificates, as well as on-site renewable energy installations. 

“We also use our parking lots as a great space to put solar panels,” Bergen said. “And especially in places like Arizona employees are so happy to have the shade to park their cars. It's a nice, nice side benefit. But we have some pretty large solar installations.”

In three countries, including the U.S., India and Costa Rica, they’ve reached net-positive water, meaning they return more water back to the communities they take from to make their products. By 2030, they want those statistics to be across their global manufacturing operations.

“There's two primary components there," Bergen said. "One is the energy conservation in our operations. So our ultimate goal is to reduce the impact on our watersheds, which is typically the withdrawal of freshwater, so our goal on site is to reuse or reduce the amount of water overall. We're on our way in other countries, too. But what that means is every drop of freshwater that we bring in, we are either returning it back to our communities, we treat it on site, wastewater treatment, we return that back to our communities.” 

By 2030, Intel wants to reach a zero waste to landfill goal meaning a very small amount of the company’s waste will go to landfills. Instead, they said it will be upcycled, recovered and reused in some capacity. 

By 2040 they plan to reach net-zero carbon emissions. 

“We've avoided about 75% of what our emissions would have been without all of our investments related to climate,” Bergen said. “Our growth strategy is absolutely part of our sustainability goals. So regardless of where we operate, how much we grow, we're still committing to get to those goals.” 

Bergen lives near Intel's Ocotillo campus in Arizona. She said to her, sustainability is personal and professional.

“We want our community to say, it's good to have Intel here, you know, that's kind of what I think of, I live here, I have children, you know, I'm part of that community, too,” Bergen said. “We want employees to want to work for Intel, and they want to be proud of what we do. So it's an accountability, but it's absolutely the right thing to do. You know, across the board, across the world.”

The company has plans to set roots in Ohio soon, and Bergen said sustainability is top of mind. 

“What can we learn from our other sites? What can we bring into our new sites to help us, you know, get ahead on our sustainability goals?” Bergen said. 

In Ohio, she said the campus may be new and in a new community, but the company has the same plans to make a positive impact. 

“I think Intel is maybe, we're not the leader in every area, but we're always striving to lead and we're always looking to do more than we've done in the past,” Bergen said. “I'm really excited to start engaging with the community in Ohio related to sustainability. Because again, we really want to build that trust, we want them to feel good about Intel being there. And sustainability is definitely a part of that.” 

Construction on the factories in Ohio is expected to be complete in 2025. For more information about Intel coming to Ohio, visit here.