As the global trend toward achieving carbon neutrality continues across industries, and global demand for renewable energy increases, a proactive government-led approach to encourage domestic companies to participate in RE100 appears necessary.

'RE100 (Renewable Electricity 100%)' was launched in 2014 by the British multinational non-profit organization 'The Climate Group', and is a voluntary campaign to convert 100% of the electricity used by companies to renewable energy such as solar energy by 2050.

Currently, 379 global companies, including Apple, Google, and BMW, are participating, and in Korea, Samsung is expected to soon announce its membership in RE100, and 22 companies, including SK and Hyundai Motors, have joined.

According to a survey of 300 domestic manufacturing companies conducted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as RE100 has recently emerged as a global supply chain issue, three out of ten major domestic manufacturing companies have been directly or indirectly requested by global demand companies to use renewable energy in their product production processes.

Results of the survey on 'Re100 participation status and policy tasks of domestic manufacturing companies' 14.7% of responding companies reported being "required to use renewable energy" by global demand companies, with 28.8% of large companies and 9.5% of mid-sized companies requesting this. Regarding the timeframe for requesting renewable energy use, the most common request (38.1%) was "after 2030," but 33.3% responded "by 2025," highlighting the urgency of the response.

Meanwhile, according to last year's 'Global RE100 Annual Report', 77 companies participating in the RE100 campaign were found to be building a cooperative system for the use of renewable energy power in their supply chains.

■ Many difficulties, including cost burden… and even the problem of insufficient power generation

While participation in RE100 is growing, it has emerged that domestic companies face practical challenges in implementing RE100. Companies cited the following as challenges: cost burden (35%), inadequate systems and infrastructure (24%), and lack of relevant information (23%).

Measures to implement RE100 include: △ building direct renewable energy power generation facilities, △ purchasing renewable energy power through the Green Premium System, and △ purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). However, the cost of all of these in Korea is 1.5 to 2 times that of Europe.

Additionally, there is a fundamental problem of insufficient domestic renewable energy generation. According to a survey by the Korea Energy Agency, the share of renewable energy generation in Korea in 2020 was 7.43%, the lowest among OECD countries and below the OECD average.

■ ESG management, increasing in importance from a business value perspective, requires realistic policy challenges.

As global demand for renewable energy grows, it appears necessary to proactively address this issue to secure supply chains.

Last July, Schneider stated that “companies that have not spared investment in ESG have grown into sustainable companies by generating high returns in operating their businesses,” and that sustainability has become an essential element for differentiating business value, and accordingly, it announced its intention to provide net-zero achievements throughout the supply chain.

Around the world, government-led policies are being proposed to achieve carbon neutrality. For example, Singapore, under government leadership, has embarked on developing seawater cooling systems. As global warming has become a problem that everyone must consider, consultation between the government, businesses, and the private sector appears necessary.

Companies proposed the following desired policy tasks for RE100 participation: △Expansion of economic incentives (25.1%), △Recognition of renewable energy purchases as greenhouse gas reduction performance (23.2%), △Expansion of renewable energy power infrastructure (19.8%), and △Support for information and renewable energy business matching consulting (16.5%).

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced that based on the survey, it proposed six policy support tasks, including: △providing incentives for PPA resident participation projects, △exempting additional costs when purchasing green rate plans, △expanding private sector participation in large-scale public-led renewable energy projects, and △minimizing additional costs for PPA.

As global demand for renewable energy grows, the government must develop practical policies through close consultation with businesses to enable not only large domestic corporations but also small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to create business value.