As domestic companies leading the global display industry expand their greenhouse gas reduction strategies to achieve carbon neutrality, domestic renewable energy development is lagging behind China in terms of cost and scale, leading the industry to focus on the transition to renewable energy, particularly in overseas operations.

The 'Display Carbon Neutrality Seminar' was held by the Korea Display Industry Association at the 2023 Korea Display Industry Exhibition held at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul on the 17th.

On this day, association and industry officials attended a presentation sharing the current status of greenhouse gas emissions in the industry and carbon neutrality response measures for small and medium-sized businesses.

Eunsuk Cho, Director of the Industrial Policy Department at the Korea Display Industry Association, said, “The domestic display industry is an industry that contributes greatly to the national economy, and in 2021, the GDP “It amounts to 76.3 trillion won, accounting for 4.3% of the total domestic production,” he said, explaining that it is leading the global market, taking up 81.3% of the OLED market in particular.

The display industry has shown a steady decline in greenhouse gas emissions, with domestic business sites reporting 11.89 million tons in 2018, 9.38 million tons in 2020, and 8.12 million tons in 2022. Of these, indirect emissions accounted for 71% and direct emissions 29% as of 2022, with fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gas) and nitrous oxide (N₂O), which are among the six major greenhouse gases, accounting for 7% and 18%, respectively.

Greenhouse gases such as sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) and perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are used as main process gases in addition to F-gases emitted directly, including N₂O, and efforts to reduce these are being made as short-term goals.

Looking at the trend of global greenhouse gas emissions in the display industry, they increased slightly from 12 million tons in 2020 to 12.4 million tons in 2021, but then decreased to 9.79 million tons in 2022.

Kim Dong-hyun, SDI Group Leader, said, “The industry has reduced emissions by 1 million tons by 2022 through scrubber facilities,” and added, “The efficiency of process gas treatment facilities is currently around 90%, and we plan to develop and introduce technologies that can further improve this.”

The largest share of greenhouse gas emissions comes from indirect emissions from electricity use, which falls under Scope 2. Global greenhouse gas emissions from the industry reached 9.79 million tons in 2022, of which indirect emissions corresponding to Scope 2 reached 7.32 million tons, making the transition to renewable energy a challenge for the industry.
“The electricity sector accounts for the largest portion of greenhouse gas emissions in the display industry,” said Yoon Jae-pyeong, team leader at LG Display. “The importance of the renewable energy transition strategy is growing not only to achieve carbon neutrality goals but also to reflect the increasingly demanding needs of our customers.”

Currently, the domestic renewable energy transition methods include △green premium △REC purchase △third-party PPA △direct PPA △equity investment △self-installation. The first two are short-term procurement methods, while the last four are closer to long-term procurement methods.

REC purchases are reportedly up to 8 times more expensive than the green premium at the moment, as the Korea Energy Management Corporation manages them. LGD announced that it procured an amount equivalent to this year's target quantity using the green premium, as the number of corporate bids for the green premium is still low compared to the supply.

Team leader Yoon Jae-pyeong said, “China has a larger renewable energy footprint than Korea, at over 30%,” and “The cost of transitioning to renewable energy is also about 1/10th of the lowest green premium in Korea in China.” Accordingly, LGD said that it is accelerating the transition to renewable energy in its overseas corporations rather than in Korea, suggesting that it will be necessary to strengthen the domestically inadequate renewable energy supply chain.

In addition, since the establishment of the renewable energy system in 2021, the industry has been raising its voice and demanding improvements to various unreasonable institutional issues that are burdening renewable energy users, such as the issue of duplicate PPA network usage fees and the establishment of a new PPA-only rate system.