Intel's environmental sustainability investments and actions have lowered the chipmaker's last decade of cumulative greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 75% compared to a business-as-usual approach, but reaching true net-zero will still be "incredibly challenging," Intel EVP and GM of Technology Development Ann Kelleher said.

In April the company announced it's aiming for net-zero operational, or scope 1 and scope 2, emissions by 2040 – just eighteen years from now. And while Intel has yet to commit to reaching net-zero scope 3 emissions, or supply chain emissions – which were roughly 10-times higher in 2021 than its scope 1 and 2 emissions combined – the chipmaker says its scope 3 strategy focuses on partnering with suppliers and customers to limit those emissions.

Intel does measure and report its scope 3 data in sum and by source, with the company reporting 28.9 million metric tons of CO2 in scope 3 emissions during 2021 alone. Its total reported scope 1 and 2 emissions for 2021 came out to just 3.3 million metric tons of CO2.

Dell'Oro Group Analyst Lucas Beran noted at the time that Intel’s “sustainability initiatives focused on 'product energy efficiency', 'water stewardship', and 'waste and circular economy solutions' are very much focused on reducing scope 3 GHG emissions and are likely to have a much larger impact than any goals or progress associated with a reduction in their scope 1 or 2 GHG emissions."

The use of sometimes environmentally harmful chemicals, which Kelleher noted are "critical" aspects of the semiconductor industry that significantly impact Intel's greenhouse gas emissions, can take 20 to 40 years in development.

"Finding suitable replacements for those could take a long time," she admitted, though it's an industry-wide challenge, not Intel-specific. "Our peers across the semiconductor manufacturing industry face it, too. That’s why we’ve committed to a cross-industry R&D initiative to identify greener chemicals," she said.

To that point, innovation can no longer be seen through an engineering lens but from an environmental sustainability perspective as well, Kelleher noted. Sustainability isn't just about doing good, it's about managing how environmental issues affect "total cost of operations" and "the bottom line," she said, citing the impacts of chemical and water use, energy consumption, and waste disposal.

Despite Intel's messaging of desire to reach net-zero, Kelleher acknowledged the company's sustainability goals carry with them many unknowns. "Solving seemingly impossible challenges is what Intel does best. And we are very realistic about the challenges that lie ahead," she said.

On that journey, Intel says it's betting on cross-industry collaboration as a major innovation driver. "No company can mitigate climate change on its own, and we can only succeed if we learn and improve together," she explained.

But the impending impacts of climate change, paired with the time Kelleher and Intel know it will take to develop new and clean ways of operating, cannot be overlooked, and "if we don’t start the journey of many years now, we will never get there," she warned.