Chipmaker adopts patch of forest for reforestation

ST Microelectronics' five-year project at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is part of its global strategy to go green

By Dominic Nathan
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

CHIPMAKER ST Microelectronics is sinking its roots deeper into Singapore, this time into a patch of forest at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.

 

Reforestation is vital for conserving Singapore's natural heritage.

It will be possibly the first manufacturer in Singapore to adopt a patch of forest for reforestation.

Some 1,000 trees will be planted on a 1-ha plot in the reserve, which it will adopt for five years for a start, said ST Microelectronics spokesman Joanne Tan.

The move is designed not just to give the company a green image, but also one that is tied very closely to its goal to cut the company's carbon-dioxide emissions to zero by 2010.

Such emissions, which come from burning oil in power stations to generate electricity, are partly to blame for global warming.

While debate on the phenomenon continues to generate heat, the organisation has gone ahead to set specific targets to cut energy use at all its 18 manufacturing sites worldwide.

Its president and chief executive, Mr Pasquale Pistorio, told The Straits Times in a recent interview that its Singapore facilities are pioneering some of these efforts.

Between 1991 and last year, its facility in Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park cut by 12 per cent every year the amount of electricity used to make one of its standard wafer products, while boosting production by about 20 per cent a year.

'We have invested about US$1.9 million (S$3.3 million) in energy conservation efforts alone since 1991. But this has saved us US$95 million in electricity,' he said.

The company plans to keep cutting energy use, but it is also looking at how else it can achieve its goal of being environmentally neutral by 2010. So, why reforestation to achieve its aim?

Trees absorb carbon dioxide, and the company figures that if it plants enough of them to fill an area of about 350 sq km - half the size of Singapore - this will remove another 11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

This is unrelated to its business, but the company, which is committed to achieving its zero-emissions target, says it plans to invest some US$50 million worldwide in reforestation.

Its 1-ha site in Singapore is a modest symbolic contribution.

Banking group Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (Singapore) has sponsored two reforestation sites in the past, but ST Microelectronics is the first company under the Adopt-a-Park Scheme to adopt and sponsor a reforestation plot for five years.

The company will also supply funds and volunteers for reforestation-related activities with schools and the community.

The National Parks Board has identified 148 ha of degraded forests in the nature reserves.

Over the past eight years, reforesting has been carried out in 10 major areas here, covering a total of 20 ha.

Said Mr Pistorio: 'Reforestation is not a long-term solution, but an important stop-gap measure we are taking while alternative sources of energy become viable.'