Naver Becomes First Domestic Internet Company to Join RE100... Full-Scale ESG Management Initiated

"Meeting 99% of Electricity Consumption with Renewable Energy by 2040"

Naver Headquarters '1784' Rooftop Solar Power

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Naver announced on the 22nd that it has become the first domestic internet platform company to complete joining the global eco-friendly initiative 'RE100' aimed at achieving carbon neutrality.

RE100 is an international initiative with the goal of covering 100% of a company's electricity consumption with renewable energy such as wind and solar power. Naver explained that this RE100 membership is meaningful as it firmly demonstrates its intention to objectively validate the excellence of its environmental management system through a credible initiative, following the establishment of its own environmental management policy with the announcement of the '2040 Carbon Negative' strategy in 2020.

Naver plans to implement the '2040 Carbon Negative Roadmap' established in 2021 to achieve RE100. Ninety-nine percent of the greenhouse gases emitted by Naver come from electricity use at its Internet Data Centers (IDCs) and office buildings. Naver will first replace 60% of the electricity used in IDCs and office buildings with renewable energy by 2030, and increase this to 100% by 2040. To this end, it will apply various measures including expanding renewable energy procurement through Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), expanding self-generation facilities for renewable energy at offices and IDCs, and introducing energy reduction technologies.

In addition to RE100, Naver is pursuing membership in various initiatives in the environmental sector, a core part of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance). At the end of July last year, it also joined the CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), the world's largest global ESG evaluation index with participation from over 13,000 companies in 91 countries, which is recognized for its highest reliability worldwide.

Furthermore, as the first domestic internet company, Naver voluntarily manages Scope 3 emissions, which include indirect greenhouse gas emissions from partners and suppliers, and conducts third-party verification to improve accuracy.

Im Dong-ah, Naver's Chief Leader, stated, “We are establishing reduction plans including Scope 3 emissions to reduce environmental impact, while also pursuing membership in major global eco-friendly initiatives such as EV100. We aim to establish ourselves as a leading domestic IT company with a level of environmental management comparable to global corporations.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.