Climate Protection and Energy Efficiency 

Approach

AMD's senior executives approved a formal commitment to global climate protection on February 20, 2001. The executives renewed that commitment with the following version approved on August 28, 2006 and reviewed annually:

    "Global climate change presents a range of complex risks to the global community and our common vision of a prosperous future. AMD recognizes our responsibility as a global citizen to reduce our direct impacts on the environment and to inspire and enable others to do the same. We do this through the development of energy efficient technology and the responsible design and operation of our facilities. Our commitment, strategy, and progress are reviewed annually at the executive level of the corporation."


Policies and Practice

AMD's annual Global Climate Protection Plan clarifies and documents the company's strategy and goals to address our impacts on the climate. The following sections provide a brief summary of AMD's climate protection program.  More detailed information is available in our Global Climate Protection Plan and Performance Indicator Table.


AMD's Global Climate Protection Goals

In May 2008, AMD received a 2008 Climate Protection Award from the U.S. EPA.  This award program was established in 1998 to recognize exceptional leadership, outstanding innovation, personal dedication, and technical achievements in protecting the climate. EPA noted AMD's long-standing commitment to climate protection and active participation in EPA programs over the past decade, exemplified by achievement of a Climate Leaders goal, early and continued commitment to PFC reduction, energy efficiency projects, energy efficiency commitment in product design, and leadership in green power procurement.

AMD set global climate protection goals in three areas:

  • Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
    Reduce normalized greenhouse gas emissions (as measured by kilogram carbon equivalent emissions/manufacturing index) 33 percent by year-end 2010 relative to the 2006 baseline.
  • Reducing PFC Emissions
    Reduce absolute perfluorocompound (PFC) emissions (metric tons of carbon equivalent emissions) by 50 percent by 2010 (relative to a baseline year of 1995). This goal has been achieved; AMD's 2007 PFC emissions are more than 98% below the 1995 baseline year.
  • Reducing Manufacturing Energy Use
    Reduce normalized energy use (as measured by kilowatt-hours/manufacturing index) 40 percent by year-end 2010 relative to the 2006 baseline.

For details regarding our progress toward these goals, please refer to AMD's Global Climate Protection Plan. 

Energy Efficient Sources

To meet our Global Climate Protection goals, AMD obtains its energy from more efficient sources and has implemented numerous projects to increase the energy efficiency of our manufacturing and design operations. Highlights include partnering with two tri-generation facilities in Dresden (Germany) and being one of the largest industrial purchasers of green energy in Austin, Texas (USA).

  • Tri-Generation Energy - Energy Center I (EVC I) and Energy Center II (EVC II) are specially designed tri-generation facilities that supply the electrical, heating, and cooling demands of the GLOBALFOUNDRIES wafer manufacturing facilities in Dresden, Germany.  During its initial nine years of operation, EVC I achieved a total average energy efficiency of more than 72 percent. EVC II began operating in 2005 and to date has achieved a total average efficiency of almost 82 percent, 10 percent higher than EVC I. 
  • Green Power - In 2001, AMD's Austin, Texas facilities became one of the first corporate purchasers of renewable energy through Austin Energy's GreenChoice® Program.  AMD continues today as one of Austin's largest industrial users of GreenChoice energy, and our new Austin facility (AMD's Lone Star Campus) has committed to operate using 100 percent GreenChoice energy through the year 2015.

    AMD received the 2002 Green Power Leadership Award from the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).  As of January 6, 2009, AMD was listed as the 19th largest Fortune 500 purchaser of renewable energy.

    In February 2008, AMD, along with fourteen other large companies with operations in California, joined the Green Power Group California Affiliates. The Green Power Group is a project originated by the World Resources Institute to share best practices for purchasing and developing new sources of renewable energy.

    Learn more about AMD's Lone Star Campus.