Eric-Paul Schat | Sustainability Office, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Semiconductor manufacturers were among the earliest to embrace environmental sustainability and, in the past twenty years, have been heralded by regulatory authorities in Europe, the US, and Asia for their pioneering efforts in achieving concrete global agreements to reduce environmental footprints.

The European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA) and the World Semiconductor Council (WSC) have helped frame many of these global agreements, with environmental, safety, and health (ESH) task forces that encourage industrywide cooperation.

“As a company, you can't do everything yourself,” says Eric- Paul, who has chaired the ESIA ESH task force since 2006 and is the ESIA delegation chair for the WSC ESH task force. “We need global cooperation, especially when it comes to addressing important topics like resource conservation and emission reduction.”

Industry task forces give companies a way to share knowledge, outside of the competitive arena, on subjects that concern everyone. “We may come from different regions, countries, cultures, and companies, but we all have the same basic goal in mind - we want to protect the environment.”

The challenge, he says, comes in uniting these different points of view into a common plan of action. More often than not, though, he finds that “there's a genuine willingness to make progress.”

He points to the voluntary agreement on PFC reduction, which promises to meet its 2010 target for reducing emissions by 10% of the 1995 baseline. The PFC working group is close to establishing a post-2010 program, too. He says that another voluntary agreement, this time for PFOS reduction, was put in place very quickly. “It was done in just one year, and has more than 95% of the industry on the same line.”

Other cooperative efforts currently underway include looking at energy consumption in semiconductor manufacturing, and defining industry-wide metrics that will help establish measurable targets for reducing energy, water, and waste.

Eric-Paul admits that it can sometimes take a long time to achieve a result, and there are areas where they still haven't reached a consensus. “We're still competitors, so sometimes there are limits to what we can do together.”

Working with industry task forces is just one aspect of Eric- Paul's job. As Sustainability Officer, he's involved in just about everything relating NXP's pursuit of sustainability. It's work he finds both interesting and challenging, and believes has real relevance. “I go home each evening knowing that I've made a small contribution to making the world a better place.”