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Applied Materials (AMAT) Progresses Well on Sustainability Path

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Applied Materials (AMAT - Free Report) continues to proceed well toward making its 10-year environmental sustainability plan successful.

The company is committed to running its business on 100% renewable energy and sourcing it worldwide by 2030 in order to reduce its carbon footprint.

According to its latest sustainability report, the company has significantly increased the use of renewable energy from 37% to 57% from 2019 to 2021.

In addition, Applied Materials has been able to power its business with 80% of renewable energy in the United States. It is progressing well to back its operations with 100% renewable energy in the country by the end of 2022.

On the back of the above-mentioned endeavors, AMAT’s Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions were reduced by 28%. The company has identified and quantified the sources and categories of Scope 3 emissions, which will aid it in achieving net-zero carbon emissions soon.

With such achievements and strong carbon neutrality efforts, Applied Materials remains well-poised to gain solid momentum, wherein the demand for lowering the hazardous environmental impacts of business operations is increasing fast.

Switching to the use of clean and renewable energy is expected to help the company gain investor optimism in the days ahead. Notably, Applied Materials has lost 45.3% on a year-to-date basis.

Renewable Energy in Demand

With the latest move, AMAT peps up the carbon neutrality game for other tech companies like Lam Research (LRCX - Free Report) , KLA Corporation (KLAC - Free Report) and Analog Devices (ADI - Free Report) , which are also taking initiatives to adopt alternative energy sources to lower overall carbon emissions and cut energy bills substantially.

Lam Research seems to be progressing well on its environmental sustainability path, which is evident from its recent accomplishments. The company, which is committed to reaching its goal of carbon net-zero emissions by 2050 and operating business on 100% renewable energy by 2030, has introduced a foundational strategy to boost sustainability throughout the supply chain.

Further, the LRCX has come up with various energy-efficient etch products, which are capable of reducing tool use of helium by up to 80%. The products are designed to boost generator efficiency by up to 15% in NAND and foundry logic development.

Meanwhile, Analog Devices pledged to reach carbon neutrality and net-zero emissions by 2030 and 2050, respectively.

ADI intends to shift its overall operations to 100% renewable energy by 2025. It is gearing up to address emissions across the full value chain by 2030.

KLA is committed to powering its global operations with 100% renewable energy by 2030. Precisely, KLA is targeting a 46% cumulative reduction in both Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030 from its 2019 baseline.

Bottom Line

The latest move of Applied Materials is in sync with its strong efforts to bolster its presence in the semiconductor industry by deepening its focus on maximizing the sustainability impacts of its technologies and solutions.

We believe that the company’s strengthening endeavors will continue to shape its trajectory in the intensifying carbon neutrality game. Its robust environmental measures across its operations remain noteworthy.

However, the Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) company is currently suffering from uncertainties associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Supply-chain disruptions and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine remain other major concerns.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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