Samsung fuelling climate change by using 'dirty, old-fashioned fossil fuels' to make gadgets, says Greenpeace

Greenpeace, an international non-governmental environmental organisation, has accused Samsung of fuelling climate change by still relying on "old-fashioned fossil fuels" to make gadgets. According to the organisation, the South Korean conglomerate uses only one percent renewable energy while other companies like Apple have committed to 100 percent in their production.

Greenpeace has criticised Samsung for "using dirty, polluting energy sources like coal" to make millions of gadgets every year, and has urged the company to actually walk the talk of "championing the impossible" and "doing bigger things."

"Right now, as the whole world wakes up to the realities of climate change and take urgent action to stop it, one of the biggest companies in the world is holding us back: Samsung," Greenpeace said on its website. "This sleeping giant is too big for us to ignore and we have no time to waste."

The organisation also has urged people to sign a petition to help it convince Samsung "to move out of the industrial age and into the 21st century." About 5,100 people have signed the petition so far while it needs a total of 100,000 signatures.

"The good news is that every day more and more people are coming together, taking action to ensure a greener future for us all. Unfortunately, there are still a handful of outspoken people and backward-looking companies who either outright deny climate change is real or are just sticking their heads in the sand," Greenpeace said in a blog post last week.

In its recent reported titled "Guide to Greener Electronics," Greenpeace USA revealed that Samsung used more than 16,000 GWh of energy in 2016, with only one percent coming from renewable sources. The report also claimed that technology giants like Samsung, Huawei and Amazon were failing to take responsibility for their environmental footprints.

"While Apple, Google, and other internet companies are making progress transitioning their data centres to renewable energy, nearly all of the companies have yet to address the rapidly growing carbon footprint and dependence on dirty energy in their supply chains," said the report, which praised Apple for its commitment to 100 percent renewable power for its supply chain.

Samsung, however, said on its website that the company "is dedicated to the development of highly energy-efficient products and process technologies to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases."

"In 2016, we were able to improve our energy efficiency by 49 percent compared to 2008. These improvements resulted in less energy used, lower costs for consumers and lower greenhouse gas emissions," Samsung said.