Naver joins RE100 campaign to go carbon-free by 2050

South Korea’s Naver Corp. said on Monday it has joined the RE100 initiative to go carbon-free by 2050 as the first domestic internet portal to commit to the campaign.

The Climate Group, a London-based organization, kicked off the multinational RE100 campaign in 2014 to make a full switch to renewable energy by 2050.

As part of its implementation plans, Naver will switch to renewables for 60% of the electricity consumption in its data centers and offices by 2030 and 100% by 2040.

It will also expand its in-house renewable energy-generating facilities, while introducing energy-saving technologies.

Companies that consume the most electricity at more than 100-gigawatt hours a year, are advised to join the global campaign.

Google LLC, Apple Inc. and General Motors Co. are among the 370 members of RE100. About 20 South Korean companies, including SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp., have won their membership.

Naver also plans to commit to other environment-related initiatives, including the EV100 campaign, to join global IT companies in efforts to fight climate change.

Under EV100, its members need to switch to eco-friendly vehicles either owned by themselves or leased.  

The announcement came after Naver reported its largest-ever quarterly revenue, led by webtoon and fintech services.

Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea’s largest company by market cap, will soon join the RE100 campaign, people familiar with the matter said last week.

Write to Jung-Soo Hwang at hjs@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article