Environment

IQE has a unique opportunity as a leading material solutions provider to develop technologies that support a sustainable world.

We are committed to minimising the environmental impact of our operations and have a robust environmental management system in place to ensure compliance with regulations and encourage waste reduction. Achieving a high level of environmental performance is a priority for IQE, as we recognise that acting responsibly is not just good for the world, but actively contributes to the success of our business. IQE encourages all employees to reduce their impact on the environment, including through reducing waste, recycling, restricting unnecessary travel, saving water and reducing energy usage.

IQE has made a public commitment to decarbonisation by setting Science Based Targets, which have been validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative. This commitment outlines our path to achieving NetZero greenhouse gas emissions across our entire value chain by 2050. In the near term, we are focused on reducing our absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 42% by 2030, using 2021 as our baseline.

We also recognise the importance of collaboration across our ecosystem. We are working to ensure that 85% of our suppliers - based on emissions from purchased goods and services - will have science-based targets in place by 2028. Similarly, we aim for 60% of our customers (based on revenue from processing sold products) to adopt science-based targets within the same timeframe.

Our commitment extends to Scope 3 emissions as well. By 2030, we plan to reduce absolute emissions from fuel and energy-related activities by 55%, again using 2021 as our reference year. Looking further ahead, our long-term ambition is to cut absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 90% by 2050, and to achieve the same level of reduction across Scope 3 emissions from purchased goods and services, capital goods, fuel and energy-related activities and processing of sold products.

Environmental Policy

IQE’s policy for conducting business in an environmentally responsible manner is as follows:

• Fully integrating environmental considerations into the business planning and decision-making processes
• Ensuring appropriate resources are available to ensure this policy can be implemented
• Ensuring compliance obligations are identified and that our operations are conducted in accordance with these obligations
• Validating our fulfilment of compliance obligations by means of documented periodic review
• Fulfil applicable legal and external requirements, identifying and implementing best practice wherever practicable
• Employing best practice to prevent pollution, minimise waste and maximise the efficient use of resources to protect the environment
• Working with IQE's supply chain to minimise their environmental impacts
• Providing suitable information and training to all employees, and interested parties to ensure that the aims of the environmental management system are achieved
• Continual improvement of our environmental management system and its performance by setting measurable objectives and reviewing them on a regular basis

In addition, each of our sites will supplement this policy to meet local requirements.

View our Environmental Policy Statement

Compliance with legislation

Compliance with environmental legislation is critical to our global businesses and we adhere to the laws of the jurisdictions in which we operate. To ensure we are meeting our regulatory requirements we employ appropriately qualified Health, Safety, Security and Environmental (HSSE) professionals, and these HSSE professionals have access to third-party professional advisors as required.

Additionally, IQE maintains membership of a number of professional bodies which provide a good source of reference and support, enabling it to keep up-to-date with continually evolving legislation. This includes regular updates from the British Standards Institution, Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment in the UK, the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), the US National Safety Council, the US National Fire Protection Agency, Semiconductor Environmental Health and Safety Association and the US Federal Register.

Environmental Management System

IQE’s Environmental Management System (EMS) is designed to the ISO 14001:2015 standard, which provides a structure that enables us to meet Environmental Policy commitments and requirements for environmental compliance. All of IQE’s operating facilities are third-party certified to meet the ISO 14001:2015 standard, being a global standard for environmental management which was developed to help organisations reduce their environmental impact and provide a framework for the continual improvement of environmental management practices. IQE is assessed annually by independent third-party audits of our ISO 14001 compliance with no material deficiencies recorded.

View our site EMS compliance certifications.

Waste, water, soil and air management

As a global organisation, IQE’s sites operate in jurisdictions with diverse environmental legislation. However, our core systems and processes ensure that the approach adopted across the organisation is consistent at all of our global sites. Each site operates continuous improvement programmes to reduce waste and to recycle and re-use wherever practicable. IQE also closely monitors the consumption of electricity, gas and water at all facilities, and looks for opportunities to improve energy efficiencies for new facilities, existing facilities and facility expansions.

Climate change and emission reduction

IQE recognises that Climate Change is a key challenge facing the world, and consequently we all have a responsibility to work to address it. Following our attainment of the independently verified ISO 14064 GHG emissions reduction standard during 2021 and a commitment to the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) made during 2022, IQE’s ESG Committee has actively been working to ensure robust plans are in place to facilitate our emissions reduction journey. IQE has successfully retained Carbon Reduction Certification annually since 2021.

As part of our commitment to provide annual updates on our progress against targets, and our latest data and 2025 SBTi report is available here.

2024 Emissions data
Inventory summary (mandatory ISO 14064 criteria) tCO₂e

Emissions Intensity (Operating revenue/gross tCO2e) (£m)

2024 Environmental performance

2024 Waste generation summary

2024 Water usage summary

2024 Energy consumption summary

Chemical Compliance

IQE certifies that to its knowledge, products manufactured by all divisions of the IQE Group (all subsidiaries of IQE plc) conform to the requirements of the following European Union Directives:

1. EC Directive 2011/65/EU on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS), and its 22 July 2019 update – COM/2017/038. The IQE Group declares that its epitaxial wafer products do not contain levels of the following substances exceeding 0.1% w/w (or 0.01% w/w for Cadmium):

• Cadmium (Cd)
• Lead (Pb)
• Hexavalent Chromium (Cr VI)
• Mercury (Hg)
• Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB)
• Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE)
• Bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)
• Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP)
• Dibutyl phthalate (DBP)
• Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP)

2. EC REACH Regulation 1907/2006/EC. The IQE Group also declares that its products do not contain levels of substances contained within the Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC), that exceed 0.1% w/w of the product. The list of SVHCs is continually updated on the ECA website.

3. EC Directive 2002/96/EC on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). Furthermore, IQE's products do not contain, and are not manufactured with, substances subject to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer. In addition, other substances listed below are not intentionally added to IQE's products or packing materials:

• Halogens
• Azo compounds
• Ethylene glycol ethers and related compounds
• Halogenated dioxins and furans
• Radioactive substances

Please view our chemical compliance statement.