BREAKING THE COMMERCIAL DEADLOCK:
INDUSTRY-LED STRATEGIES FOR LOW-GWP ADOPTION
ABSTRACT
Low Global Warming Potential (GWP) gases remain a viable means to reduce difficult-to-abate Fab direct emissions (Scope 1). Existing efforts in low GWP gas substitution have remained fragmented, lacking the necessary economies of scale for broader adoption. The Gas Substitution Accelerator (GSA) initiative adopts an industry-wide, fab-guided approach to prioritize a single low GWP gas, driving phased experimentation through coordinated, collective efforts.
This model draws inspiration from the industry’s successful transition in the late 1990s and 2000s, where global consortia coordinated a migration from legacy perfluorocarbons (PFCs) to Nitrogen Trifluoride (NF₃). That transition demonstrated that synchronized engineering roadmaps, pre-competitive data sharing, and unified adoption pathways can successfully decouple production growth from emissions. Today, the semiconductor industry faces a parallel imperative. Renewed, industry-wide collaborative efforts are essential to overcome the commercial deadlocks currently hindering the adoption of next-generation low-GWP alternatives, ensuring we can once again achieve significant emissions reductions at the speed and scale required for a sustainable future.
BIOGRAPHY
Bruce Gall is a Strategic Partnerships Manager at Google. In this role, he leads strategic initiatives to enable progress toward the decarbonization of the semiconductor value chain, with a targeted focus on the Tensor product line for Pixel devices.