Panasonic Accelerates Environmental Initiatives in China With Higher Targets
Osaka, June 19, 2008 – (JCN Newswire) – Panasonic, the leading brand by which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is best known, today announced its environmental performance in China for the business year ended March 2008 (fiscal year 2008). Since April 2007, Panasonic Group has been carrying out the three-year "China Eco Project" aiming to make Panasonic China, Panasonic’s subsidiary company of Matsushita Electric in China, the top company in environmental contributions. After achieving better-than-expected results in many areas during the first year of the plan, the company has set higher goals for FY2009 onwards to accelerate its efforts in environmental protection in the country.
1. Eco Ideas for Products
The China Eco Project aims to ensure that all new products released onto the Chinese market carry environmental labels[1] authorized by the national government, with an eye to upgrade the overall environmental performance of products sold there. During FY2008, 217 Panasonic products acquired Chinese environmental labels, more than six times the number achieved in FY2007, which was 34 products.
In December 2007, Panasonic flat-panel TVs (PDP and LCD TVs) released in September acquired the China Environmental Labeling Type II[2], first in the industry within the TV category in China.
As for FY2009, Panasonic is planning to acquire Chinese environmental labels for all product categories, and will further step up its environmental protection initiatives in China.
Energy Efficiency/Water Conservation Certification Labels cover PDP TVs, DVD players, LCD projectors, washing machines, rice cookers, air conditioners, refrigerators, microwave ovens, multi- function printers, printers, facsimiles, and lamps (13 product categories). Panasonic has acquired these labels for the industry’s largest 172 models in nine product categories (source: Panasonic’s data based on announcements by the Certification Center).
2. Eco Ideas for Manufacturing
In China, Panasonic has formulated its corporate targets based on the Chinese government’s 11th Five-Year Program for National Economic and Social Development, and is working to accomplish them in FY2010, a year earlier than the target year set by the Chinese government. The results achieved during FY2008 show that the goals will be met well ahead of the schedule.
Specifically, the target CO2 emissions per basic unit of production output from Chinese manufacturing sites will be changed to a 32% reduction in FY2009 (while the initial target was 15%). The revision was made partly because the FY2008 CO2 emissions per basic unit significantly surpassed the original target by 17%. This initiative is to execute Panasonic’s ‘eco ideas’ strategy aimed to eliminate 300,000 tons of CO2 emissions from production on a global basis between FY2007 and FY2010.
All Panasonic manufacturing business units in China are working toward gaining official environmental certification by the end of FY2010. During the course of this process, five companies within the Panasonic Group passed the Clean Production Audit in FY2008. At the China and Northeast Asia Clean Factory Competition, designed for sharing information on the most successful environmental strategies devised by all of Panasonic’s manufacturing business units in China, 134 ideas were shared, achieving a reduction of 21,000 tons of CO2 emissions, 17,000 tons of waste generation, 0.2 tons of chemical substances, and 1.24 million tons of water consumption. In total, these activities saved RMB 85 million (approx. 1.3 billion yen) in costs.
FY2008 activity results and FY2009 targets
——————————————————————– —- Environmental__________________FY2010______FY2008____ FY2008____FY2009 impact items__________________ target______target____results____target ——————————————————————– —- CO2 emissions (Per basic unit of production output)______________-20%________-10%________-17%______- 32% ——————————————————————– —
Recycling rate__________________ 95%______ (-30%)________90%____ (- 15%) (Waste generation)______________ 94%______ (-27%)______92.5%__ (- 22.5%) ——————————————————————– —- Release/transfer of Key Reduction-target Substances____ -10%________ -5%________ -7%____ – 7.5% ——————————————————————– —- Water consumption (Per basic unit of production output)______________-30%________-15%________-34%____- 22.5% ——————————————————————– —- Clean Production Audit (Cumulative total)______________ 55__________13__________11________43 ——————————————————————– —- FY2009 targets for the recycling rate (waste generation), key reduction-target substances, and water consumption are under review for setting higher targets.
3. Eco Ideas for Everybody, Everywhere
The China Eco Project is designed to encourage all Panasonic Group companies to participate in corporate citizenship activities and environmental awareness improvements. Key programs implemented during FY2008 were as follows.
1) Formulated the ‘Ten Articles for Chinese Eco-life.’ Employees who agreed to the ideas in the articles signed the Eco Action Statement (67,336 employees in 74 companies)
2) Japan-China Joint CO2 Reduction 100,000-People Eco Challenge Campaign (130,000 Japanese and Chinese employees participated in this event).
3) Launched the Chinese-version Eco Account Book program (4,212 employees are keeping accounts)
4) Campaign to adopt Green lighting equipment (2,255 employees participated in this event)
5) No driving to the office days (approx. 500 vehicles participate every month)
6) Local cleanup campaigns (804 employees participated)
Also, as a corporate supporter of the World Wide Fund for Nature Japan (WWF), the Yellow Sea Eco-region Support Project was launched in September 2007. Panasonic has since been supporting eight Chinese and Korean organizations with programs to preserve the diversity of marine life.
On September 26, 2007, Panasonic held its China Environmental Forum 2007 with about 250 attendees including government representatives, scholars and researchers, and the press.
At the forum, the ‘Declaration to be an Environmentally Contributing Company in China’ was made alongside an outline of the China Eco Project. The Panasonic Center Beijing, was successfully opened in 2007 with the Environmental Showcase fully-fledged. Nearly 300 children participated in seven sessions of environmental educational programs at the Center, named ‘ECO Institute for Environmental Children,’ offered from September 2007 to March 2008.
Panasonic will continue to accelerate and step up its environmental initiatives with the goal of becoming China’s No. 1 environmentally contributing company.
[1] Energy Efficiency/Water Conservation Labels, China Environmental Labeling (Type I and Type II) and Environmental Conservation Labels.
[2] A labeling system by which the Certification Center certifies the environmental performance self-declared by corporations. Corporations will be able to inform reliable product performance information to consumers.
[3] From FY2009 onwards, Panasonic will further accelerate its environmental initiatives by setting even higher targets.
About Panasonic (Matsushita Electric Industrial)
Best known for its Panasonic brand name, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of electronic products for a wide range of consumer, business, and industrial needs. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company recorded consolidated net sales of 9.07 trillion yen (approx. US$90.52 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2008. The company’s shares are listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya (TSE: 6752) and New York (NYSE: MC) stock exchanges. For more information on the company and the Panasonic brand, visit the company’s website at http:// panasonic.net/
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