Sony’s Environmental Plan

Sony’s Environmental Plan

According to Kazuo Hiral, the current CEO and President of Sony Corporation, environmental initiatives are one of Sony’s most important topics in this age in which a company’s consideration of environment is one of the selection standards for customers when purchasing products. Sony’s goal is to have zero environmental footprints by the year 2050. In order to get there they are promoting their current campaign “Road to Zero” where Sony is fully committed to responsible corporate citizenship and environmental stewardship through its products, practices, people and its programs. Sony has continuously provided people with a vast array of products, services and entertainment. Such corporate activities are only possible if the global environment, which sustains all life on earth, is healthy.

History of Environmental Activities

Sony has been conscious of their social responsibility since 1976 when they helped establish the Environmental Conference which was chaired by the President of Sony at that time. Its focus was on prevention of hazardous materials use and occupational health and safety in Sony Group operations in Japan. In 1993, Sony created Sony’s Global Environmental Policy to provide a framework for making every aspect of Sony’s operations more environmentally sound. This plan set guidelines for product assessment and promoting environmental research programs. Throughout the 90’s, Sony continued to work on their environmental improvement efforts by completely phasing out the use of fluorocarbons for cleaning purposes. They launched the Green Plus Project to promote environmental considerations where their products were concerned. They helped establish guidelines for the ISO 14001 certification which is the environmental management standard that is a systemic approach to handling environmental issues within an organization. The 14001 standard is based on the Plan-Check-Do-Review-improve cycle. In 1995, Sony Kohda Corporation became the first Sony Company to obtain the ISO 14001 certification. By April 2002, all Sony Company’s worldwide have obtained their ISO 14001 certification even their financial divisions.

During 2000 to 2010 Sony accomplished the following; introduction of Green Partner Environmental Quality approval program which encourages suppliers to cooperate in the production of environmentally sensitive products, Sony DADC Austria’s Anif plant reaches 100% use of renewable energy, Sony launches an effort to support forest conservation in Noshiro, they announce their energy saving LCD television, announce new V5 series of Bravia tv’s, release mercury free alkaline button batteries and announce the “Road to Zero” environmental plan. They also won the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award. Since 2011 Sony has been recognized for a number of awards pertaining to their continued green efforts here are some of the awards that Sony has won; XperiaTM P smartphone receives the European Green Smart Phone award, CES Innovation award for the digital still camera and Blu-ray home theater systems, 2013 Green Luminary award for their committed sustainability under the Road to zero campaign. Mexico’s Index National Environmental Award was given to Sony’s Service and Operations of America Group. Because of Sony’s efforts to reduce their environmental footprint they were awarded two Prime Ministers Hibiscus Awards from Malaysian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Sony’s definition of zero environmental footprint isn’t limited to the neutralization of carbon emissions, it also includes waste and use of finite materials such as oil-derived virgin plastics. Sony examined four environmental perspectives; resource conservation, climate change, control of chemical substances and biodiversity. These are the foundation of Green Management 2015. Sony has regional environmental offices to facilitate region-wide environmental management activities throughout their worldwide organizations.

Road to Zero

In the first stage of the “Road to Zero” path the company set and measured the first set of targets that were put in place. Sony wanted to reduce annual energy consumption by 30%, this target was met by products such as the Bravia LCD televisions another reason for the drop was the company’s commitment to using green buildings. Other operational improvements include 10% reduction in product mass, 50 % absolute reduction in waste generation, 30% absolute reduction in water consumption, 14% reduction in total CO2 emissions associated with all transportation and logistics and 16% reduction in incoming parts packaging waste.