Recent climate changes have caused numerous natural disasters worldwide, and global environmental problems are causing great risks to mankind. We need to transform society from one based on mass-production and,
mass-consumption that produces massive amounts of waste into one that is based on new values and rules. In order to play a role in this transformation, the Ricoh Group will further strengthen and accelerate its environmental management.
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The Ricoh Group aims to reduce environmental impact to a level within the Earth's self-recovery capabilities. To achieve this goal, it is important to implement environmental impact reduction activities from a long-term perspective as well as biodiversity preservation efforts with the goal of maintaining and mending the Earth's self-recovery capability. In 2009, the Ricoh Group set the Mid- and Long-Term Environmental Impact Reduction Goals which outline specific steps the group will take to achieve its Long-Term Environmental Vision. In addition, the group established the Ricoh Group Biodiversity Guidelines to give more consideration to biodiversity in our business activities. |
Advanced nations need to reduce environmental impact to one-eighth by 2050. With this in mind, the Ricoh Group became the first in the world to establish environmental impact reduction goals for 2050 in three areas, energy conservation, resource conservation and pollution prevention.
Ricoh Group's Global Environmental Conservation
-Keep environmental impact within the self-recovery capabilities of the Earth- |
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| Setting Environmental Targets |
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The Ricoh Group promotes Environmental Management-which simultaneously realizes environmental preservation and profit creation-and has been actively working to reduce environmental impact. In 2005, the Group expressed its affirmation of the need for advanced nations to reduce environmental impact to one-eighth by 2050 by devising the Year 2050 Long-Term Environmental Vision in order to develop environmental activities from a longer-term perspective. In March 2009, the Group devised the new Mid- and Long-Term Environmental Impact Reduction Goals which outline specific steps to accomplish this vision. These are the world's first medium- to long-term environmental impact reduction goals that quantify targets in three ares-resource conservation, recycling and pollution prevention-in addition to energy conservation and prevention of global warming targeting the years 2020 and 2050. These numerical targets are included in the Environmental Action Plan devised every three years, and highly effective activities are implemented in order to achieve these goals.
The current Mid- and Long-Term Environmental Impact Reduction Goals include specific targets in three areas, which are unprecedented worldwide. The Ricoh Group set these goals because we believe the social issues that will face the world in 2050 will be more than just related to global warming. In addition, we fear that despite a drop in CO2 emissions-as a result of implementing activities aimed at reducing CO2 emissions-the environmental impact will increase due to the effects of chemical substances and wasting of resources incurred during the process of activities to reduce CO2 emissions. Furthermore, it is extremely important to consider the environmental impact over a product's entire life cycle and set "absolute figures" for reduction targets.
Ricoh Group Mid- and Long-Term Environmental Impact Reduction Goals
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2020 |
2050 |
| Energy saving and global warming prevention |
Reduction of CO2 emissions (including five gases calculated as CO2 equivalent) throughout lifecycles |
Reduce 30.0% from fiscal 2000 |
Reduce 87.5% from fiscal 2000 |
| Resource conservation and recycling |
Reduction of use of new resources in products |
Reduce 25.0% from fiscal 2007 |
Reduce 87.5% from fiscal 2007 |
| Pollution prevention |
Reduction of chemical substances to minimize environmental risks |
Reduce 30.0% from fiscal 2000 |
Reduce 87.5% from fiscal 2000 |
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* Targets specified above are set based on Ricoh's business areas and market share in fiscal 2000.
Aiming to maintain the global environment's ability to recover, the Ricoh Group engages in biodiversity through business activities and social contribution activities
Ricoh Group Biodiversity Guidelines
Human society largely depends on the ecosystem. But our society has had a tremendous impact on the ecosystem, placing a wide-scale burden upon it. In the past 50 years, the biodiversity has been badly degraded due to human activities. If we do not act now to start conserving the biodiversity and change our way of using natural resources to a more sustainable approach, the survival of human society may even be at risk. To articulate this idea in a concrete form, the Ricoh group laid down the Ricoh Group Biodiversity Guidelines in March 2009. The Guidelines combined the existing measures of the Group toward global environmental conservation and new measures for biodiversity conservation to help develop and promote specific activities. With these Guidelines, the Ricoh Group will continue our efforts to realize an affluent society built on a sustainable global environment.
Declaration on Business and Biodiversity
<Ricoh (Global)>
Ricoh signed the Leadership Declaration on the "Business and Biodiversity Initiative" at the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP9), held in Germany in May 2008. This initiative led by the German Government calls on businesses to take leading action to reduce degradation of biodiversity. The signatory corporations set voluntary goals, carry out assessment of the impact of their business activities on biodiversity, and incorporate countermeasures into environmental management systems.
Forest ecosystem conservation projects
<Ricoh (Global)>
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The Ghana project in which the local cacao harvest has increased roughly eightfold
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Ricoh places particular priority on forest ecosystems with rich biodiversity and has been promoting forest ecosystem conservation projects since fiscal 1999 in partnership with environmental NPOs and local communities. Unlike simple afforestation, the main goal of these activities is to protect the habitats of indigenous species and the life of residents. And in such activities, priority is given to creating a partnership with environmental NPOs and local residents. Of the 11 projects that have been implemented, three have achieved their goals. The remaining eight projects are currently ongoing. The projects are financed by the social contribution reserve that Ricoh established to continuously carry out social contribution activities.
Raising the awareness of employees the importance of biodiversity <Ricoh (Japan)>
Based on the Ricoh Group Biodiversity Guidelines created in March 2009, we published the Biodiversity Conservation Activity Handbook to teach our employees the value of biodiversity and show them what each of them can do to conserve biodiversity. In April 2009, we started a website for environmental information called "Gaiaia," to encourage employees to take an interest in biodiversity conservation. In addition to these programs, we are planning to offer study sessions and fieldwork sessions to learn and understand the mechanisms of the global environment from the perspective of other life forms on Earth. We will continue to provide opportunities for employees to raise their awareness and take good actions to conserve biodiversity in the course of their daily work and
private life.
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| Biodiversity Conservation
Activity Handbook |
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Gaiaia: Environmental website for raising employees' awareness of environmental conservation. |
Other eco-friendly efforts |
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