Tokyo – Panasonic president Fumio Ohtsubo unveiled here Wednesday the company’s new “Green Plan 2018,” which vows to keep a focus on developing eco-friendly technologies while implementing better corporate-citizen policies to help reduce the Co2 footprint by company’s 100th anniversary.
Ohtsubo
said during the consumer electronics manufacturer’s first Eco Conference at
the newly refurbished Panasonic Center Tokyo that the
initiatives are being undertaken as part of a long-time directive from late
founder Konosuke Matsushita to “contribute to society.”
Ohtsubo said Panasonic “must be the forerunner in our industry” in leading the green revolution.
The overall mission touches upon developing new means for household
energy creation (through solar power and fuel cell systems), energy storage
through new lithium-ion battery technologies, smart energy-management systems
to prevent the waste of clean energy in the home, and through eco-centric
manufacturing and product procurement practices, including developing stricter
policies on the practices of partners and materials suppliers.
Panasonic, he said, will continue to work to follow the many recycling laws and electronics disposal mandates in the world on a region by region basis, while making new products more energy efficient to help reduce the Co2 footprint.
In addition, the company will work on better end-of-life planning
for new products it produces.
Panasonic, he said, will look to use up to 16 percent recycled materials in the
products it develops by 2018, while
striving to become the No. 1 company in green activities in the electronics
industry, by Panasonic’s 100th anniversary that same year.
Also at that time the company will look to build its own
profitability using green technologies that contribute to communities, and set
a goal of generating 3 trillion yen by 2018 from eco-related technologies and
products that produce energy savings.
Among the technologies the company is developing are household
power generation systems through solar panel and stationary fuel cell
technologies, energy-storage systems using new battery technologies, mobile
electric power systems including fuel cells and batteries, and smart household
appliances designed to reduce waste.
Not only will the new products help the environment, he said,
they will help Panasonic’s bottom line by delivering new and better profit
margin opportunities.
To help foster similar eco-conscious activities, Panasonic also
launched the Earth Lunch Hour,
which is part of the Panasonic Eco Relay campaigns, as a live lunch hour webcast
using participants from around the world who will share their own unique eco
ideas via messages, images, videos or becoming supporters. The webcasts will
run in a relay manner for 24 hours.
