Sony has issued its CSR Report 2008 which covers the full spectrum of its activities related to Corporate Social Responsibility in FY2007.

The CSR Report 2008 is made up of a printed report and website components, comprehensively covering the CSR activities being carried out by the Sony Group across its diverse business operations from the perspective of stakeholder interest and business importance¹.

The printed report provides information relevant to key CSR topics (environment, products and services, employees, and society) with a focus on Sony's management framework in regards to governance and compliance, while the website contains supplemental data as well as an electronic version of the report to enhance its accessibility among Sony stakeholders. The printed report and website components will be issued in English, Japanese and Chinese².

For more comprehensive information on Sony's CSR activities please see: http://www.sony.net/csr
(Both Japanese and English version can be downloaded from the above site.)

- Addressing the Issue of Climate Change
<CSR Report 2008 P13-17>

In February 2008, Sony together with the global environmental NGO World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) held the "Climate Savers Tokyo Summit 2008". Howard Stringer, Sony Chairman amp; CEO, signed the "Tokyo Declaration" together with 11 partners, declaring to make efforts to "try to widen the scope of emission reduction activities partnering with our business partners," and "promote a low-carbon lifestyle to consumers and our customers."
Sony promotes the proactive introduction of renewable energy at its sites, and as of July 2008, the Sony Group in Japan purchases a total of 55.45 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually under the Green Power Certification System.
With the "BRAVIA" KDL-32JE1 released in July 2008 in Japan, Sony succeeded in cutting annual energy consumption³ to 86 kilowatt hours, which is equivalent to a reduction of 232% under the energy reduction standards achievement rate, realizing the industry's No. 1⁴ energy efficiency.

- Promoting Reuse/Recycling of Materials
<CSR Report 2008 P17-20>

Sony was the first in the industry to establish a closed-loop system to recycle flame-retardant plastic material for televisions, creating "BRAVIA" LCD televisions that incorporate certain components made from recycled plastic parts of past Sony televisions and polystyrene waste from packaging for television parts. Also, in the U.S., Sony launched the "Sony Take Back Recycling Program" nationwide in September 2007 as part of our effort to expand our voluntary initiatives to significantly increase the recycling of end-of-life electronic devices. Under this program consumers may recycle Sony products and products made by other manufacturers.

- Promoting Supply Chain Management
< CSR Report 2008 P29-31>

In order to manage CSR in its supply chain, Sony implemented a program based on the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC), an industry-wide framework.
As part of efforts to assess supplier compliance to the Sony Supplier Code of Conduct, which is based on the EICC code of conduct, Sony introduced a supplier self-assessment program to all of our approximately 3,500 suppliers region by region globally. Joint audits are also conducted based on the standards in the EICC code of conduct. By April 2008, 18 of Sony's suppliers in China had undergone joint audits.

- Promoting Diversity
< CSR Report 2008 P36-38>

Sony hopes to maximize the ability of each and every employee while respecting and accepting their diverse characteristics and values. In fiscal 2007, Sony introduced a system trialing the mentoring of female managers by senior executives. As a result of such initiatives, in FY2007 Sony was presented with the first "Diversity Management Award," sponsored by Toyo Keizai Inc. Also, in February 2008, in order to consider and implement diversity-related measures in a timely manner, Sony Corporation established a Diversity Development Department within its Human Resources Division.

Sony also promotes employment of individuals with disabilities, who represented 2.17% of Sony Corporation's workforce in FY2007 (legal requirement is 1.8%). Sony conducts activities to share the knowledge and experience regarding employment of people with disabilities accumulated at Sony Taiyo Corporation, Sony's first special purpose subsidiary which commemorated its 30th anniversary in January 2008, across the Sony Group.

- Enhancing Childcare Systems
< CSR Report 2008 P38>

Sony promotes a work-life balance that enables employees to combine child-rearing and caring for family members with their jobs. Almost all female employees of Sony Corporation who gave birth took child care leave, and approximately 90% of them returned to work thereafter. 9 out of the 345 employees who took advantage of the childcare leave system in Japan in FY2007 were male. In April 2007, Sony Corporation revised its child care leave system with the aim of creating a work environment more conducive to taking child care leave, as well as to promote greater participation in child care by fathers, thereby making it much easier or employees to balance work and home life. In April 2008, Sony introduced a new at-home work system, allowing the use of paid annual leave on an hourly basis.

- Contribution with a Focus on Africa
< CSR Report 2008 P45-46>

Through the UNICEF EYE SEE III, a digital photo workshop project held in 2007, children from Liberia and Rwanda learned about basic photographic technology, composition, subject selection and expression through workshops led by professional photographers. Using cameras donated by Sony, the children took approximately 2,000 photographs. Sony and UNICEF co-sponsored an EYE SEE III photographic exhibition to coincide with the 4th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) which took place in Yokohama in May 2008. The exhibition succeeded in provoking visitors to think about the various issues represented in the photographs. Also, Sony supported UNHCR's Refuge Film Festival in both 2007 and 2008 and announced its support for the South Africa Mobile Library Project launched by the South African NPO SAPESI (South Africa Primary Education Support Initiative) in June 2008. In addition to making a financial contribution to the project, Sony also donates used children's books collected at six Sony Group companies located in British English-speaking regions.