On July 25, 2006, Sony signed an agreement regarding the Climate Savers program.

In signing this agreement, Sony has become the 12th company to participate in the Climate Savers program. It is the second company in Japan to join the program, following Sagawa Express Co., Ltd. Sony is the first multinational company with headquarters in Japan to participate, and much will be expected of us.

The objective Sony has committed to with this program is to achieve a 7% reduction in the absolute amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the entire Sony Group and all its member companies throughout the world by the year 2010. This reduction is relative to the baseline level of 2.18 million tons of greenhouse gases emitted in 2000. Sony will work to realize this goal through a variety of means, such as increasing energy efficiency at all relevant sites, changing from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, and shifting over to the use of natural gas, to achieve a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Sony will further reduce the annual consumption of electricity by its products. Together with the WWF, the company will also engage in a wide-ranging program of communication addressing issues of global warming.

You may wonder why Sony has made such a serious commitment to measures for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The reason is that, as a company pursuing global business, Sony believes that it has a responsibility to contribute to the prevention of global warming, which is one of the most serious environmental problems facing the world today.

The Earth's atmospheric temperature has remained relatively stable over a long period of time. Over the past 100 years or so, however, the average atmospheric temperature has risen approximately 0.7°C, and the effects of that change are beginning to emerge in a variety of ways. It is said that if the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere continues to increase as it has been doing, it will become impossible to control the severe impact felt by living beings and the natural world. The limit is 2°C. In the time ahead, we must all do everything we can to keep the rise in temperature, relative to the time before the Industrial Revolution, below 2°C.

This vision of commitment is supported by eminent scientists from around the world as well as by national representatives in the EU. By joining this program, Sony has officially declared its support, as well.

Sony, in taking this participatory action, has further strengthened its cooperative framework with the WWF. As a Climate Savers member, the company intends to redouble its efforts toward resolution of global warming.