Sony Global - Green Management 2010

Green Management 2010

Sony established its Green Management 2010 mid-range group environmental targets in fiscal year 2006 to guide the Sony Group in its efforts to help prevent global warming, recycle resources, ensure appropriate management of chemical substances and address a broad range of other complex environmental issues. The following is a summary of Sony’s achievements under Green Management 2010, which concluded on March 31, 2011.

Green Management 2010: Achievement Report

(Updated on November 22, 2011)

Green Management 2010 encompasses individual targets for the entire business cycle, from the procurement of parts, production and product use through to product disposal and recycling. This section looks at Sony's achievements for these targets in fiscal year 2010.

**Prevention of Global Warming**
Under Green Management 2010, Sony achieved an absolute reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from sites (calculated in terms of CO2) of more than 30% from the fiscal year 2000 level, well above of its target of a 7% reduction under Green Management 2010. Sony also met its target for reducing the annual energy consumption of products in all product categories. With the aim of reducing total CO2 emissions during the transport of products and materials, Sony established a framework for ascertaining these emissions and has expanded the scope of data collection. By improving packaging and promoting modal shift, Sony continues to pursue initiatives aimed at reducing emissions.
Target	Base Fiscal Year	Target Fiscal Year	Achievement by Fiscal Year 2010
Achieve an absolute reduction in total emissions of greenhouse gases, calculated in terms of CO2, from business sites of 7% or more	2000	2010	Decrease of 31% from the fiscal year 2000 level
Reduce annual energy consumption of products	-	-	Achieved for all product categories, meeting its targets for fiscal year 2010
Ascertain and take measures to reduce total CO2 emissions during the transport of products and other materials	-	-	- CO2 emissions: approx. 570,000 tons - Took steps to enhance efficiency of logistics by improving packaging and promoted modal shift - Modal shift ratio is 26.5% among arterial freight routes in Japan (increase of 2.3 points from the previous fiscal year)

**Resource Conservation**
Sony succeeded in reducing total waste from sites by more than 50% from the fiscal year 2000 level, exceeding its Green Management 2010 target of 40%. Additionally, Sony achieved an absolute reduction in volume of water purchased or drawn from groundwater of approximately 41%, surpassing its target of 20%. In contrast, Sony’s waste reuse/recycle ratio at manufacturing sites outside Japan, at 87%, fell short of its Green Management 2010 target of 95%, despite the fact that the waste reuse/recycle ratio at manufacturing sites in Japan reached 99.6%. Sony attributes this result to the fact that while the reuse/recycle ratio for industrial waste at its overseas manufacturing sites is high, the reuse/recycle ratio for daily waste remains low. Going forward, Sony will provide meticulous guidance to these sites in an effort to boost the reuse/recycle ratio.

Sony had also set a target for increasing its reused/recycled materials utilization ratio to 12% or more. Nonetheless, its reused/recycled materials utilization ratio at the conclusion of Green Management 2010 -- 8% -- was below this target. Much of reused/recycled materials Sony uses come from cardboard packaging. Thanks to efforts aimed at, among others, shrinking the size of packaging, the volume of cardboard used declined substantially, reducing the reused/recycled materials utilization ratio. Looking ahead, Sony will continue to promote the use of such materials.

Sony attained another of its resource conservation targets under Green Management 2010 by conducting life-cycle assessments (LCAs) for all major product categories.
Target	Base Fiscal Year	Target Fiscal Year	Achievement by Fiscal Year 2010
Achieve an absolute reduction in total waste from sites of 40% or more	2000	2010	Decrease of 54% from the fiscal year 2000 level
Achieve a waste reuse/recycle ratio of 99% or more at manufacturing sites in Japan	-	2010	99.6%
Achieve a waste reuse/recycle ratio of 95% or more at manufacturing sites outside Japan	-	2010	87.1%
Achieve an absolute reduction in volume of water purchased or drawn from groundwater of 20% or more	2000	2010	Decrease of 41% from the fiscal year 2000 level
Promote the use of paper from appropriately managed forests and recycled paper	-	-	Used recycled paper for copying and for printed materials; Promoted use of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper and other eco-conscious papers for CSR Report and other environment-related materials
Increase reused/recycled materials utilization ratio to 12% or more*1	2000	2010	8% Reason fell short: Decrease in volume of reused/recycled materials utilized as a result of efforts to, among others, shrink packaging
Continuously increase resource recovery from end-of-life products and reused/recycled ratio*2	-	-	Resource recovery from end-of-life products*3: approx. 164,000 tons Reused/ recycled ratio: 14%
Conduct life-cycle assessments (LCA) for all major products	-	-	Conducted LCAs in all major product categories

*1 Ratio of reused/recycled materials to product resource input
*2 Ratio of resource recovery from end-of-life products compared to total weight of products
*3 Value substituted by collected quantity of end-of-life products

**Chemical Substance Management**
Despite having set a target of achieving an absolute reduction in released amounts of volatile organic chemicals (VOC) of 40% or more from the fiscal year 2000 level, Sony’s total reduction, at 35%, was below this target. Main VOCs include solvents used in semiconductor production. While semiconductor production increases to respond demand, there are some solvents that are difficult to substitute even in the industry-wide efforts. Moreover, emitted VOC gases are so low in concentration that there are no appropriate processing measures that are technically and economically viable. Going forward, Sony will continue taking steps to reduce its released amounts of VOCs, including installing gas scrubbing equipment.

With the aim of controlling chemical substances in products, Sony has set forth standards managing substances in supplied parts and raw materials in the SS-00259, which it continues to apply to all Sony products shipped worldwide.

Sony also continues to press forward to reduce its use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants and has expanded the range of products for which it is promoting such efforts.
Target	Base Fiscal Year	Target Fiscal Year	Achievement by Fiscal Year 2010
Prohibit, reduce or control use of controlled chemical substances at sites Achieve an absolute reduction in released amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere of 40% or more	2000	2010	Decrease of 35% from the 2000 level. Reason fell short: As production increased in semiconductors business, there are some VOCs difficult to replace and no viable measure was available to process VOCs technically and economically. Will continue taking steps to reduce its released amounts of VOCs, including installing VOC treatment systems.
Management of chemical substances: Reduce water pollutants: Voluntarily control biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD)	-	-	BOD: 254 tons COD: 96 tons
Reduce atmospheric pollutants at sites: Reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx)	-	-	NOx: 163 tons SOx: 8 tons
Develop and continue to implement measures to prevent environmental accidents	-	-	Continued to implement measures to prevent; nothing particularly worthy of note or of reporting
Complete the appropriate disposal of all large equipments that contain high concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)	-	-	Disposed of 151 such units by fiscal year 2010; Continued to plan timing of disposal in cooperation with Japan Environmental Safety Corporation, to which disposal is subcontracted
Control chemical substances in products Prohibit, reduce or control use of controlled environmental substances in products	-	-	For all supplied parts and raw materials, a ban on the use of controlled chemical substances, and the associated reduction schedule, is stated in SS-00259 and is applied to all Sony products shipped worldwide; survey response tool (JGPSSI format) is applied to collect data on chemical substances in parts and materials purchased from suppliers, and data is managed using databases
Reduce use of polyvinyl chlorides (PVCs) and brominated flame retardants	-	-	PVCs: ·Completed the switch to alternatives: product packaging materials, casings, sheets/laminates of speaker housings, contactless IC cards, carrying bags/cases for products (excluding those for professional use), flexible flat cables (FFC), insulating plates and heat shrink tubes · Continuing category of PVC-free products · not used in casings of all notebook and integrated PCs and major printed wiring boards ·Continuing category of BFR-free products

**Communication, Partnerships, Education, etc.**
Target	Base Fiscal Year	Target Fiscal Year	Achievement by Fiscal Year 2010
Promote green procurement of nonproduction materials	-	-	Purchased environmentally conscious products through purchasing system for nonproduction materials. In the US, launched project to promote green procurement and managed the progress; in Europe, applied green procurement standards and used recycled and FSC-certified paper
Reduce environmental impact of construction and modification of plants and other sites	-	-	Sony's new Sony City Osaki office building boasts an evaporative cooling system, a high-efficiency thermal reservoir system and a host of other advanced energy-saving features, minimizing its impact on the environment
Conduct environmental conservation activities tailored to the needs of local communities and support environmental initiatives in local communities	-	-	Most sites in Japan and overseas conducted such activities (execution rate in Japan: 92%)
Seek environment-friendly parts, products and services from suppliers and business partners; Request environment-conscious operations	-	-	Amended standards for management of chemical substances by suppliers and sought strict observance thereof. Encouraged waste disposal firms to which it subcontracts to conduct periodic on-site checks, thereby tightening waste management procedures, and selected firms exhibiting superiority as determined using check sheets
Ensure regular disclosure of information, improve communications with stakeholders and provide environment-related information about products	-	-	Published CSR report, disclosed information via the Internet, responded to inquiries and disclosed environmental information in product brochures. Announced global environmental plan, Road to Zero, and Green Management 2015 mid-term environmental targets to the Japanese media. Publicized environmental activities at leading domestic and international trade shows. Ran environmental advertisements in Japan, including one disclosing corporate policy
Promote environment-conscious research and development	-	-	Achieved industry-leading efficiency for dye-sensitized solar cells. Succeeded in developing technologies, including for bio-derived flocculants for wastewater and biocarbon-based water purification, and such products as heat retroreflective film, which mitigates the heat island effect, and light-control film
Ensure employees achieve a level of competence that enables them to perform their assigned duties while taking environmental concerns into consideration through environmental education	-	-	Promoted sharing of latest information using environment-related publications and the intranet; Encouraged enlightenment of employees by conducting training programs employing e-learning and in-house events

Sony's Environmental Plan : Contents