The chart above shows Sony's impact on the environment throughout product life cycles, including energy and resources used during Sony's business activities, energy consumed by Sony products when used by their purchasers, and the recycling and disposal of products after use. The chart shows the principal environmental impact during fiscal year 2008 for items that Sony can recognize and manage directly.

 Based on careful consideration of the life cycles of its business activities, Sony has established its own unique set of environmental indicators. These indicators provide quantitative measurements of environmental impact, with lower numerical values signifying lower levels of impact.
Sony is taking steps to ensure the utmost accuracy of the information regarding the impact of the Sony Group's business activities, and of its products and services over their entire life cycles. In addition to individual targets, Sony has set two environmental indicators -- greenhouse gas emissions and resource use -- to determine the environmental impact of the total life cycle of the Sony Group's business activities, products and services, to the maximum possible extent. The indicators are also used to monitor Sony's performance in relation to the individual targets set to reduce environmental impact throughout the business cycle. To determine whether these two indices are effective in gauging the Sony Group's impact given the scale of its operations, the Group uses the eco-efficiency equation below. In Green Management 2010, which lays down environmental targets through fiscal 2010, Sony has set targets for these indices.

 In fiscal year 2008, Sony's greenhouse gas emissions totaled approximately 26.00 million tons, up 16% from fiscal year 2007. This increase in greenhouse gas emissions was due primarily to a sharp increase in sales of LCD televisions, which resulted in a substantial increase in CO2 emissions from products during use. Sony's eco-efficiency index was 0.73 times the level in fiscal year 2000, a significant deterioration from 0.97 times in fiscal year 2007, as the greenhouse gas index increased despite a decline in sales from autumn 2008 forward, a consequence of the global economic downturn.

 Sony's resource index for fiscal year 2008 showed that resources used during the period totaled approximately 1.06 million tons, down 2.0% from fiscal year 2007. The volume of resources recovered from end-of-life products increased by approximately 20,000 tons from the previous fiscal year. In contrast, eco-efficiency was 1.57 times the fiscal year 2000 level, a marked decline from 1.78 times in fiscal year 2007. This, too, was due largely to the decline in consolidated net sales.