Sony has continuously provided people with a vast array of products, services and entertainment. Such corporate activities are only possible if the global environment, which sustains all life on earth, is healthy. We must address such environmental issues as climate change, resource exhaustion and the need for effective management of chemical substances both as risks to business continuity and as business opportunities. In doing so, it is important that we act strategically and with a medium- to long-term perspective.

Recognizing this, we aim to be a leader in the environmental arena by ensuring that we conduct our business in a sustainable manner. To this end, we will also collaborate with others wherever possible to ensure our ability to provide innovative environmentally conscious products and services that enrich our customers' lives.

Taking these sentiments into account, we have set forth the Sony Group Environmental Vision, the goal of which is a "zero environmental footprint," that is, reduction of the environmental footprint of our corporate activities and of every Sony product throughout its life cycle to zero, and we continue to pursue a wide range of related initiatives. We will strive to achieve this by 2050; our goals for the first phase, which continues through 2015, are outlined in Green Management 2015.

Green Management 2015 focuses on four key environmental perspectives-climate change, resources, chemical substances and biodiversity-to formulate appropriate goals for 2015, we estimated our current status vis-à -vis our ultimate goal of "zero environmental footprint" for each of these perspectives, after which we employed backcasting to determine desirable levels for 2015 and analyze the differences between these figures and our actual forecasts. In setting these goals, we exchanged opinions and ideas with relevant nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and experts.

At present, every Sony product negatively affects the environment to some degree throughout its life cycle or at different stages thereof. To ensure our ability not only to conduct our business in a responsible manner, but also to take responsibility for the environmental impact of every Sony product at each stage of its lifecycle, we have divided the product lifecycle into six stages: Research and development, product planning and design, procurement, operations, logistics, and take back and recycling. We have also set specific goals for each stage.