September 2008
Epson Deutschland GmbH (EDG), a sales affiliate of Seiko Epson Corporation, has actively involved all employees in its Green Way environmental initiative with the aim of becoming carbon neutral. Henning Ohlsson, Country Manager for EDG, explained "We will carry forward business activities in Germany that are based on being carbon neutral. Through the Green Way Initiative, every possible effort will be made to achieve this goal and every workplace and work process will be environmentally balanced."
Carbon neutrality means that the volume of CO2 emitted in manufacturing a product or carrying out other business activities is balanced by an equivalent volume of CO2 being absorbed. During 2007, a 19% reduction in EDG's carbon footprint was achieved compared to 2006. The aim for the current business year is to reduce the footprint by a minimum of 25% compared with 2006.
EDG's Green Way Initiative consists of a seven-point action plan:
1. Avoid actions that create refuse
The disposable cups used in meeting rooms and coffee machines are familiar items to employees and are a good example to illustrate this point. By replacing these cups with porcelain cups, the need for disposable cups has been eliminated. Through such efforts, EDG is eliciting a change in the way its employees think.
2. Save energy
Since October 2007, EDG's offices have been running on green electricity. All of the energy used to run the offices is generated by hydro power, which has been verified by the certification authority TUV SUD's "Klima und Energie." By changing over to an environmentally friendly form of electrical power, EDG was able to reduce its CO2 emissions by 103 tons over the six month period ending March 2008. This represents a significant advance towards EDG's vision of sustainable corporate management.
3. Promote recycling
Recycling activities related to products and consumables are centered around efforts by the Epson Head Office and Epson Europe regional headquarters. On its own, EDG is thoroughly promoting the use of recycled paper. The recycled paper is used for every sort of item imaginable, including business cards, copy paper, letters, invoices, as well as repair reports, leading to a change in the way its employees think.
4. Reduce air travel
The effective use of teleconferencing systems is being promoted as a means to reduce air travel. Should the occasion arise when having people come together at one location at the same time is unavoidable, such as for conferences, exhibitions, or sales promotion events, carbon offsets and other measures are utilized to cancel out the CO2 that was generated. A carbon offset is an instrument that enables the amount of CO2 generated from business and other activities to be cancelled out by making a financial contribution to projects involved in reducing CO2 emissions, such as planting trees, protecting forests, or green energy businesses. This practice does not only apply to EDG employees, but also to all members of the Epson Group, and even extends to customers.
5. Promote eco-driving
A collection of hints for eco-driving is universally known among all EDG employees. Economical driving methods are promoted through a program involving the drivers of commercial vehicles. Moving around by car is unavoidable in the course of business activities, and EDG offsets CO2 emissions from their commercial vehicles by supporting tree-planting activities.
6. Initiate tree-planting activities
The city of Meerbusch in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in which EDG is located, supports EDG's environmental philosophy and has provided the company with three hectares of land in a natural preservation area near the city's commercial zone. EDG has planted trees on this parcel of land with the aim of nurturing it into an "Epson Wald" (Epson Forest) in the future. For the city of Meerbusch, this tree planting activity is an excellent example of creative collaboration between industry and the local community. At the same time, EDG is also cooperating with the Climate Alliance's "Prima Klima Weltweit" to promote tree planting activities in the German state of Saxony as well as in Argentina.
7. Promote eco-innovation
EDG believes that it is of the utmost importance for children to have a keen awareness of ecology, as they must shoulder this responsibility in the future. To nurture this awareness, EDG is supporting "Energie erleben und verstehen" (Experience and Understand Energy), an educational program promoted by Initiative Deutsche Umwelt- Action e.V. This educational program incorporates fun and games to introduce complex topics in terms that are more familiar and closer to their daily lives.
After observing one of these classes, Henning Ohlsson, Country Manager of EDG, commented, "Supporting ecology education at elementary schools is a very important part of our company's environmental activities. For many years now, ecology has been a key consideration in our efforts to conduct business and achieve sustainability. In line with our 'Think Global-Act Local' maxim, we enthusiastically support local environmental projects. Ecology education is clearly an investment that is indispensable for the future."
In the future, our society must make the transition to a low carbon economy. When that happens, our living habits and lifestyles, too, will have to change. In addition to the activities described in the above mentioned seven-point action plan, EDG intends to take an active role in promoting activities to enlighten everyone about how to change their living habits and lifestyles in order to achieve a low carbon society. Furthermore, as a part of its Green Way Initiative, EDG will boost the participation of its employees in social contribution activities.
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