Action against climate change

Reduction in CO₂ emissions

Toward a 25% reduction across the business life cycle by fiscal 2020

In our environmental vision, which aims to achieve a "more eco more smile" world, we set the goal of reducing CO₂ emissions by 25% compared with fiscal 2008 by no later than fiscal 2020. Our emission calculations go beyond the CO₂ emitted from our office activities. We also believe that the emissions produced in all activities leading up to the final form of our goods and services are our responsibility, and we include the entire life cycle of these goods and services as well as our employees' business activities in the scope of our calculations. We will work together with the people who use our products and services, clients, business partners, and employees in a broad range of activities aimed at preventing climate change.

Areas covered by our CO₂ estimates

In addition to carbon emissions from the use of energy in our offices, we look at impacts from a wide range of corporate activities including water use, waste disposal, employee commutes and sales activities, and the manufacture of paper used in sales, advertising, and our offices. We also consider the entire life cycles of our products and services, including raw material supply, papermaking, printing, distribution, disposal, and recycling in our magazine business, and the manufacturing and distribution, use, and disposal and recycling of computer and other equipment in our Internet services.

CO₂ emissions

We began calculating our CO₂ emissions in fiscal 2010 and took fiscal 2008, for which we could reliably collect actual values, as our base year. With a change in our governance system in October 2012, we expanded the scope of these calculations from that year, and in 2015 revised the classification method we use for travel and commuting expenses due to the expansion of our overseas business.

Furthermore, we reviewed the process for calculating emissions that we had used prior to fiscal 2015. In order to be more accurate, we also recalculated them based on the Basic Guidelines on Accounting for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Throughout the Supply Chain (Ver. 2.2) formulated by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of the Environment. The main changes that resulted are as follows below.

We reviewed our CO₂ emission output levels based on the Emission Factor Database for Corporate Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting Over the Supply Chain (Ver. 2.4)

Each year, the trend of our CO₂ emissions is reported at the Board of Directors'meeting. The President, CEO, and Representative Director oversees the progress towards our target.

Note: In determining some of our CO₂ emission output levels, we receive assistance from JMA Consultants Inc.

CO₂ emissions by Scope

* We calculate emissions for Scopes 1, 2 and 3 based on the Green Value Chain Platform formulated and released by the Ministry of Environment (MOE) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). The items required to be calculated in each Scope are the following:

Scope 1: Direct CO2 emissions from the use of gas at offices
Scope 2: Indirect CO2 emissions from the use of electricity at offices
Scope 3: Indirect CO2 emissions from activities except for those mentioned above (such as emissions from business travel and publishing information magazines).

Major efforts for CO₂ reductions

We undertake the following activities to reduce CO2 emissions in our corporate activities and over the life cycles of our products and services.