News Releases

Toshiba Corporation today announced that the English edition of the Toshiba Group Environmental Report 2008, which covers the full spectrum of the Group’s environmental activities in FY2008, is now available. The full text of the report can be accessed now at http://www.toshiba.co.jp/env/en/index.htm, and the printed edition will be published on Friday of this week.

Environment Report 2008 provides Toshiba’s stakeholders and other interested parties with an authoritative resource on Toshiba Group’s environmental policies, plans, programs and activities. The report covers progress made in the course of the last year in such important areas as elimination of hazardous materials, management of chemicals, and the development of environmentally friendly technologies.

One highlight of this year’s report is the publication of hard targets for reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly CO₂, which are seen as the main drivers of anthropogenic climate change. Toshiba is committed to developing substitutes for greenhouses gases in its manufacturing processes, and to reducing emissions by applying next generation solutions across its business processes, including energy-saving clean rooms and highly efficient manufacturing equipment.

Until the FY2004 edition, the environmental report was published separately, but the most four reports were published as a part of Toshiba’s annual CSR Report. This year, in order to spotlight its content, the report reverts to a dedicated publication. The Japanese was published on October 3, 2008 and it is also available on-line at the following URL: (http://www.toshiba.co.jp/env/jp/report/index_j.htm)

Key sections of Environmental Report 2008

1. Highlights

The highlights section introduces the overall environmental impact of Toshiba Group, the commitment of top management to support and promote environmental measures, and Environmental Vision 2050, the long term vision of Toshiba Group to raise its environmental efficiency by a factor of 10 by fiscal year 2050.

2. Energy

The wide range of generating equipment and technologies developed, designed and built by Toshiba, covers nuclear power, thermal power and hydro power plants, transmission and distribution equipment, geothermal power and residential fuel cells.  These are introduced in a special section on Energy.

3. Eco products

Toshiba is making sure its products are eco products. The key for doing this is Toshiba’s proprietary Factor T, which is arrived at by dividing the eco-efficiency of a product subject to assessment by the eco-efficiency of the benchmark product. The higher the eco-efficiency of the product, the larger Factor T is.

4. Eco process

For a manufacturer like Toshiba, efforts to minimize the environment impacts of its business pay special attention to production. This section spotlights activities to ameliorate global warming, to manage chemicals and hazardous materials, and to make full and efficient use of resources.

5. Eco program

Communication and solutions are at the heart of eco program: communication about company sponsored and voluntary environment-related activities, internal and external communications, and supporting tools available to promote environment harmony.

6. Environmental Management

Toshiba brings environmental concerns into its management system, and through measures such as environmental policy, environment audits and voluntary environmental plans makes the environment an essential part of day-to-day management.