CEO Commitment

Doing Our Utmost to Support Recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake

First of all, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives as a result of the Great East Japan Earthquake and my sympathies to those who continue to suffer from its aftereffects. Ever since the earthquake on March 11, Toshiba Group has been making collective efforts to support recovery from the earthquake and its aftermath.

Our top priority is to support the restoration of Japan's social infrastructure. Immediately after the earthquake, we set up an emergency task force that has been working around the clock to ensure the safety of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations. As of May 23, the task force consisted of 1,900 members, including some personnel from Toshiba's subsidiaries and overseas partner companies. Around 400members of the task force are currently toiling to secure the plant. As a company engaged in the development of nuclear power generation systems, we realize the serious implications of this nuclear power plant accident, so our highest priority is to stabilize the situation. We have been making every effort to strengthen emergency and long-term measures to ensure the safety of existing nuclear power plants.

We have also deployed a team to restore thermal power plants and damaged transmission and distributions systems, as well as to resume operation of facilities under regular inspection as soon as possible. We are doing our utmost to help restore approximately 10,000 MW of power supply by this year's summer peak period (particularly during July to August).

As part of our relief and recovery efforts, we have also decided to make a donation equivalent to one billion yen. For instance, we have provided electric home appliances, PCs, photovoltaic systems, and ultrasound diagnostic equipment to evacuation sites, local community centers, and medical care institutions.In order to support the recovery of the affected areas, we will formulate medium- and long-term measures aimed at creating employment, including supporting electrical appliance store owners and donating fishing boats.

Promoting CSR as Part of Toshiba Group Basic Management Policy and Acting with Unshakable Integrity

Since my appointment as President and CEO of Toshiba, I have consistently emphasized the need for unshakable integrity in promoting CSR management.

The term integrity embodies two meanings. First of all, it refers to meeting our responsibilities to society. Accordingly, through our business operations, we seek to address various global issues regarding energy, the environment, healthcare, and the use of digital networking technology, thereby contributing to the future of a sustainable planet Earth.

Second, it also refers to securing sound management and finances. To this end, we place the highest priority on human life, safety, and compliance in all areas of our business. Also, learning from the experience we gained during and in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, we will strengthen our business continuity capabilities, and by working toward securing a strong financial footing with a stable revenue base, we will endeavor to retain the trust of all our stakeholders.

As our financial performance for FY2010 returned to the level achieved prior to the Lehman crisis, we revised our FY2011 management policy by shifting our target from “returning to the path of sustained growth with steadily higher profit” to “aiming to be a global leader.” Through CSR-oriented management, we will strive to further improve our corporate competitiveness.

Promoting Three “Green” Initiatives to Become One of the World's Foremost Eco-companies

Of all the social issues facing the world today, Toshiba Group is particularly committed to addressing energy security issues and environmental challenges, such as climate change.

In response to these global issues, we are developing initiatives guided by three key concepts: Greening of Process, Greening of Products, and Greening by Technology.

Greening of Process refers to initiatives aimed at minimizing environmental impacts through improved efficiency of manufacturing processes. We are implementing all available measures to improve air-conditioning efficiency and save energy for manufacturing equipment and lighting at our new rechargeable battery factory in Niigata, Japan, which commenced production in February 2011, and at the new semiconductor fab at our Yokkaichi Operations in Japan, scheduled for completion in July 2011. We aim to keep CO₂ emissions below 60%* of the level of FY1990, by continuing to pursue initiatives such as the power-saving measures we adopted in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Secondly, through our initiatives for Greening of Products, we will continue to create environmentally friendly products that are assessed from three perspectives: mitigation of climate change, effective use of resources, and management of chemicals. By 2020, we aim to achieve an annual reduction of 34.8 million tons in CO₂ emissions through promoting the use of energy-saving products, such as TVs and PCs with a “peak shift” function, an eco-chip for zero standby power, and LED lighting systems.

Thirdly, through our Greening by Technology initiatives, we will promote the commercialization of high-efficiency thermal power generation technology and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, as well as the development of next-generation nuclear reactors that provide even greater safety. We will also enhance initiatives for the development of renewable energy sources, such as hydro, solar, geothermal, and wind power, in order to contribute to ensuring a stable supply of energy and realizing a low-carbon society. In our smart community initiatives geared toward creating new environmentally friendly communities, we will play a leading role in the development of comprehensive, integrated system solutions for future communities, including power supply, water and sewerage, transportation, health, information and security systems.

We believe that bio diversity is an essential elements of a sustainable society and consider the conservation of biodiversity to be a significant issue for environmental management, along with the mitigation of climate change. Consequently, we have conducted bio diversity assessment sat our various production sites, in addition to providing education to our employees.

Through our efforts to effectively implement these initiatives, we hope to establish a position as one of the world's foremost eco-companies.

* The figure does not take into account that, in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake, there may have been a deterioration in the CO₂ emission coefficient for electricity.

Accelerating the Globalization of Management and Promoting Diversity

In FY2010, our overseas sales accounted for 55% of Toshiba Group's total sales, and we will continue to accelerate our global business expansion. The development of products and services that cater to the needs of mature developed countries as well as rapidly growing emerging countries requires working closely with people in each market. In doing this, we will emphasize the promotion of diversity through measures such as the deployment of local human resources in top-level positions at our overseas subsidiaries, thereby fostering their development, and the employment of non-Japanese people at our headquarters in Japan. We seek to strategically manage diversity as a means of spurring innovation and providing a competitive advantage.

Meeting Our Stakeholders' Expectations

In 2004, Toshiba signed the UN Global Compact, a move that reflects our commitment to act in accordance with the universal principles concerning human rights, labor standards, the environment, and anti-corruption. Our commitment does not end there, however, as we also expect our suppliers to support the principles of the Global Compact. To meet our commitment, we will continue to strive to promote CSR management in accordance with global standards, such as by taking a leading role in enhancing our practices based on the newly developed ISO 26000.

Toshiba Group will continue to provide our stakeholders with information on our management, as well as products and services, in a timely and appropriate way, and will continue to pursue transparent corporate activities that respond to stakeholder needs. We will operate as a corporate citizen of planet Earth that not only contributes to the global environment but also respects diverse histories, cultures, and customs of different countries.

As we do so, I ask for your continued support and cooperation.

Norio Sasaki
Director, President and CEO
Toshiba Corporation

Note: The above message describes our earthquake recovery efforts as of the end of May 2011.