Striving to Ensure that Greenhouse Gas Emissions Peak and then Decline

Addressing worldwide and domestic climate change

Climate change have been addressed worldwide; mainly by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Kyoto Protocol, which specifies the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets that each country must accomplish, was approved in the Third Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP3) held in 1997, which officially came into force in 2005. Japan has to achieve a greenhouse gas emission reduction target of around 6% on an annual average basis relative to the 1990 standard during the initial commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, which lasts until 2012 from 2008. Despite this pledge, however, the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions relative to the rate actually implemented under the plan increased by 6.2% in FY2006, hence a full-blown effort is required to reduce the emissions.

Changes in global greenhouse gas emissions

Source: Climate Change 2007; Synthesis Report [Summary for Policy makers]

Actual Toshiba achievements

In 1990, specified as the reference year by the Kyoto Protocol, other greenhouse gas emissions, excluding CO₂ used to insulate heavy electrical equipment and manufacture semiconductors, accounted for more than 70% of Toshiba Group’s total greenhouse gas emissions. In tackling such circumstances between 1995 and 2000, the entire industry made an all-out effort to reduce non-CO₂ greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in a significant reduction of one third or less in comparison to before. To date, and from FY2001 onward, there has been a further decrease in non-CO₂ greenhouse gas emissions.

Changes in total greenhouse gas emissions for Toshiba Group*

*: The scope of the report includes Toshiba Group companies inside and outside Japan and manufacturing/sales processes at both production and non-production facilities. The applicable values are the values achieved (based on FY2007 boundary) until FY2007, and those planned for FY2008 and later fiscal years. In the planned values, CO₂ emission coefficients of electricity until 2020 are expected to decrease. (This presumption is made based on the plan to increase the zero-emission power source rate, which was announced in the “Action plan to achieve a low-carbon society [July 2008]” of the government of Japan.) The obtainable values by business as usual represent expected levels of emissions in case where no reduction measures have been taken. The list of greenhouse gases excluding CO₂ includes methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride.

Trend in long-term vision toward total reduction

As the alarm was sounded in the 4th assessment report issued in 2007 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global warming may force the next generation into critical situations. For this reason, moves toward establishing a long-term vision to realize a low-carbon society have intensified in recent years.

During the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit held in July 2008, the participants declared and agreed to share their common vision to reduce emissions of global greenhouse gases by at least half by 2050. In Japan, the then prime minister said, in June 2008, in his speech on “Aiming to achieve a low-carbon society in Japan” that current greenhouse gas emissions should be decreased by 60% to 80% by 2050, and that total greenhouse gas emissions worldwide must peak out within the next 10 to 20 years in order to achieve this long-term goal and so on.
Accordingly,Toshiba Group is contributing to solve the environmental issues by joining hands in the global mandatory cut of the greenhouse gas emissions.

Initiatives to be taken in future

Toshiba Group’s energy-originated CO₂ emissions have been on the increase as its business has expanded. In the electronic devices & components segment, the Group will continue expanding its business centered on semiconductors in order to meet strong market demand. In the face of this business expansion, there are plans to build new factories; hence greenhouse gas emissions will also increase.

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we will preferentially invest more in anti-global warming measures than ever before, and accelerate energy-saving efforts through the construction of clean rooms which pursue energy conservation thoroughly, the installation of abatement systems for greenhouse gases used to manufacture semiconductors and LCD panels, improving the harm removal rate, and the introduction of highly-efficient equipment, etc.

Because greenhouse gas emissions are significantly affected by changes in operational scale, the emphasis has traditionally been put on clearly indicating our reduction efforts via a relative index based on efficiency, including a rate to net production output and so forth. Henceforth, however, it is also important even for the Toshiba Group with the growing industry to reduce the overall environmental impact.

Toshiba Group will continue taking proactive initiatives, as its business expands, by aiming to decrease the increasing greenhouse gas emissions to the greatest extent possible, controlling the absolute reduction at a level of 1.96 million tons by FY2012, make them peak out at 70% of less than the FY1990 level, and decrease them further by 10% by 2025.