“Climate change represents a serious corporate risk” - Epson has unveiled an aggressive climate action plan that will see all of its global manufacturing sites converted to 100% renewable electricity in just two years. The print giant is moving even faster at home, with all Japanese sites switching to 100% renewable electricity by the end of March 2022.
 |
| Rooftop solar power generation system at an Epson manufacturing plant in Thailand |
 |
| 'Imperative that we address the issue' Yasunori Ogawa, president Epson |
"It's imperative that we address the global issue of climate change,” said Epson global president Yasunori Ogawa. “Our company has been proactive about environmental issues from day one when our founders expressed their desire that we should protect the lake next to our company headquarters.
"We have always strongly believed in contributing to solving global environmental issues, for example, when we were the first company in the world to declare our commitment to eliminating CFCs from our operations worldwide. Going forward, we will steadily advance measures to use 100% renewable electricity. In this and other environmental activities we will continue to pursue high targets and aggressively drive forward to achieve our goals."
Epson calculates it can reduce emissions of CO2 by 36,000 tonnes annually to zero by using 100% renewable electricity at all sites worldwide by 2023.
“The world is facing some serious issues, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic among them,” said a company statement. “Epson believes the world desires more than just material and economic wealth. In this day and age, people also want other, less tangible forms of wealth. They want to be enriched spiritually and culturally. Sustainability is a fundamental requirement for achieving this. It is because of this that we at Epson always let societal issues direct our actions. We ask what we can do and how we can use our technology to solve these issues and contribute to society.
“With growing global interest in societal issues such as the environment and energy, Epson established its Environmental Vision 2050 to express its commitment to environmental management, and subsequently rolled out various measures aimed at achieving this. The Paris Agreement subsequently established decarbonization targets, and Epson created a scenario to achieve by FY2025 science-based targets (SBT*2) aimed at achieving these goals. This scenario included the use of renewable electricity as an important theme, and Epson made plans and implemented measures to expand its use over the long term. The company has established its policy as it seeks to accelerate its plans to become a leading environmental company, and with the belief that climate change represents a serious corporate risk and that Epson must play a greater role in mitigating that risk as it rolls out its business worldwide.”
