Ricoh 2011 Annual Report Download - page 32

ANNUAL REPORT 201131
Sustainability
Based on Ricoh’s Environmental Principles
introduced in 1992, the Ricoh Group is
engaged in sustainable environmental
management, aiming at the simultaneous
achievement of environmental conservation
and business growth. With a goal of
developing a more farsighted approach
to environmental activities, we have also
presented our 2050 Extra-Long-Term
Environmental Vision. In March 2009,
the Group issued its Mid- to Long-term
Environmental Impact Reduction Targets
announcing specific steps to be taken to
achieve the vision. With 2020 and 2050
designated key years, numerical targets
have been set in three different areas: energy
saving and global warming prevention,
resource conservation and recycling, and
pollution prevention. Various highly effective
activities are being implemented to achieve
the targets in each area.
Conservation of the global environment
requires measures not only to reduce the
impact of our business operations and
products on the environment but also to
maintain and improve the self-recovery
capabilities of the global environment.
Recognizing that our businesses depend on
the global ecosystem and that biodiversity
plays an indispensable role in the health of
the ecosystem, the Ricoh Group laid down
the Ricoh Group Biodiversity Policy. This
policy requires that we take biodiversity
considerations into account when deciding
how to best operate our business, building
upon the substantial efforts we have
already made to conserve biodiversity
through our environment-conscious social
contribution activities.
Business models for a
resource-recirculating society
The Comet Circle , established in 1994, illustrates a
scheme to reduce our environmental impact across the entire
lifecycle of our products. In other words, it represents our ideas
on how to create a sustainable society. Under the resource-
recirculating society business model, used products are treated
not as waste but as valuable resources. The Ricoh Group operates
a recycled copier business by establishing a system for the
collection of used products from the market, recycling their
materials and parts and re-launching them onto the market in a
new form. In addition, we have established a system to reuse parts
repeatedly in production by making use of an upgraded design. In
partnership with recycling companies, we have also been working
on quality improvement of recycled resources and minimization of
energy used and costs needed for reuse and recycling. This way,
we are promoting a more economically rational recycling system
that has a smaller impact on the environment.
Given the possibility that some mineral resources may be
depleted in the near future, manufacturing styles cannot be said
to be sustainable if they require large amounts of resources.
The Ricoh Group will accelerate our shift to the new style of
manufacturing, whereby the value of resources is maximized
through recycling and use of new resources in production is
greatly reduced.
*
Please refer to Ricoh’s initiatives to reducing its environmental impact in its business activities.
Ricoh Group’s global environmental conservation
—Keep environmental impact within the self-recovery capabilities of the Earth—
Activities to reduce
environmental impact
Improvement of the self-recovery
capabilities of the Earth
Environmental impact imposed
by human society
● Energy conservation/
Measures against
global warming
● Resource conservation/
Recycling
● Pollution prevention
● Reduction of impact on
biodiversity
● Measures to
conserve
biodiversity
Self-recovery capabilities
of the global environment
Ricoh Group’s Mid- to Long-term Environmental Impact Reduction Targets
* Targets are set based on the business areas and market share for fiscal 2000.
Mid- and Long-Term Goals
Energy Conservation
and Prevention of
Global Warming
Reduce the total lifecycle CO2 emissions by the Ricoh Group
(including emissions of the “five gases” converted into CO2) by
30%* by 2020 and by 87.5% by 2050 from the fiscal 2000 level.
* Equal to 34% reduction from the scal 1990 level (for domestic CO2).
Resource Conservation
and Recycling
Pollution Prevention
(1) Reduce the new input of resources by 25% by 2020 and by
87.5% by 2050 from the fiscal 2007 level.
(2) Reduce the use of or prepare alternatives for major product
materials that are at high risk of depletion (e.g., crude oil,
copper and chromium) by 2050.
Reduce the impact of chemical substances on the environment by
30% by 2020 and 87.5% by 2050 from the fiscal 2000 level.
Harmony with the environment ISO 26000: Environment
See page 24