Seiko Epson Corporation has announced that its worldwide group sites will all meet their electricity needs from 100% renewable energy sources (renewable electricity) by 2023.
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 decarbonisation targets, and Epson created a scenario to achieve by FY2025 science-based targets (SBT) 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 said it 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.
Progress to date:
| Before April 2020 | Manufacturing sites (UK, USA (Portland))
European sales headquarters (France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain) |
| April 2020 | 3 Japanese sites including Head Office and the printer R&D centre
All European sales headquarters (including UK) |
| January 2021 | Manufacturing plant (Philippines) |
Plans:
| End of March 2021 | All Japanese sites |
| 2023 | All sites worldwide |
As a result of these plans, Epson has calculated it can reduce emissions of CO2 by 36,000 tonnes annually to zero by using 100% renewable electricity at all sites worldwide by 2023.
Epson Global President Yasunori Ogawa said: “It’s imperative that we address the global issue of climate change. 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. And what’s more 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.”
