Started in 1997 by Nikkei Inc., the Environmental Management Survey is an annual survey that assesses businesses' endeavors to improve environmental measures and management efficiency. This year's survey was based on a questionnaire sent to 1,733 companies that was answered by 396 companies.
In the manufacturing category, each company's level of environmental management was assessed based on five criteria: promotion of environmental management structure, pollution and biodiversity-related measures, resource recycling, environmental product policy and measures against global warming, and ranked based on their total score.
In this year's survey, Canon achieved perfect scores for promotion of environmental management structure, resource recycling and measures against global warming for such highly rated activities as the Company's carbon offset program that reduces CO2 emissions equivalent to those produced by such products as office multifunction devices and some production printers to zero and the establishment of an automatic toner and ink cartridge recycling system. Additionally, the Company also scored highly for other criteria, achieving a total score of 496 (out of a possible 500), placing first in the manufacturing category.
Under its Action for Green environmental vision, introduced in 2008, Canon set a goal of annually reducing lifecycle CO2 emissions for each product by 3%, and is proactively making efforts through such initiatives as energy-saving activities at manufacturing bases, a modal shift in distribution, reduced energy consumption during product use, product remanufacturing,* reusing parts and recycling consumable goods. As a result, in 2015, lifecycle CO2 emissions per product were approximately 30% of those in 2008—successfully achieving an average reduction of approximately 5% a year.
Canon's Action for Green environmental vision aims to realize a society that promotes both enriched lifestyles and the global environment through technological innovation and improved management efficiency. Throughout the entire product lifecycle—Produce, Use, Recycle—Canon continues to expand activities with its customers and business partners to reduce environmental burden in pursuit of this environmental vision.
*A process of selecting parts that can be reused from used products, cleaning and repairing those parts and using them to manufacture new products. Remanufactured products are confirmed to have the same levels of quality as products manufactured entirely with new parts prior to shipment.
Canon Media Source: Canon Global