In 1875 the history of Toshiba began with the spirit “Creating what makes people happy, and what helps people of Mr. Hisashige Tanaka, our company founder.” Having inherited this spirit, we have been providing the new products to the world which support people’s lives, including Japan’s first incandescent lamp. When I assumed the presidency in 2005, the year in which the company marked its 130th anniversary and looking back over our history of developing numerous pioneering products, both in Japan and the world, I asked myself what the company needed to become at that time and the answer was a “corporate citizen of planet Earth.”

As a global company needed by people, we shall recognize and respect the differences in culture, history and practices among global countries and regions, and be committed to taking a leading role in establishing a better global environment. Following further review of our ongoing environmental management initiative aiming to be a corporate citizen of planet Earth, we developed the “Environmental Vision 2050” in November 2007, which describes the ideal situation that Toshiba Group envisages based on our environmental management.

Environmental Vision 2050

Over the past century, while various technologies have been developed to make our lives more convenient, the need for us to act on global environmental issues, including global warming, has become ever more acute. However, if we are committed to addressing such problems with consistent innovations, we will definitely be able to resolve these global environmental issues as well as creating new values. Based on this belief, we envisaged an ideal situation of “a world with all people leading rich lifestyles in harmony with the Earth,” and described this goal and how we would achieve it in the “Environmental Vision 2050.”

In order to create rich lifestyles in a world with an ever-increasing population, especially in developing countries, it is crucial to define the ideal situation as a goal, determine how to attain this goal, and completely accomplish what is to be done now. The key measures are to address the prevention of global warming, efficient use of resources and control of chemicals in order to ensure coexistence with the Earth. Based on these underlying principles, we are further committed to delivering technology and products with remarkable innovation and artistry-contributing to a safer, more comfortable, and more productive life, in order to achieve our Environmental Vision 2050.

The 4th Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had an explosive impact on the world. Although the importance of greenhouse gas emissions reduction had been recognized, as shown by the resolution of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, this report marked a crucial turning point that changed the immediate criticality of global warming to a truly common and globally shared understanding.

Toshiba Group is one of the few manufacturers whose business stretches from generating energy such as power generation systems, to using energy such as industry and social systems and products for households. We have been contributing to the stable supply of reliable energy and mitigation of climate change by offering nuclear power generation equipment which does not emit CO₂ during generation, super ultrahigh-temperature steam turbine systems with advanced efficiency, geothermal power plants using renewable energy, and other electricity generation related equipment; while providing Eco-Products to the world including semiconductors which support highly efficient devices, traffic information systems to reduce energy loss, a wide range of highly efficient air-conditioning equipment for businesses as well as households, and highly efficient LED lights. As the responsibility of a company which developed Japan’s first incandescent lamp, in order to contribute to mitigation of climate change, we decided to terminate the production of regular incandescent lamps by 2010.

Furthermore, in our manufacturing operations, we have been rigorously addressing global warming prevention, not only in the semiconductor business with high energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, but also in offices and product distribution. We are striving to further enhance and globally apply activities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to all processes within the enterprise, including the proactive introduction of highly efficient equipment and managerial improvement through various forms of data collection and utilization.

By developing revolutionary technologies through innovations and pursuing continuous efficiency improvements, we are aiming to contribute to CO₂ reduction by 120 million tons per year in 2025, which would otherwise be generated from the products provided by Toshiba Group. This amount is equivalent to the CO₂ emissions in Tokyo during two years. If we can help the world change towards a more advanced status of mitigation of climate change by providing such technologies, we will be fulfilling a great role as a corporate citizen of planet earth.