Q. Sony Corporation has just announced Road To Zero, a global plan to become carbon neutral by 2050. What have the UK and European operations achieved to date as far as Sony's environmental plan is concerned?A. The UK and Europe have already made some great achievements in this area but we realise there is a lot more to do. Sony Europe already reduced its CO2 emissions by almost 93 per cent from FY2000 – FY2009, achieved by energy use reduction measures as well as application of
renewable electricity.
The UK site in Pencoed, Wales, alone achieved incredible energy saving measures of approximately 43 per cent between FY07 – FY08. The savings resulted from increased employee training,
energy efficient procedures and
innovative engineering measures such as the energy efficient lighting systems and higher efficiency equipment.
Sony
operations in Europe have also increased the level of
waste recycling from 73 per cent to 99 per cent, meaning that 99 per cent of our generated waste is currently recycled.
However, we are constantly striving to do more and hope we can achieve even bigger results for the 2015 targets.
Q. Will the UK be playing a lead role in taking the environmental plan forward?A. Yes, the UK will be taking a key role in Sony’s global environmental vision. One initiative Sony UK has recently signed up to is the
10:10 campaign, which was launched last September by the team behind the climate film
The Age of Stupid, which stars Pete Postlethwaite. It is encouraging all Britons to unite by dropping their carbon footprint by 10 per cent in 2010.
This is just one way in which Sony UK is contributing to CO2 reductions and plans to make the 10 per cent reduction by a combination of measures, including cutting electricity and gas consumption in facilities and
employee travel, especially flights.
Q. Sony has already announced its 2015 Road To Zero targets – which ones will the UK operations be focusing on most and how?A. There is quite a variety of operations in the UK, including
manufacturing and offices, therefore all the targets will be focused on. One area where the UK has already made a big difference is through the use of renewable energy – since October 2004, Sony United Kingdom Ltd has been operating on renewable energy.
Q. Which targets do you see as the most challenging to meet?
A. I think all the targets are quite challenging, especially when you look at what we have done so far. What we’ve set out to do is definitely going to be difficult, but we hope the targets will bring out the innovative spirit across all of Sony to achieve these results.
Q. What innovative technologies and measures are you implementing to achieve some of these targets?
A. One of the targets is to achieve a 30 per cent reduction in annual energy consumption of products by 2015 (compared to fiscal 2008). We will use Sony’s technological strength to create intelligent saving features in products to make this happen.
Q. Just one example of this sort of innovation is the presence sensor in Sony’s BRAVIA TVs. This feature saves considerable energy by turning the picture off when the viewer leaves the room. It even knows when the viewer isn’t looking at the TV through facial recognition technology and turns the picture off if the viewer is looking away and reading, for example.
Q. What companies and initiatives are you working with in the UK to find and implement these solutions?A. In the UK we work closely with The Energy Saving Trust (EST). The EST is a non-profit organisation funded both by Government and the private sector and is one of the UK’s leading organisations set up to address the damaging effects of climate change.
All current Sony TVs meet power consumption requirements laid down by The EST and as recognition of its achievement Sony is now able to use the 'Energy Saving Recommended' logo. We will continue to work with The EST to register other products and these will carry the ESR logo and appear on the EST website when accreditation is complete.
Sony also works with WWF globally as part of the Climate Savers Programme. This is an international initiative to bring together large companies to make commitments to reduce
CO2 emissions. By this year, the climate savers partner companies will have collectively decreased their C02 emissions by 50 million tons.
Sony’s 2015 environmental targets have been reviewed and approved by the WWF as a renewal of our Climate Savers Programme commitments.
Q. Specifically, how will you achieve your targets on absolute reductions on waste and water consumption in the UK?A. Each UK site will have its own individual targets to contribute to the global targets. For example, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, which includes five sites throughout the UK, has switched to 100 per cent renewable energy in October 2009 and also implemented an eco monitoring programme within their UK operations which has led to an increase in energy efficiency and reduction of energy consumption.
Q. Sony is looking to reduce the energy consumption of products by 30 per cent by 2015. Will UK operations be playing a part in developing any of these lower emission products and if so which and how?A. Yes we have got a number of design, research and development and manufacturing facilities in the UK that will all be working together with Sony globally to help realise the target to reduce the energy consumption of our products by 30 per cent.
Q. What measures are you putting in place to ensure your supply chain is working with Sony to deliver your environmental plan?A. We have a strict supply chain management process to make sure that appropriate standards are met such as regards to the environment, health and safety, human rights and labour.
For example, when you look at how we regulate potentially harmful chemical substances, we have strict controls to ensure we are using environmentally sensitive substances in all parts and materials of Sony products. As well as ensuring we comply legally we have our own set of standards of the global control of chemical substance, which can go above and beyond what we are legally required to do.
To ensure we are carrying out what we commit to in this area, we test every European product at our Stuttgart Technology Centre for harmful substances so we can stop anything going out to market that doesn’t comply.
Our Green Partner Programme makes sure that all our
suppliers adhere to our strict environmental guidelines but we still test everything just to make sure – cables, screws, laptop carry bags and even branded notepads!
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