We evaluate progress under our Environmental Action Plan while promoting employee education and the sound use of management resources
For the steady implementation and improvement of the Environmental Action Plan and to make our environmental activities more effective, we developed a self-evaluation system: GREEN 21. This system quantifies progress toward each year’s action goals, then displays radar charts. We use this to improve our environmental management. The evaluation consists of 55 items in eight categories aligned with the four axes of the Sustainability Compass. Assessments are made for each business site, with the results reflected in the performance evaluation of every business group and Group company. In this way, we identify weaknesses and show where improvements are needed for the next fiscal year. In fiscal 2008, the Group as a whole averaged 1,108 Green Points (GPs), beating the target of 1,024 by 84 points. For those companies that had low scores in fiscal 2007 for green procurement, we sent advisors from procurement and environmental promotion units, and offered assistance to suppliers, which resulted in better GPs.
Green Point Average: Results and Targets
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The GREEN 21 Award program began as a way to energize environmental activities and encourage best practices at every business group and Group company. The program honors outstanding environmentally conscious products and technologies, as well as ground-breaking initiatives for saving energy, conserving resources, and recycling—all judged using GREEN 21. In fiscal 2008, eight awards—four division awards and four honorable mentions—were given out.
| Category | Achievement | Recipient Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Division Awards | Enhancing the corporate brand through environmental management | Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation |
| Developing a power-saving blade server | Enterprise Server Division, Hitachi, Ltd. | |
| Raising environmental awareness through community contributions | Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Singapore, Pte. Ltd. | |
| Promoting energy conservation and resource recycling | Narashino Division, Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd. | |
| Honorable Mentions | Pursuing environmental management | Hitachi Via Mechanics, Ltd. |
| Reducing CO2 emissions through GeoMation Farm | Hitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd. | |
| Creating an environmentally conscious installation for Hitachi Santa Park | Tohoku Area Operation, Hitachi, Ltd. | |
| Planting trees as an initiative of Hitachi Group companies in Hokkaido | Hokkaido Area Operation, Hitachi, Ltd. |
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Hitachi High-Technologies
Environmental Management Scores
For six years running, Hitachi High-Technologies has earned a first-place ranking in the Nikkei Environmental Management Survey*1 for its environmental efforts, including a commendation system to encourage environmental protection and for achieving zero emissions at a number of sites. Nikkei ranks companies by category according to their combined scores in three categories: environmental administration structure, global warming countermeasures, and resource recycling. A high score attests to the excellence of a company’s environmental management and its outcome. Every year, the results of the Nikkei survey create new opportunities to tell stakeholders about our environmental programs and the value added to the corporate brand.
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BladeSymphony
1000 blade server
Hitachi, Ltd. is the first Japanese company to launch commercial production of a blade server equipped with virtualized server technology that allows a single physical server to replace two or more logical servers. By concentrating functions into a single unit that are typically performed by as many as six servers, the new BladeSymphony reduces power consumption by as much as two-thirds, helping to lower carbon emissions. Its groundbreaking features earned it a place among the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun (Business & Technology Daily News) 2008 Best 10 New Products.*1
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Schools compete at an
environmental fair in
Singapore
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Singapore) has been raising environmental awareness through community activities. As a participant in the government-sponsored Corporate and School Partnership Program since 2004, they have been raising environmental awareness in the community by, among other activities, sponsoring plant tours by schoolchildren, holding environmental events, and giving lectures on the importance of protecting the environment. In fiscal 2008, these programs were awarded by the National Environment Agency of Singapore. Company employees also contribute to the local community in many ways, such as cleaning up nearby rivers and reservoirs.
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Solar panels on the roof
of a Narashino production
facility
The Narashino Division of Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems develops and manufactures energy-saving industrial equipment, including inverters and inverter-based compressors and pumps. By using their own products to conserve energy, in fiscal 2008 they reduced CO2 emissions by 13,000 tonnes from fiscal 1990. In addition, a modal shift to rail transport for products earned them the Japanese Eco-Rail Mark, and an additional 400-tonne reduction in CO2 emissions. They are also working to increase the use of alternative energy by installing solar power systems and harnessing untapped energy through micro hydropower. Finally, with a total commitment to resource recycling, their rate of final waste disposal has been slashed to 0.09 percent.
To improve our employees’ understanding and awareness of environmental activities, we provide both training for all the Group and training programs for each Group company.
Through the training targeted at all the Group, we teach everyone, from general employees to executives, the basics of eco-mind and environmental management, covering topics such as our Environmental Vision, Environmental Action Plan and its goals, and their responsibilities as employees. Our online e-learning program spreads this knowledge and understanding throughout the Group using clearly illustrated, accessible course material in Japanese, English, and Chinese. Due largely to having employees outside Japan participate, 160,400 Group employees took the course in fiscal 2008.
We also provide specialized education to familiarize employees with our rules for environmentally conscious production. As well, we teach advanced skills and knowledge, including Eco-Product development training, primarily for design and manufacturing; education for environmentally concious factories; and specialized training courses for EMS auditors and senior auditors. Brush-up training is also offered to help auditors polish and upgrade their skills and knowledge, and to stay up to date with the latest trends.
Education and training at individual Group companies and sites start with general education, such as legal compliance, and energy and resource conservation measures that incorporate features of each type of business, in order to promote ISO 14001-based environmental activities and foster a low environmental impact approach. Training for employees whose work may have a big environmental effect focuses on actual work processes and emergency procedures.
Hitachi Group Education and Training System
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[topics] Life Cycle Assessment Training Pays Off
![[Image]Life Cycle Assessment Training Pays Off](/environment/activities/images/mind_management/realize_07.jpg)
The Information & Telecommunication Systems Group provides training using a new environmental assessment technology tailored to the systems, software, and services that make up the core business—with benefits for both product development and marketing.
The heart of the course is hands-on use of the new SI-LCA*1 evaluation tool developed in-house to calculate the reduced CO2 emissions from installing a new system. SI-LCA can be used for simulations during the design process and for assessing the environmental performance of system products before they ship to customers, thus supporting the development and marketing of environmentally conscious products.
In fiscal 2008, 110 employees were given SI-LCA training, and feedback suggests that it succeeded in giving them an understanding of quantitative environmental- load reduction assessment methods and their importance.
