Environmental Vision

The quest for a comfortable existence has led humankind to create a highly convenient society. Today’s society, however, requires a vast amount of energy, and is causing problems, such as global warming, resource depletion, and environmental damage. We should challenge these common issues if we are to maintain a comfortable existence into the future.

We are committed to the prevention of global warming, the conservation of resources, and the preservation of the ecosystem as the three pillars of our vision. Our goal is to achieve a more sustainable society by promoting global production that reduces the environmental burden of a product throughout its life cycle.

Medium-Term Environmental Vision 2015

Achieving the Medium-Term Plan: Environmental Vision 2015

We are working to achieve emission neutral by fiscal 2015 by pursuing production that reduces the environmental burden of products throughout their life cycle. Emission neutral means making the direct environmental load and the reduction of the social environmental load equal. Here, direct environmental load includes material production, manufacturing and transportation, while the reduction of social environmental load is the environmental load of finished products after their delivery which have been reduced with energy- and resource-saving products (compared with fiscal 2005 reference products). We intend to achieve emission neutral by reducing the environmental load of production activities, while at the same time improving the environmental efficiency of products to reduce their environmental load.

The Emission Neutral Concept

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Achieving the Long-Term Plan: Environmental Vision 2025

The target of our medium-term plan, Environmental Vision 2015, is to achieve emission neutral by fiscal 2015. Drawing on the Sustainability Compass, which lays out directions for environmental activities, we have developed an Environmental Action Plan with specific action items and targets for fiscal 2010. Action items include expanding our Eco-Product lineup, steps to counter global warming, efficient use of resources, and proactive communication on environmental issues. The GREEN 21 evaluation system, which quantifies that year’s Environmental Action Plan targets, is used to gauge our progress, verify the results, and ensure continual improvement.
The Environmental Action Plan is also optimized by adding action items and reviewing targets in response to, for example, changes in the global environment, requests from stakeholders, or early target achievement.

• Environmental Action Plan

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Long-Term Environmental Vision 2025

Fiscal 2025 Goal: Long-Term Environmental Vision 2025

We have set the long-term goal of helping to reduce annual CO2 emissions by 100 million tonnes by 2025 through Hitachi products and services (base year fiscal 2005) by making and distributing products with less burden on the environment. If no new measures are taken (status quo), world CO2 emissions in fiscal 2050 are expected to be twice the fiscal 2005 level. To stem the increase in global warming, CO2 emissions need to be cut further compared with the status quo and we are supporting that goal by helping reduce emissions by 100 million tonnes per year by 2025.

Concept behind Hitachi’s Fiscal 2025 CO2 Emission Reduction Goal

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Achieving the Long-Term Plan Environmental Vision 2025

The goal of our Environmental Vision 2025 is to help reduce annual CO2 emissions by 100 million tonnes by 2025 through our products and services using our combined technological strengths. We aim to make all products Hitachi Eco-Products^*1. We will also promote green technology, business investment, and collaborative projects in global markets.
To reduce CO2 emissions, we plan to cut 70 million tonnes in electric power generation, and 30 million tonnes in energy consumption, including industry, transportation, and daily living (commercial and residential use). For electric power, we will improve coal-fired technology, build nuclear power plants—while expanding maintenance, repair, and other services— and stimulate renewable energy use with technologies such as batteries and smart grids^*2. For industry, we will supply high-efficiency inverters and transformers, while providing energy-saving services, and create powersaving data centers. For transportation and daily living, we will develop lithium- ion batteries for industry and cars, and reduce the energy consumption of air conditioners, washing machines and other home appliances.

*1

Eco-Products: Products that meet the standards set by the Assessment for DfE (Design for Environment) system, using criteria such as energy efficiency and resource recycling to quantify the environmental burden.

*2

Smart grids: Power distribution grids that integrate the conventional power infrastructure and ICT technology to include renewable energy and other dispersed power sources efficiently while maintaining reliable supply.

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