Evaluation Methods -Eco Balances-

The Ricoh Group introduced the concept of Eco Balance in fiscal 1998 to clarify the environmental impact caused by all its businesses and effectively reduce it. Currently, the Ricoh Group is calculating the integrated environmental impact using EPS, which is an integrated analysis method developed by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute Ltd. We adopted EPS after evaluating various methods used in Japan and/or overseas because we found that its characteristics agree with the Ricoh Group's ideas about environmental impact reduced by the collection of resources and the Comet Circle, Ricoh's original concept aimed at establishing a sustainable society. We have mapped out environmental action plans based upon the concept of Eco Balance since fiscal 2002 and have applied the concept in the formulation of environmental goals that take a longer perspective since fiscal 2005.

In fiscal 2010, the integrated environmental impact of the Ricoh Group increased by 1.9% from the previous year's level. The increase in product sales volume during the year (despite a 3.7% decline in our consolidated net sales in value terms) entailed an increase in our environmental impact during the "procurement of raw materials and parts," "manufacturing" and some other stages, which more than offset the reduction of our environmental impact during the "Use: Electric Power" and "Use: Paper" stages mainly due to the development of energy-saving technologies for color MFPs and greater use of energy-saving and duplex copying functions by customers.

The "Eco Balance of overall business activities" here includes data for new businesses, such as those that were acquired through M&A in and after fiscal 2000, and businesses that are targeted to emerging nations and developing countries. It covers the environmental impact of the entire group. On the other hand, in the graph "Changes in Integrated Environmental Impact (Operations in advanced nations)" on, environmental impact through new businesses, emerging countries and developing nations has been eliminated in order to allow comparison with fiscal 2000.

• LCA Data

Concerning the inventory analysis data, we now use data prepared by Mizuho Information & Research Institute, Inc. based on the LCA database (fiscal 2006 version 2) published by the Life Cycle Assessment Society of Japan (JLCA). Mizuho Information & Research Institute organized the data by expanding the system's boundaries and supplementing missing data.

Eco Balance of overall business activities (Fiscal 2010)PDF (588kb)

• *"E+n"means "x10ⁿ"
  (Example)1.45E+08=1.45x10⁸