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Shiro Kondo
President and Chief Executive Officer |
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Earning the public's trust
Corporate entities should now strive to assume corporate social responsibility in addition to playing their essential roles of increasing corporate values and pursuing profitability. In terms of corporate social responsibility, companies are required to focus on legal compliance, cope with public needs, define ambitious goals and take positive and responsible actions to attain those goals, and continue to find new added values, thereby earning the public's trust. The Ricoh Group strives to promote social responsibility-driven management as a part of our corporate value and engage in global corporate expansion to contribute to the development of a sustainable society.
Our mission is to conserve the global environment
The rich resources of our planet Earth have given birth to many forms of life and have until recently easily supported
the wide-ranging and ambitious activities of mankind.
Recent activities, however, have exceeded the life-sustaining abilities of the Earth. This poses a threat not only to our coexistence with other forms of life on this planet, but also to the future of the human race itself. Climate change has frequently caused damage all over the world, and it has been scientifically proven that climate change is related to the activities of human beings.
We have already passed the discussion stage and we all need to make even more positive efforts to conserve our environment as swiftly as we can. Otherwise, we will lose the opportunity to resolve this critical situation. The Ricoh Group believes that striving for environmental conservation is its mission as a global citizen and it is our most important corporate social responsibility.
Sustainable environmental management in the Ricoh Group
The goal of environmental conservation is to achieve a sustainable society where environmental impact is limited to a level that the Earth can deal with.
This cannot be achieved only by temporary activities: it requires continuous efforts.
Companies can continue an activity only if they themselves survive, grow, and develop. We therefore need to gain new economic values through environmental conservation activities. We define sustainable environmental management as the simultaneous achievement of environmental conservation and profit generation,
and all employees of the Ricoh Group have been engaged in activities to that end. According to our environmental accounting for fiscal 2006, costs of ¥18.3 billion resulted in substantial economic gains of ¥24.5 billion. According to our calculation, this brought about economic effects of ¥34.6 billion, and this includes risk aversion and improvement in the brand value.
Enhancing sustainable environmental management to become a corporation that is always growing
Although the global society has surely taken a step forward with environmental conservation, environmental problems remain serious and we cannot afford to waste any time in addressing them. If it is to survive, human society has to change rapidly into a sustainable society which causes less environmental impact. How then should companies evolve? It is necessary for companies to be clear about how society and the companies themselves should develop in the future and how they can contribute to desirable changes in society. Such companies will be able to foster competitiveness and develop economically as sustainable companies. The Ricoh Group will pursue both environmental conservation and profit generation at an even higher level and enhance its sustainable environmental management. Through these efforts, the Group intends to contribute to achieving a sustainable society and to become a corporation that continues growing.
Promoting sustainable environmental management through activities conducted by all employees and the development of environmental technologies
The Ricoh Group describes its vision for an ideal society and global environment in the "Three Ps Balance." In its Extra-Long-Term Environmental Vision the Group also expresses its recognition that advanced nations need to reduce their environmental impact to one-eighth the fiscal 2000 levels by 2050.
Based on this recognition, we have set mid- to long-term targets, and put into effect a specific environmental action plan accordingly. We have incorporated environmental viewpoints into every aspect of management and introduced activities conducted by all employees in all our divisions, including not only development and manufacturing, but also planning and sales divisions at both our domestic and overseas sites,
aiming to make our environmental conservation efforts even more effective. In the future, we will contribute to reducing our environmental impact, not only in the business fields in which we are currently engaged, but also in society as a whole, by promoting the development of environmental technologies even more extensively.
In this way, we will contribute to changing society for the better.
Enhancing Nature's ability to recuperate
To assist the global environment to recover from the damage that has been inflicted upon it, we must do much more than simply reducing the environmental impact caused by our business activities and society.
It is vitally important that we support the ecosystem that provides us with clean air and water as well as fertile soil, and allow it to recuperate. The Ricoh Group believes that the final goal of corporate environmental conservation activities should be to recover a balanced ecosystem, which is essential for the continued existence of human society.
Based upon this belief, we are striving to support the conservation and recovery of the ecosystem in partnership with NPOs and local communities, paying particular attention to the biological diversity of forest ecosystems.
Cooperating with our stakeholders
A sustainable society cannot be built by the efforts of the Ricoh Group alone. It is important to actively expand the network of environmental conservation to connect us with our stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, NPOs, administrative bodies, and local communities, in order to discuss the way we want society to develop, to put forward and exchange ideas, and cooperate with each other in encouraging reductions in environmental impact from our different standpoints.
We believe it is also important to demonstrate examples of successful sustainable environmental management to society in cooperation with our stakeholders.
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