Sony Corporation aims to use 100 percent renewable electricity for all of its business sites by 2040, the company announced Monday.
A press release said Sony joined RE100, an initiative operated by the international non-government organization The Climate Group in partnership with CDP, an international non-profit that drives companies and governments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests.
RE100 consists of companies committed to using 100 percent renewable electricity, and comprises over 140 member companies worldwide. According to the statement, in order to accelerate the use of renewable energy, Sony will expand the use of renewable energy in North America and China in addition to its European sites, which have already achieved 100 percent renewable electricity. The company will also promote the installation of solar panels at manufacturing sites in Thailand, Japan, and elsewhere.
Other initiatives include establishing an intracompany electricity transfer plan generated at Sony sites in Japan, which contains many of Sony’s semiconductor manufacturing sites and has the largest energy consumption within the Sony Group.
For this purpose, the company will consider supplying Sony sites through electrical grids owned by power companies with energy created by in-house generation facilities that use renewable energy such as solar panels.
The company also aims to work together with other RE100 member companies in Japan in order to strengthen outreach to renewable energy markets to ensure sufficient and stable supply of economic renewable energy.
The move is part of Sony's Road to Zero long-term environmental plan that plots a course to a zero environmental footprint for the company's operations and across the lifecycle of its products by 2050.
Moving toward this vision for the future, Sony set about pursuing its new Green Management 2020 environmental mid-term targets from fiscal 2016, which it aims to achieve by the end of fiscal 2020, and cites the use of renewable energy as one of its pillars.
"Sony has adopted the target of using renewable energy equivalent to reducing CO2 emissions by 300,000 tons by fiscal 2020 and is accelerating the implementation of renewable energy in a variety of ways, including use of Renewable Energy Certificates and installation of solar panels," the statement added. It said the cumulative total of CO2 emissions reduced by using renewable energy since fiscal 2016 was approximately 154,000 tons.
"Through these and other measures, Sony will continue striving to bring forth environmentally conscious products and services, minimize the environmental footprint of its value chain, and work to create a better and more sustainable society, toward the achievement of its 'Road to Zero' plan," the statement concluded.
