Toshiba: Maintaining and expanding environmental resources for conserving biodiversity

Toshiba Group recognizes the importance of maintaining and expanding environmental resources for conserving biodiversity. We measure and manage GHG emissions and the chemical substances we use. We depend on water and minerals, such as iron, copper and aluminum. We implement group-wide environmental activities to engage on topics that concern society and enhance public trust in Toshiba.

Our 5^th Environmental Action Plan (from 2012-2016) aimed to minimize adverse effects of our business activities, shift our initiatives towards enhancing biodiversity and optimize our environmental management by 2016. The target was to develop natural habitats at 62 sites worldwide. This process included three steps: biodiversity surveys, metrics and monitoring. The surveys investigated the living organisms and red listed species at our sites. We selected living organisms as the main metric and took measures to protect and increase them. Periodic assessments helped to monitor progress and verify the appropriateness of the natural habitat development process.

Natural Capital Protocol used

No

Natural Capital Issues

Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services
Climate & Air Emissions
Energy
Land
Materials & Resources
Waste Management
Water

Organizational Focus

Project

Valuation Type

Qualitative
Value to society

Geographical Scope

GLOBAL

Value Chain Boundary

Direct operations

Sectors

Engineering

Key findings

Our three-step approach helped us reach our goals for fiscal years 2012-2016. We managed to protect species at 32 sites and we progressed in building ecosystem networks at 42 sites. We have been protecting more than 100 species, including endangered plants (78%) and fish (38%). We confirmed that butterflies (approx. 64%), birds (33%) and dragonflies (3%) were indicator species of ecosystem networks.

The results contributed and informed our 6^th Environmental Action Plan, which serves as the base policy of Toshiba Group’s overall environmental activities until 2020 and will be broken down to site level.

We also learned that our actions have influenced our employees. More and more recognize the importance of biodiversity and actively join events and activities carried out at our production and business sites. Finally, we continue to promote our conservation activities in line with the CBD’s Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

More information

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/env/en/vision/biodiversity.htm

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/env/jp/biodiversity_database

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/env/en/industry/co2.htm

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/env/en/industry/chemical.htm

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/env/en/industry/prtr.htm

Tomoko Seki (tomoko.seki@toshiba.co.jp) Government & External Relations Office, Toshiba Corporation