Environmental Governance

Panasonic is operating Environmental Management Systems between a corporate headquarter division and business domain companies. Except for manufacturing companies newly established within the last three years, all our manufacturing sites have built their own Environmental Management Systems and all manufacturing sites worldwide acquired ISO 14001 certification by the end of 1998. At present, we are fostering the establishment of Environmental Management Systems at our non-manufacturing sites, in order to reinforce environmental sustainability management across the Group.

• * Including multi-site certifications. Depending on the consolidation and closure of sites and promotion of multi-site certifications, the number of certifications obtained varies each year.

In order to implement the PDCA cycle for environmental sustainability management, it is essential to collect a significant amount of environmental performance data on energy, waste, chemical substances, and water etc., at each business site in a prompt and accurate manner. Panasonic has developed and introduced an Environmental Performance System as a means of globally collecting and managing environmental data from all our manufacturing sites.

Since fiscal 2008, we have collected monthly major environmental performance data from all our manufacturing sites. Based on the data gathered through this system, the balance of monthly CO₂ emissions is determined, as well as assessing performance progress and any related issues to be addressed. This information is then used to ensure the thorough implementation of the necessary countermeasures. The Environmental Performance System plays a vital role in achieving our CO₂ reduction targets.

Panasonic defines risks as ‘factors that might hinder the achievement of business goals.’ Our Global and Group Risk Management Committee, which is a cross-divisional group-wide committee, regards stricter environmental regulations as one of the most serious risks for our group and takes measures to ensure compliance with such regulations, particularly those concerning chemical substances and soil/groundwater pollution. In the event that such a risk is identified at one of our business sites, the parental business domain company reports the fact to the committees on specific issue, which then examines appropriate countermeasures. In the case of a serious risk, we hold Emergency Countermeasures Meetings in order to minimize the impact of such risk and undertake a prompt response to resolve it.