Fujifilm Holdings Corporation will work toward switching to electricity derived from renewable resources for all of electricity purchased and strive to achieve zero carbon emissions in all energies it uses by 2050.
This pledge forms part of the company joining RE100 (1), an international initiative led by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP, which brings together companies committed to source 100% renewable electricity (2) for their global business operations.
The Paris Agreement, a set of international rules effectuated in November 2016 for mitigating global warming, aims at ‘keeping a global temperature rise below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels’. Fujifilm Group has been actively introducing the use of electricity derived from renewable resources as its contribution to achieving the targets, set to resolve global social issues. One of its production sites, FUJIFILM Kyushu in Japan, uses solar power while its production site in the Netherlands, FUJIFILM Manufacturing Europe, uses wind power. FUJIFILM Holdings set a target for renewable energy usage in January this year, further accelerating the transition.
Highly functional films that the Fujifilm Group produces, including films used in displays, require high-temperature steam in some of its manufacturing processes such as film formation and drying. For this reason, the company uses in-house co-generation systems capable of generating high-temperature steam required for film-formation and drying processes and electricity for use in other processes at the same time, to maintain a high level of energy efficiency in manufacturing.
In its target for renewable energy usage, FUJIFILM Holdings strives to adopt renewable energies to cover 50% of electricity purchased by 2030, and raise the ratio to 100% by 2050. At the same time, the company will embrace new technologies, including the usage of renewables-based hydrogen fuel for in-house co-generation systems capable of generating high-temperature steam and electricity at the same time, thereby achieving zero carbon emissions in all energies used.
The target aims to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050 by combining the use of electricity derived from renewable resources and the introduction of renewables-based hydrogen fuel for in-house co-generation systems. The Climate Group, the international non-profit which runs the RE100 initiative, recognises that this target is in line with the purpose of RE100. FUJIFILM Holdings has signed up to RE100 to show its way of decarbonisation to the society, and lead the movement for actualising a non-carbon society.
FUJIFILM Holdings has been praised from domestic and international parties for its active involvement in various climate change initiatives, including expressing support for recommendations issued by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) (3) and having its target approved by the international environmental initiative, ‘Science Based Targets’ (SBT) initiative (4).
The Fujifilm Group is currently promoting a CSR plan ‘Sustainable Value Plan 2030 (SVP2030),’ specifying targets to be achieved by FY2031/3. SVP2030 defines four key areas, namely the ‘environment’, ‘health’, ‘daily life’ and ‘work style,’ examined the perspectives of ‘considering environmental and social impacts through business processes’ and ‘resolving social issues through business activities.’ For the area of the ‘environment’, the plan sets numerical targets, including ‘a 30% reduction in the volume of CO2 emitted across the entire product lifecycle compared to FY2014/3.’
FUJIFILM Holdings will continue to actively work on addressing climate-related issues and engage in dialogues with stakeholders so as to contribute to the realisation of sustainable society.
‘I’m thrilled to welcome FUJIFILM Holdings to RE100, with an ambitious commitment of sourcing 100% renewable electricity for its global operations,’ said Sam Kimmins, Head of RE100, The Climate Group.
‘FUJIFILM Holdings’ commitment is notable as it will involve renovating conventional in-house co-generation systems to new, zero carbon solutions. By stepping up to this technical challenge, FUJIFILM Holdings is showing great leadership, and sending a clear invitation to their peers in the advanced materials sector to join them in striving towards this ambitious but achievable goal.’
(1) RE100 is an initiative run by the Climate Group, the international non-profit focused on accelerating global climate action, in partnership with international NPO, CDP, which campaigns to make companies disclose and manage the environmental impact of their operations. The initiative consists of companies that have made a commitment to go 100% renewable in electricity used in their business activities. A total of 174 companies have joined the initiative globally as of April 2019.
(2) Solar, wind, hydro, biomass, geothermal and other types of energies that can be renewed after use within a relatively short period of time. While oil, coal and other fossil fuels are limited energy resources, renewable energies do not deplete and can be used indefinitely.
(3) In June 2017, the FSB Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which consists of the world’s major central banks and financial regulation authorities, issued its recommendations, urging business corporations and financial institutions to disclose the financial impact of ‘risks’ and ‘opportunities’ attributable to climate change, in order to identify the extent of influence climate issues have on the stability of financial markets. The taskforce recommends that financial organizations use climate-related financial information as an evaluation factor, in a way similar to the existing program for the disclosure of financial information.
(4) The Science Based Targets initiative was launched in September 2014 as a collaboration between the CDP, World Resources Institute, the World Wide Fund for Nature, and the United Nations Global Compact, aimed at promoting science-based targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to keep global temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial temperatures. In November 2016, the Paris Agreement, aimed at keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius, went into effect as an international framework on climate change.
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