Climate Change
CO₂ Reduction through Initiatives at Operational Sites

Canon thoroughly tackled the reduction of CO₂ emission during operation. Through the group-wide actions including painstaking energy management and regular checks of equipment status and operating settings, we pursue the improvement of energy efficiency.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions at Operational Sites

Greenhouse Gas Emissions at Operational Sites

The efforts of the Energy Cost Reduction Working Group, coupled with the rigorous streamlining of production processes and other actions by our operational sites to reduce emissions and the broader adoption of renewable energy, resulted in an approximately 10% year-on-year reduction in emissions, to 917,000 t-CO₂. In 2024, we will continue to extend the roll-out of energy conservation and renewable energy initiatives at our business locations, pursuing further reductions in CO₂ emissions.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions at Operational Sites

Greater Energy Efficiency at Operational Sites

Cutting Power Consumption in Production Using Production Green Cost Management (GCM)

At Canon, we use “GCM” to refer to the management framework we have developed that targets parallel reductions in costs and CO₂ emissions, alongside decarbonization efforts based on the development of green technologies. Within this framework, we focus on “production GCM” initiatives that aim to cut the power used at the production stage. This is made up of the three steps of power visualization, reduction potential analysis, and reduction measures. We look in detail at the power used by each piece of production equipment, such as conveyors and welders, to identify the potential energy savings and target improvements.

Energy Cost Reduction Working Group

Canon created the Energy Cost Reduction Working Group in 2014 as a horizontally integrated organization to take Group-wide action on reducing energy consumption. The working group has promoted reduced energy consumption by undertaking a thorough-going analysis of the required operating environment for production equipment in the on-site manufacturing process and using its findings for instance to reduce equipment operating time, cut out excess use of pressurized air and cooling water, and adjust air conditioner settings. Measures that prove effective are adopted for horizontal rollout to Japan and overseas production sites. Moreover, staff members from our corporate headquarters in charge of this initiative perform a diagnosis of energy performance during visits to production sites all over the world. There, they check the operating status and settings of production equipment and then use their observations to make improvements to the operating efficiency of facilities and equipment and provide staff with relevant on-site training.

Since its launch, this initiative has resulted in Group-wide energy savings of 238,712kL (crude oil equivalent).

Initiatives at Operational Sites

Public-private efforts for energy-saving and CO² reduction

In a joint undertaking in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture, with the prefectural authorities and three other companies^*1, Canon launched the Kiyohara Industrial Park Smart Energy Project, realizing major energy savings. The project integrates the Kiyohara Smart Energy Center and other sites newly established within the Kiyohara Industrial Park. By sharing use of electric power and heat (steam and hot water) between multiple business sites with differing levels of demand, the project achieved reductions per base unit of approximately 20% in energy consumption and 20% in CO₂ emissions volume^*2—which would not be possible for a single business site alone. In recognition of this initiative, Canon jointly received the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Joint Implementation Award under the 2021 Energy Conservation Grand Prize sponsored by the Energy Conservation Center, Japan. Moreover, In 2023, in the 31th Grand Prize for the Global Environment Awards, sponsored by the Fujisankei Communications Group in Japan, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award was jointly presented.

In 2023, a system to predict and visualize the excess steam power generated from waste heat made it possible to use excess heat more effectively by introducing steam power facilities and making other operational improvements. These are expected to bring further benefit with an increase of two percentage points or more in energy-saving and CO₂ reduction

• *1 Calbee, Inc., Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co., Inc., and Tokyo Gas Engineering Solutions Corporation
• *2 Reduction realized by electricity and heat sent from cogeneration facilities compared to fiscal year 2015 before project launch Fiscal year 2021 performance: approx. 10,400kL/year reduction in crude oil equivalent; approx. 21,000t/year reduction in CO₂ emissions

Canon Business Machine Philippines (CBMP) received the Energy Efficiency Excellence Award (EEE) sponsored by the Department Of Energy (DOE) for the first time and the PEZA Award sponsored by the Philippine Economic Zones Authority

CBMP was the first Japanese company to receive the “Energy Efficiency Excellence Award 2022 (EEE Award): Industries and Buildings Division” sponsored by the Department Of Energy (DOE). The EEE Award is one of the most prestigious environmental awards in the Philippines, established by the Department of Energy to promote sustainable use of energy and conservation of resources. As a result of its energy conservation activities over the past 3 years, CBMP was recognized for its success in reducing energy consumption by an average of 10.7 million kJ per year despite the impact of COVID-19, and for its contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions by 5.17TJ. CBMP also received the “PEZA Award: Outstanding Community Projects Award” sponsored by the Philippine Economic Zones Authority (PEZA). The Outstanding Community Projects Award is given to a company that has established a good relationship with the community through social contribution activities. The award was given in recognition of CBMP’s promotion of projects that combine environmental activities such as environmental education, Tree Planting, Forest Clean Up, Coastal Clean Up, Biodiversity conservation, and Waste Reduction with community promotion activities.