Biodiversity Protection (Partnership with Various Stakeholders)

In October 2008, Panasonic signed up to become one of the first corporate sponsors of WWF´s work on the Arctic. The Arctic, a global temperature regulator, faces challenges from both climate change and increased human use. Aiming to conserve and maintain the ecosystems of the Arctic, WWF is promoting initiatives to understand and manage the Arctic through raising awareness of the area´s importance, as well as researching and monitoring activities.

• Panasonic signs up as a sponsor of WWF's Arctic Programme

©1986 Panda symbol WWF
®“WWF” is a WWF Registered Trademark

Since September 2007, Panasonic has been promoting the Yellow Sea Ecoregion Support Project to help conserve the health of marine ecosystem of the Yellow Sea, a part of the East China Sea, in collaboration with WWF Japan. This seven-year project aims to secure the effective management of the area and conserve the rich nature and ecosystem cultivated by the world´s largest continental shelves. In fiscal 2009, we sponsored eight organizations (five from China and three from Korea), which were selected from open applications, to raise the awareness of the biodiversity in the Yellow Sea. We will sponsor another eight organizations in fiscal 2010 and support their activities.

As a part of such awareness-raising activities, we held a series of collaborative photographic exhibitions, “The Yellow Sea: Sparklings of Diversified Lives,” at the Panasonic Center Tokyo and Beijing.

Panasonic has introduced the Green Purchasing Guidelines for paper used in the company since fiscal 2008. This is our contribution to protect the forestry ecosystem through responsible paper purchasing. Based on discussions with WWF, we decided to use FSC-certified paper, which is made of trees from appropriately managed forests since September 2008. We plan to use this type of paper mainly for corporate publications, such as company brochures, and gradually increase the usage to around 100 tons by 2010.

Comments from WWF Japan

The natural forest areas of the world are decreasing significantly, and many such areas are also losing their biodiversity. Usage of FSC-certified paper helps conserve biodiversity, including the forest ecosystems, and pays consideration to the local community and human rights. This is an excellent model for making forest utilization compatible with economic activities. The attitude of Panasonic, making public commitments with quantitative targets and timelines, represents a model approach to environmental and social consideration.

FSC-certified mark

The FSC-certified mark indicates that the wood used in the printed materials are grown, harvested, and manufactured to standards set by the Forest Stewardship Council

We have been hosting the Eco Campaign since 2003 to increase greenery together with our customers. This campaign communicates the environmental performance of Panasonic products through the Internet, advertising, and storefronts, so that our customers can understand the importance of using the environmentally-conscious products and join our tree planting activities.

In fiscal 2009, we conducted the ‘eco ideas’ Campaign in which one tree is planted when one product is purchased, and this enabled us to plant some 700,000 trees (now totaling 1.2 million trees). These trees will be planted in 32 kindergartens and elementary schools - making a total of 743 Eco Schools in 31 countries - through collaboration with the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), an International environmental NGO. We will continue to provide products with advanced energy conservation performance and engage in tree planting activities jointly with our customers.