Reducing the environmental impact is both an important social responsibility for companies, and an issue that every employee should tackle. From this perspective, Mizuho promotes greenhouse gas reductions and initiatives aimed at creating a recycling-based society at all group companies. At the same time, it is promoting greater environmental awareness among individual employees so that they and their families work hard to reduce the group's overall environmental impact.
A1 We are working hard to reduce emissions from various perspectives, starting with electric power saving.
The entire group is striving to reduce its output of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Ten key business facilities* belonging to four main domestic companies have adopted a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% of the fiscal 2002 figure by 2012.
Electric power accounts for a large proportion of the energy we consume in our business activities.
For this reason, group companies take a proactive approach to installing power-saving facilities and equipment, and the head offices of MHBK and MHCB make use of heat storage air conditioning and similar systems. To ensure that these initiatives spread throughout the entire group, we are in the process of expanding the scope of energy consumption calculations to cover all 13 group companies in Japan, not just the 10 business facilities belonging to four main companies. These calculations will cover approximately 80% of employees on a consolidated basis.
In addition to these efforts to cut electric power consumption at our facilities, we are reducing business trips by introducing a TV conferencing system, using more low-emission vehicles as company cars, and taking various other steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from a variety of perspectives. At the same time, we are encouraging greater awareness of energy conservation among employees through the adoption of "Cool Biz" and "Warm Biz" dress codes for summer and winter.
Trends in Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions at Ten Key Business Facilities*
A2 We are trying to make more efficient use of resources by, for example, reducing the amount of paper we use.
A recycling-oriented society is a society that minimizes the depletion of resources by promoting "reuse, reduce and recycle."
Paper is one of the resources that financial institutions use most, and Mizuho has set a target of recycling over 95% of the paper used at 10 business facilities belonging to four main domestic companies by fiscal 2010. The paper-saving campaign run by the group's holding company, MHFG, helped reduce the amount of paper used in fiscal 2008 by 26.2% compared with the preceding year. Based on these results, this campaign is being extended to group companies.
We are switching to purchases of environmentally friendly products under our Administrative Guidelines and have set a green purchasing ratio target of at least 85% for consumable such as paper and stationery by FY2010.
A3 We encourage environmental activities on a daily basis.
Mizuho aims to create a corporate climate in which all employees and their families proactively participate in environmentally-friendly activities. In fiscal 2008, 13 group companies initiated environmental campaigns inviting participation in the CO2 Diet Declaration campaign, recruiting monitors for environmentally-conscious activities, and holding environmental exhibitions. Looking ahead, we intend to keep up initiatives like this in the hope they will encourage more employees to engage in environmentally-conscious activities.
In the case of the CO2 Diet Declaration, households declare the results of energy conservation efforts that they can make close to home, and the secretariat donates one tree to a school or similar organization for every 20 declarations received. In fiscal 2008, 15,518 people participated, declaring a total reduction of 876 tons of CO2 emissions. Currently, 775 saplings are steadily being donated to primary schools and the like around the country.
The campaign to recruit monitors for environmentally-conscious activities invites employees to use personal shopping bags instead of the bags dispensed at store check-outs, and to use "environmental household account books" to check daily CO2 emissions at home. Some 1,000 employees participated in the personal shopping bag campaign, reducing their usage of store check-out bags by around 35 bags per person during the two months of the monitoring period. Over 200 employees have joined the campaign to use "environmental household account books" and are recording data on electricity usage, etc., as they pursue energy-conservation activities.
In Jul 2008, environmental exhibitions introducing the current status of global warming and Mizuho's efforts to reduce its environmental footprint were held in four venues at Mizuho's head office facilities, and were attended by an aggregate total of 2,000 employees over a period of seven days. We will continue to promote these types of initiatives to encourage employees to act in an environmentally responsible manner.
CO2 Diet Declaration form
Fan promoting the summer dress code
Chikunetsu no Tsudoi
Gathering
Mizuho became the first megabank to receive a letter of appreciation at the 11th Chikunetsu no Tsudoi Gathering sponsored by the Heat Pump and Thermal Storage Technology Center of Japan (HPTCJ) in Jul 2008.
The letter was in recognition of the fact that the head offices of MHBK and MHCB have installed and operate multi heat storage air conditioning systems for office buildings.
Yotaro Tsuzuki
Asset Management Group
Mizuho Office Management
I am thrilled that we received a letter of appreciation at the Chiknetsu no Tsudoi Gathering. With regard to the old thermal storage tank that existed from the time construction started, I believe that we won recognition because of our predecessors' vision and the fact that the central control room continued its steady air-conditioning operations. We will keep exerting maximum efforts to prevent global warming through management and operations that take energy-conservation into consideration.
Akiko Murakami
CSR Promotion Office
Corporate Communications
Mizuho Financial Group
Japan's greenhouse gas emissions have risen 40% compared with 1990 in the business sector, including offices, and the household sector. Since one step by all employees would have an enormous impact, we are working on environmental policies that will lead to greater consciousness in every single employee.
