Climate crisis is one of the most immediate global concerns. Companies worldwide are realising their crucial role in achieving social and environmental goals, particularly in combating climate change. As part of Konica Minolta’s sustainability strategy the company pursuits the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [1] and participate in the 50 Climate Leaders.
With the 17 SDGs the United Nations have developed a global holistic strategy to overcome the current main global challenges. The SDGs are a wide framework with defined targets that tackle problems on an environmental and social level. Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe conducted a thorough analysis of the 17 SDGs for optimising the sustainability of their activities, particularly on a European level. As a result, six particular goals were placed in focus for Europe: Climate Action, Responsible Production and Consumption, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Decent Work and Economic Growth as well as Partnerships for the Goals. Konica Minolta defined climate action as one of the most important SDGs. Here, the company set up three goals: avoiding and reducing energy consumption, substituting CO2 emitting power sources with green energy and compensating unavoidable CO2 emissions.
Avoiding and reducing energy consumption
According to its Eco Vision 2050 Konica Minolta aims to reduce their CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050 compared to 2005. In Europe, the overall consumption of energy has been reduced by transporting goods via inland vessel or train and through the consolidation of shipment. With bizhub ECO Konica Minolta contributes to a greener office by effectively reducing energy and resources consumption through smart printing rules. In general, Konica Minolta develops products that combine unique customer benefits with improved sustainability such the smart glasses AIRe Lens, for example. This wearable augmented reality solution enables remote support and thus significantly cuts service times and reduces the need for travel by service employees.
Substituting CO2 emitting power sources with green energy
Where energy is needed, Konica Minolta aims to substitute CO2 emitting power sources with green energy. Konica Minolta joined RE100 and commited to source 100% renewable electricity for their global operations by 2050. With the overall goal of having 100% renewable energy at major European sites, the major sites like the European and German headquarters Langenhagen, one server facility in Hannover and all German offices are already supplied with 100% green energy. In 2020, the Austrian and UK sites will follow.
Compensating unavoidable CO2 emissions
In case of unavoidable CO2 emissions, Konica Minolta aims to compensate them while increasing turnover for sustainability solutions. Therefore, they partner with ClimatePartner since 2015 to support Gold Standard-certified projects. Since 2015, more than 19 million kilograms of CO2 have been compensated and Konica Minolta currently support the project of a wind energy park in Aruba. Additionally, Konica Minolta Europe is a carbon neutral company since 2018.
Teresa Haller-Mangold, Team Manager Sustainability at Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe explains with regard to the strategy: “While of course not losing sight of all 17 SDGs, we as Konica Minolta determined that we can contribute particularly well to reaching these chosen six goals. We have defined specific targets for ourselves in these fields and set up a wide range of activities to successfully pursue them.”
As António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, puts it, “Climate change is the defining issue of our time – and we are at a defining moment. If we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences for people and all the natural systems that sustain us.”
50 Climate Leaders: act as a community in counteracting global climate change
Konica Minolta’s sustainable strategy entails also the participation in the 50 Climate Leaders circle. This initiative from the private sector united in order to show commitment to the economic landscape and to act as a community in counteracting global climate change. In September 2020, Konica Minolta will join a summit of the 50 Climate Leaders, moderated by the United Nations. “Participating in a group of ambitious companies creates a mutually encouraging environment and enables knowledge transfer on a global level, making a huge audience aware of the topic as well”, Haller-Mangold says.
Four strengths in sustainability
External recognition for its sustainable activities Konica Minolta received from Keypoint Intelligence[2] in its last “market and vendor insights analysis” for sustainability in the printing sector. The analyst acknowledged Konica Minolta to be very strong in a variety of fields: “Konica Minolta scored highly across four major segments of sustainability.”: Product Innovations, Product Labels, Environmental Management and Marketing. In Product Innovations Keypoint Intelligence highlighted indoor air quality to reduce emissions or bizhub ECO. With regards to Product Labels Konica Minolta “were the first vendor to be awarded the Blue Angel for laser-based devices in 1992. The Environmental Management System (EMS) is a strong framework to ensure governance in this area and is responsible for communications as well as the implementation of activities. Marketing activities are broad and include general public facing initiatives for customers and prospects as well as employees (an example being the sustainability tender desk to support requests for proposals).”
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