Panasonic Europe Announces Sustainability Declaration

Panasonic establishes new targets for the business' environmental performance and CSR initiatives

Panasonic Europe announced at IFA pressconference its new Sustainability Declaration for Europe and CIS, extending its current initiatives to ensure all business activities lead to a more sustainable society.

The Sustainability Declaration unites Panasonic's new brand direction towards 'A Better Life, A Better World' with a series of environment and CSR initiatives contributing to the progress and development of society. Recognising the impact on the environment and society through its products and practices, Panasonic aims to deliver on specified targets by March 2016. The European Sustainability Declaration is in accordance with Panasonic's Global Sustainability Policy, which has been rolled out globally in recent weeks.

As part of its on-going commitment to enabling environmentally sustainable production and practices across the business, Panasonic will endeavour to collaborate with its stakeholders and partners throughout the value chain to contribute to the development of sustainable products and services. Panasonic is also dedicated to the effective management of natural resources and chemical substances as well as the reduction of CO2 emissions and waste, which supports the aims of the EU-20-20-20 strategy* through its range of energy solutions. Additionally, Panasonic is also committed to increasing the environmental education of younger generations, and promoting a corporate culture that allows for flexible working styles within the business.

"As part of our business model, we are developing products such as solar panels and storage batteries that are environmentally sustainable themselves. For corporations such as ours, it is essential to take greater responsibility for the impact that business activities have on the environment and society" said Laurent Abadie, CEO Panasonic Europe." Ever since Panasonic's founder, Konosuke Matsushita, set out his vision for the company back in 1932, Panasonic has promoted initiatives to support the environment and contribute to society. Our new Sustainability Declaration echoes this vision found in the company's basic business philosophy."

Panasonic has identified a series of targets in order to meet its commitments to the Sustainability Declaration. By 31 March 2016, Panasonic aims to qualify more than 80 percent of its energy labelled models within the top two energy efficiency classes available on the market. Around 68 percent of Panasonic models currently operate within these classes, setting an achievable target for 2016.

Within the last three years, Panasonic has been successful in contributing to CO2 emissions reduction from its production activities by over 17,000 tons. In line with the company's commitment to supporting the targets of the EU-20-20-20 strategy, Panasonic has proposed a further contribution to CO2 emissions reduction of over 10,000 tons across its European manufacturing sites.

Panasonic also plans to achieve more than the 99 percent recycling ratio across its European manufacturing sites, and will additionally aim to deliver a 5 percent reduction in waste amount relative to production.

In line with Panasonic's basic business philosophy of putting "People before Products", a more flexible and diverse working structure is being implemented. The aim of this is to establish it at all sales and support organisations across Europe within the next three years.

As well as setting this series of environmental targets, Panasonic is also supporting the development of a sustainable society through education. Since 2010, Panasonic's environmental learning programme has seen over 200,000 children educated through Panasonic's kids school 'eco learning' initiatives. The new Sustainability Declaration extends this target to educate over 300,000 children by March 2016. In support of this, a series of workshops will be taking place at IFA 2013 in Berlin, with over 120 children being given the opportunity to explore environmental technologies through assembling hybrid toy cars and LED lanterns.

"The kids school 'eco learning' initiative strengthens the younger generation's ability to discover answers to tomorrow's environmental challenges. We are delighted to be holding workshops at IFA, which will be an excellent platform for the younger generation to gain an understanding of the environmental challenges that face society in a fun and informative way" said Laurent Abadie.

The Panasonic Sustainability Declaration for Europe and CIS comes into effect on 5th September 2013 and will be actively implemented to establish a sustainable business strategy throughout the company.

For further information

• Panasonic Europe Sustainability Declaration
• Global Panasonic Sustainability Policy
• Panasonic's Sustainability

Notes to Editors:
* The climate and energy package is a set of binding legislation which aims to ensure members of the European Union meet ambitious climate and energy targets for 2020. These targets, known as the "20-20-20" targets, set three key objectives for 2020:
- A 20% reduction in EU greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels
- A 20% increase in the share of EU energy consumption produced from renewable resources
- A 20% improvement in the EU's energy efficiency

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