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Pursuing the Honda Environmental Vision
-Climate change and energy is our greatest challenge-
Current assessment of environmental issues: “Climate change and energy is our greatest challenge”
To realize the Honda Environmental Vision, we are addressing environmental issues in a comprehensive manner through management policies implemented in each region of the globe. We have organized environmental issues according to importance and identified those that pose the greatest risk to our business and stakeholders (see figure on the right). As a global corporation supplying mobility products, we see climate change and energy, major issues on a global scale, as the greatest challenge facing the company. We set our own reduction targets (see note) for CO2 emissions—by far the most significant of all greenhouse gases (GHGs)—and are stepping up efforts to meet these targets in every region and domain.
We also organized and analyzed the potential risks of other environmental issues and developed specific plansim to address them in each region and domain.
- Note:
- Reduction targets are set for identifiable GHGs in each domain.
Honda’s general assessment of environmental issues from a global perspective
Assessment of opportunities and risks of climate change and energy issues
We compiled all of the major opportunities and risks we currently expect to see from climate change and energy issues into the graph on the right and have been taking the following measures in response.
To minimize the regulatory risk our products face as emitters of GHGs, we set—and subsequently achieved—fiscal 2012 CO2 emissions reduction targets for more than 90% of our motorcycles, automobiles, and power products. Looking forward to 2020, we set new targets to reduce product CO2 emissions and are actively taking other measures to reduce emissions.
To respond to changes in consumer awareness and support energy diversification, we are selling solar panels and developing solar-powered hydrogen stations in Japan, and have also begun demonstration testing for smart mobilities in Japan, the U.S., and China. We are accelerating a number of development projects, including the Honda Smart Home System (HSHS), which saw the completion of a demonstration house in Saitama Prefecture in April 2012.
Honda’s assessment of opportunities and risks of climate change and energy from a global perspective
We are working to reduce GHG emissions in each region and domain of our business in order to comply with regulations that control emissions from corporate activities. We compile the results of our efforts and make them known to the public once a year through this Environmental Annual Report.
We see the worsening of resource scarcity as another major challenge. Some of the resources that are required to improve the environmental performance of our products face the risk of becoming depleted, or at least more difficult to obtain. We are addressing this risk by developing alternative technologies and technologies to reduce, reuse, and recycle these resources, and by diversifying our supply chain.
We clarify our understanding of risks and opportunities like these by analyzing them from two different perspectives: by product categories (motorcycles, automobiles, and power products), with a focus on our business and product development operations; and by region, which is based on our unique regional management structure. The Honda World Environmental and Safety Committee assesses these risks and opportunities from a global perspective, the findings of which are then used by our regional operations (regional environmental committees), Business Operations and Functional Operations in the formulation of management policies and strategies.
We conduct this risk management process annually and as needed, using it to formulate and update our medium-term plans for environmental initiatives. We will continue to cover the details of this process and our progress in identifying potential risks and opportunities in future environmental annual reports.
- Note:
- Smart communities: Communities that, through broad partnerships between governments and private entities in the fields of next-generation energy infrastructure, telecommunications, traffic systems, and various products and services, are engineered to be more efficient, self-sustaining, and dynamic.
