Organizational structure

In December 1991, Honda created what is now the Japan Environmental Committee as a body to play a key role in environmental matters of the company. This structure has expanded into a global environmental management system with regional environmental committees in North America, South America, Europe, Asia/Oceania, and China. Combined with the safety issue (see note), through which Honda aims to create a motorized society that is safe for all people. In March 1995, the World Environment and Safety Committee was established to discuss, decide on, and review annual plans for implementing environmental conservation activities at the global level, based on medium-term management plans. The committee created an environmental management system that connects the global level to the local level and factory floor. The company’s president and CEO currently chairs the committee, a reflection of Honda’s recognition that environmental issues, especially climate change and energy, are critical and impact Honda’s business operations.

The World Environment and Safety Committee develops mid-term policies and plans for global environmental initiatives based on mid-term policies and management plans determined by the Management Council. Individual divisions prepare detailed plans for each region and business area, and then finalize the overall plans after discussion and approval by the regional environmental committees.

The regional environmental committees discuss and evaluate annual achievements under the plans and then, based on the results, create new targets and plans with the objective of achieving mid-term policies and plans. The progress of environmental initiatives by Honda Group companies, as well as themes affecting multiple domains around the world, are reported to the World Environment and Safety Committee and then factored into the next year’s annual plans and the next mid-term business management plans and policies.Honda follows the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle to promote continuous improvement in environmental performance in each region: Japan, North America, South America, Europe, Asia/Oceania, and China.

One hallmark of this system is that planning and implementation are not simply delegated to specialized staff, but that all associates are expected to be involved. The basic thinking is that all associates should be actively tackling environmental issues as a part of their daily work.

Note:

Reports on safety that are available in English include the environmental annual reports and reports on driving safety promotion activities.

Environmental activities based on the PDCA(Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle

Honda’s organizational structure for environmental affairs

Compliance with laws and regulations

In accordance with the Honda Environment Statement, Honda introduces environmental management systems at all business sites and in each division, promotes continuous efforts to improve environmental performance, and strives to comply with voluntary environmental standards that are more stringent than national and regional regulations.

We established the Honda Conduct Guideline In April 2003 and are implementing it throughout the Honda Group in Japan and worldwide. Compliance in the document is defined as compliance with laws, company rules, and social norms, while environmental conservation is defined as the proper processing of waste and pollutants, efficient use of natural resources and recycling, and legally required measurements, recording and reporting. We have appointed corporate directors to serve as Compliance Officers, and work systematically to enhance compliance and risk management under the supervision of directors in charge of each part of the organization.

Emergency protocols

In anticipation of accidents and emergencies that could cause environmental pollution, each factory and division has clearly-defined procedures for preventing pollution.

To date, Honda has applied environmental accounting to a portion of its activities in Japan (Honda R&D Co., Honda Engineering Co., and unconsolidated components of Honda Motor Co.). In the future, we plan to expand our environmental initiatives globally and move closer to realizing the Honda Environmental Vision by increasing the scope of our environmental accounting to cover the following items in Honda Environmental Annual Report 2013.

1. Japanese business sites: Increase disclosure of management of consolidated activities　

2. Regional business sites: Disclose major production and R&D activities

Even prior to the next edition, we hereby report the environmental costs calculated for the current fiscal year for our North American automobile R&D activities.
Overseas R&D sites: Honda R&D Americas Inc.
Environmental cost: 13.35 billion yen (mainly R&D costs)

Honda is diligent about measuring and reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that stem from its global business activities. This includes not only direct emissions and indirect emissions from consumed energy, but also emissions that take place across our value chain, including emissions outside our own business activities (e.g., extraction, procurement, and transport of raw materials, use and end-of-life disposal of sold products), or what is defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol1 as scope 3.

In 2011, the GHG Protocol, one of the world’s most widely-used GHG calculation standards, added scope 3 to two existing categories of corporate emissions: scope 1 (direct emissions) and scope 2 (indirect emissions from energy use). After the addition of scope 3, we quickly set about measuring and calculating our GHG emissions in scope 3, particularly category 11 of scope 3, emissions from use of sold products, which represents the largest component of CO2 emissions for an automaker and thus the greatest opportunity to reduce our environmental impact. We had these calculations independently verified and were the first automaker in the world2 to disclose our scope 3 emissions after the official publication of the Scope 3 Standard.

Note 1:

Developed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the World Resources Institute (WRI)　2: Honda internal research　3: Indicates the amount of CO2 Honda products sold in the period noted above will emit in their lifetimes of use, calculated by taking into account how many years and to what extent products are used in each region.