Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an odorless gas that is vital to life on the planet. CO2 is also known as a greenhouse gas, because its presence in the atmosphere can disturb the natural regulation of temperature, resulting in global warming.
CO2 levels have risen dramatically as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the exponential growth of manufacturing activity all over the world. The primary sources of CO2 are deforestation, agriculture, and the use of fossil fuels. China, the United States, India, Russia, and Japan are the top five countries that produce the most CO2, according to the most recent data from the Global Carbon Project.
Investors, corporate customers, and consumers are pressuring large firms around the world to adopt comparable efforts to address their contributions to the greenhouse effect, with many making “net-zero” emissions pledges to cut and counter their emissions.
Panasonic, which, according to estimates from the firm and other experts, is one of the world’s largest corporate carbon emitters, is only getting started. To offset the roughly 2.2 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions linked with the company’s operations, it will have to repeat its Wuxi accomplishment 37 times.
Simply zeroing out emissions at factories by 2030 will be extremely difficult for Panasonic, a 104-year-old manufacturing behemoth that makes everything from refrigerators and TVs to fuses for surge protectors, according to Ryuji Shimono, a general manager in charge of external affairs at Panasonic’s environment division. However, he stated that de-carbonization is now “an issue of competitiveness.”
Panasonic Corp. achieved “nearly net-zero” carbon dioxide emissions at its highest-emitting Chinese unit. It took six years, demonstrating how tough it is for businesses to minimize their environmental footprints in the face of climate change. By 2030, the Japanese electronics behemoth has vowed to eliminate or offset all of its activities’ greenhouse-gas emissions.
Panasonic gradually reduced its energy use by replacing workers with robots and replacing fluorescent lights with LEDs. When that wasn’t enough, it purchased carbon credits and renewable energy, allowing it to declare last year that the plant’s emissions had been negated.
When Panasonic’s suppliers and the use of its products are taken into account, the emissions account for only 2% of the 110 million metric tons Panasonic believes it is responsible for. While the corporation has set a 2030 target for direct operations emissions, it has given itself until 2050 to address its whole carbon footprint, which is five times that of Apple Inc. and about half of Spain’s yearly emissions.
Other Apple suppliers, including chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and assembly Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., dubbed Foxconn, have established their own carbon reduction targets.
Panasonic attempts to reduce emissions by reducing its energy consumption and generating its own clean electricity. As a result, the Wuxi firm began to install solar panels on the rooftops of its structures, finally generating enough energy to reduce its estimated emissions by 1,250 metric tons.
The factory automated operations and switched to robots to address its labor-intensive production lines. The changes resulted in a 38 percent reduction in personnel numbers, an 11 percent reduction in energy consumption per battery, and a 2,710 metric ton reduction in emissions. It replaced 13,725 fluorescent and other types of bulbs with lower-wattage LEDs and exchanged energy-saving advice with a nearby plant of Konica Minolta Inc., a Japanese office equipment producer.