By Kevin Kern, Senior Vice President, Business Intelligence Services and Product Planning, KMBS – The Earth gives us everything: food, shelter, water. Life.

And what do we give it in return? Year after year, we pollute our land and our oceans. We decimate our forests. We emit greenhouse gases.

But the future isn’t so dire. With just a little effort from each of us, we can help our planet.

We can recycle. We can reduce our carbon footprint. We can develop green technology. At Konica Minolta, preserving our planet is part of our business. It is also part of our philosophy: Creating new value for our customers and our society. To create this value, we have a long-term environmental action plan. Called Eco Vision 2050, it guides us to achieve our corporate citizenship goals and fulfill our responsibility as a global corporation.

We have three goals under EcoVision 2050.  First, we will reduce CO₂ emissions throughout our product life cycle by 80 percent by 2050, compared to 2005 levels. We will also reduce CO2 emissions at our production facilities through our Green Factory Certification system. To date, we’ve achieved a 12 percent reduction in CO2 emissions but are striving for a 20 percent reduction. Second, we will promote recycling and effective use of the Earth’s limited resources. Third, we will work to promote restoration and preservation of biodiversity.

Our  commitment goes even further than our front door. We’re helping our customers save energy and reduce waste, too. Our optimized print services enable our customers to reduce document waste and print costs. OurClean Planet recycling program realizes zero waste by keeping consumables out of landfills and incinerators.

Our commitment is not just global. It’s also local. Through our membership with Two Sides, we educate communities about the importance of sustainable forestry and eco-friendly paper goods. Through our partnership with schools and universities, we teach students about the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and the environment. Through our donation, the Thielke Arboretum Environmental Education Center in Glen Rock, N.J., will be built to allow for year-round science and environmental programming.

An Industry Reflection And How Konica Minolta Can Serve Our Healthcare Customers

Because of our commitment, we have been honored with numerous national and global awards, including inclusion on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes for four consecutive years and a top rating from the Climate Performance Leadership for activities related to climate change.

We do all of these things not to win awards but because they are the right things to do. These actions embody our responsibility to our planet, our customers and our future.

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