At the December Green Business Conference in Melbourne, Fuji Xerox outlined their strategy for developing a carbon management plan. Even though they are below legislated thresholds for mandatory carbon management, they said they did it to meet industry and market expectations...Fuji Xerox's plan was developed in four key phases:
- Identify risks, opportunities and legal obligations
- Measure their existing carbon footprint
- Determine their corporate objectives
- Determine how they were going to manage their carbon output
They noted that although they are not legally required to implement carbon saving initiatives they felt they would benefit not only their own carbon footprint, but their customers' and influence the wider supply chain their business deals with.
So where do they measure they emissions from? Like most companies they monitor:
- Petrol
- LPG
- Natural Gas
- Electricity
- Transport Logistics
- Employee Air travel
And divide these into the three standard greenhouse gas (GHG) measurement scopes defined by WRI & WBSCD:
Interestingly they have measured their success by calculating their revenue per tonne of carbon: they have found their revenue performance has almost doubled per carbon tonne: when they started on the journey in FY03/04, their revenue was $41,000 per tonne of CO2, and re-baselining last year they found their revenue has increased to $66,000 per tonnes of carbon.
This year they have set a new carbon target to reduce emissions by 1% year on year and have targeted 100% green power by 2011 (currently they have achieved a 22% green power ratio). Their key focus will be on suppliers, packaging, reverse logistics and replacing employee air travel with 'eMeetings'. From the suppliers side, they have managed to engage 3 out of every 4 of their dealers in Australia in a 'Dealer Sustainability Program', which aims to provide their business partners, who may not have their own capability and resources to build a Green IT program, with information and resources to enable them to improve their own environmental performance.
Fuji have also developed a carbon balance index which they target for 2012/2013: for every carbon saving made internally they will commit to reducing double the carbon from their customer's footprint:
They felt this could be achieved through both customer education (such as their carbon calculator) and through eco-technological innovation in their product range, including:
- manufacturing lead-free shafts
- implementing Energy Star product development - as low as 2.2watts in power saving mode
- using biomass plastic components
- using LED print head technology, which are "more compact, lighter and quieter" compared to common raster optical scanner systems
In this context they recently won the 'Minister for Economy, Trade, and Industry Prize' at the 2007 Eco Products Awards in Japan for the products that follow these principles, namely:
- ApeosPort multi-function
- DocuPrint III C3300 multi-function
- C2200 colour multi-function
- DocuPrint C2250 colour printer
Finally, Fuji wrapped up their talk with their 'lessons learnt':
- Build a business case with two key elements: a bottom line focus and a payback period;
- When you extend into the supply chain, make sure you have your own house in order first;
- Communicate your performance; and
- Innovate: find the business opportunity for your operations and bring low carbon solutions to the market.
References:
Fuji Xerox, Sustainability Report 2008, http://www.fujixerox.com.au/sustainability/sustainabilityreport_home.jsp
GHG Measurement Scopes from GHG Protocol, WRI & WBSCD, http://www.ghgprotocol.org/files/ghg-protocol-revised.pdf
