Environmental Strategy and Management

Environmental Action Plan

Brother Group Environmental Vision 2050

In March 2018, the Brother Group formulated the Brother Group Environmental Vision 2050 as a new long-term target of the Brother Group to contribute to resolving global environmental issues under the slogan "Brother Earth," and established a mid-term target for FY2030 as a milestone.

Out of the three goals of reduction of CO₂ emissions, resource circulation, and biodiversity conservation, the mid-term target for FY2030 for reduction of CO₂ emissions has been recognized as a target based on scientific evidence by the Science Based Targets (SBT) initiative, an international initiative established to help achieve greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

Brother Group Environmental Action Plan 2021 (2019–2021)

Basic policy

The Brother Group shall proactively promote the following initiatives with its stakeholders to solve the key issues set in the Brother Group Environmental Vision 2050:

Create eco-conscious products
Reduce CO₂ emissions in the entire value chain
Strengthen resource circulation in our business activities
Reduce the burdens of business operations on the ecosystem and expand conservation activities
Address social requirements properly in addition to compliance with environmental laws and regulations

Environmental targets based on the basic policy (2019–2021) and achievements in FY2019

1. Activities at Brother facilities

Reduction of CO₂ emissions (Scope 1 and 2)
Reduction of water consumption
Waste reduction
Obtainment of ISO 14001 certification and reconstruction of the environmental management system
Legal compliance and response to social requirements
Assessment of impact on the ecosystem
Biodiversity conservation

The numbers in "Environmental targets" in the chart below correspond to the numbers in the text above.

Environmental targets^*	Achievements in FY2019	Self-evaluation
1-1	Achieved an 11.7% reduction from FY2018. (Absolute value)	Significantly achieved
1-2	Achieved a 16.7% reduction from FY2018. (Per unit of sales)	Significantly achieved
1-3	Achieved an 8.5% reduction from FY2018. (Absolute value)	Significantly achieved
1-4	Obtained multi-site certification together with consolidated subsidiary Xing Inc. In addition, conducted major organizational change (restructuring) aimed at efficient operation of environmental management systems in Japan.	Achieved
1-5	Conducted response to legal compliance in accordance with ISO 14001. In addition, deployed various measures and achieved reduction of greenhouse gases which are thought to be the causes of climate change.	-
1-6	With printing equipment—Brother's flagship product—as a model, conducted quantitative evaluation of environmental impact on biodiversity from business operations using the LIME2 method (second edition of Japan's version of life cycle environmental impact evaluation method based on damage assessment) and created a relation map between biodiversity and business operations in the entire value chain.	-
1-7	To expand activities for biodiversity conservation, which is an important theme of the Brother Group Environmental Vision 2050, a new "Biodiversity Conservation 5R Award" was added to the Environmental 5R Awards—an internal commendation system—since FY2019 to encourage group companies to undertake activities. In FY2019, Brother International Europe Ltd. (BIE) received the Gold award for its 10-year partnership with U.K.-based NPO Cool Earth and conducting environmental protection activities in the basin of the Amazon River. BIE's activities are also introduced in the page of "Environmental Vision 2050: Biodiversity Conservation." Environmental Vision 2050: Biodiversity Conservation	Achieved

2. Activities related to products

Reduction of CO₂ emissions (Scope 3)
Promotion of reuse and recycle
Promotion of environmentally friendly design
Legal compliance and response to social requirements

The numbers in "Environmental targets" in the chart below correspond to the numbers in the text above.

Environmental targets^*	Achievements in FY2019	Self-evaluation
2-1	Brother is building a system where CO₂ reduction targets (compared to previous model) are set for each product in the upstream stages of new product development and product development is carried out aimed at those targets. In FY2019, such a system was established for the mainstream Printing & Solutions Business and reduction activities were started.	-
2-2	To reduce the consumption of new natural resources, targets were established to increase the use of recycled plastic in printing equipment which uses a lot of plastic. In addition, reduction targets for the use of polystyrene foam—which is especially difficult to recycle globally—was also simultaneously established to reduce plastic packaging material which is becoming an environmental problem.	-
2-3	In the product group of Communications and Printing Equipment, environmentally friendly design was promoted from the initial stages of product planning and development, and management complying with environmental labelling standards were carried out. As a result, products met the standards for environmentally friendly products, such as the Blue Angel in Germany, the Eco Mark in Japan, and EPEAT in the United States which are top-level environmental labels and standards in major regions.	-
2-4	Ensured proper compliance with all environmental laws and regulations—including new laws and regulations that came into effect in the respective countries and regions—regarding chemical substances contained in products, laws and regulations on recycling of waste electrical/electronic equipment and packaging materials, and energy-saving regulations on products.	Achieved

3. Environmental communication

Information disclosure
Collaboration with suppliers
Environmental education

The numbers in "Environmental targets" in the chart below correspond to the numbers in the text above.

Environmental targets^*	Achievements in FY2019	Self-evaluation
3-1	Worked to improve engagement with stakeholders through the special website on the environment (brotherearth.com) based on the environmental slogan "Brother Earth." Disclosed the Brother Group's environmental activity report from the perspective of SDGs, and at the same time, took into consideration social requirements and enhanced activity details specifically related to water and suppliers.	Achieved
3-2	Collaborated with suppliers to promote green procurement. Established study team and launched study so as to formulate the "Supplier's Guidelines" (tentative name) related to the environment. Conducted audits on suppliers in Japan and overseas—which number more than 350—regarding their management systems for chemical substances contained in products. For suppliers with issues pointed out as a result of the audits, follow-up audits were conducted on corrective and improvement measures after they have been implemented. Out of these, 17 suppliers in Japan and overseas were visited and given guidance anew.	Achieved
3-3	Continued to promote the Brother Eco Point Program within the Brother Group. Continued to implement measures to improve the environmental awareness of employees using the internal commendation program, information dissemination via the intranet, and e-learning.	Achieved

About Us

Brother's CSR

Environmental Activities

Investor Relations

Corporate Information

News