Tokyo December 9, 2008, Ricoh Company, Ltd. (CEO Shiro Kondo) is pleased to announce its participation in the Poznan Communique, an initiative by 140 leading global corporations to highlight the need for action on climate change. The communiqué was developed by the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change (managed by the University of Cambridge Programme for Industry). Its launch will coincide with the second week of climate negotiations taking place in Poznan, Poland.
The Communique states that “climate change poses global social, environmental and economic risks and demands a transformational change in how we manage our global economy” and that “we must deliver deep and rapid cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.” It adds that “any credible comprehensive agreement must include mechanisms to reduce topical deforestation” as the continuing destruction of these ecosystems accounts for up to one fifth of annual greenhouse emissions.
Ricoh is the only major Japanese corporation to have supported the Communique. A pioneer in corporate environmentalism, Ricoh was also the first Japanese company to come out in support of the Kyoto Protocol, under Masamitsu Sakurai’s leadership, Ricoh’s chief executive at the time.
Kiyoshi Sakai, Chief Technology Officer and Corporate Executive Vice President of Ricoh said: “We believe we must achieve a sustainable society where our environmental impact is limited to what the Earth can deal with, handing on our precious Earth to future generations. In order to do this, we must create a system enabling us to tackle climate change actively, and altogether – that’s why we signed the Poznan Communique.”
