Eco Community

Our environmental education curriculum for employees consists of a general education program, a professional education program, and general awareness-building activities.
The general education program consists of a mandatory Basic Environmental Training course as a first step, followed by echelon-based training courses in which non-management employees, managers, and executives learn what action they need to take in their respective positions to address environmental issues. In the professional education program, employees select the courses they need in their particular area in order to acquire the skills and knowledge required for environmental action. We also build general environmental awareness among all personnel in a variety of ways, including through environmental messages from management to all employees and by implementing special actions during Environmental Sustainability Month and Energy Conservation Month.

Topic 1

In Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture, where Epson is headquartered, the Suwa Future Creation "Children's Dream Project" is being promoted as an opportunity for elementary and junior high school students to think about local community development. Epson helped implement an environmental education program as part of the project’s fiscal 2023 activities under the theme "Achieving a Zero Carbon City." An Epson employee served as one of the lecturers to introduce participants to the current state of global environmental issues and the company's environmental initiatives. Suwa City, the host of the event, also introduced its efforts to improve the environment of Lake Suwa and reduce and recycle food waste. Participants listened with great interest and had a lot of questions.

Topic 2

Nagano Senior High School, in Nagano Prefecture, has been designated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to participate in a glocalization project to promote innovation in high school education in collaboration with local communities. The aim is to develop human resources who can recommend solutions to local issues from a global perspective.

In November 2021, first-year students who are doing research into local sources of renewable energy and into the question of what companies and individuals can do to address global environmental problems visited Seiko Epson as part of their fieldwork. Epson shared knowledge that we have accumulated in these areas through our own activities, provided real-life examples, and talked about the concept of co-creation and the adoption of locally generated renewable electricity for realizing our environmental vision.

Students were also shown products such as Epson’s PaperLab, which is a dry-process office papermaking system, and large format printers that are capable of printing on paper and a variety of other materials. In this way, the students learned more about the resource-related issues that Epson sees as important and about our products and services that help to reduce environmental impacts.

In February 2020, we hosted practicum students of Shinshu University for a course called the Eco-Mind Program: Experience-Based Training for Environmental Competence. This practicum is designed to give students a chance to learn directly from real-world practitioners about issues and initiatives in the environmental field. The head of Seiko Epson's environmental affairs organization lectured on Epson's environmental stance and initiatives while providing specific examples. He took questions from the students and listened to their ideas.

After the lecture, the students were given a tour of Epson's Manufacturing Museum and a demonstration of how Epson's PaperLab dry process office papermaking system recycles and produces paper. They were also given a tour of Epson Mizube Corporation, an Epson subsidiary that sorts and processes used ink cartridges. They deepened their understanding about a variety of actions that we as a manufacturing company are taking to address social issues.

When addressing environmental concerns, it is important to take local action to solve global issues. That is why we seek to realize a sustainable society, starting from here in Shinshu, and will continue to engage the local community in a wide range of ways.

In October 2023, Tianjin Epson Co., Ltd. collaborated with the Tianjin Society for the Promotion of Ecological Ethics and Tianjin Nankai Ecology and Environment Bureau to educate approximately 200 elementary school students about everyday garbage separation and recycling.

Our employees shared the knowledge and expertise on waste sorting and resource utilization that Epson has accumulated through its business activities, aiming to raise the students' awareness of environmental protection.

In January 2023, Epson Sales Japan hosted an environmental management seminar entitled "Future Supplier Engagement as Seen by Sustainable Companies." It was open to companies interested in eco-conscious initiatives in their supply chains. In addition to members of Kokuyo Co., Ltd. and Seiko Epson Corporation who are responsible for promoting those companies’ sustainability efforts, the seminar featured an expert speaker, Mitsuru Omori, Senior Manager at The Japan Research Institute, Limited. The two companies introduced their past efforts and discussed market trends and the environmental responses that will be required of supply chains in the future and shared with participants the current status and prospects of supplier engagement in the decarbonization trend.

The ESG Finance Awards Japan, organized by the Ministry of the Environment, recognizes progressive, exemplary initiatives driven by investors, financial institutions, financial services providers, and companies that have made an impact by actively engaging in ESG financing or environmental and social enterprises with the goal of encouraging the spread and expansion of ESG financing. In the Environmentally Sustainable Company category, companies are evaluated on the quality of their information disclosures concerning things such as risks, business opportunities, and strategic opportunities related to environmental issues that could have a substantial impact on corporate value and on the effectiveness that the initiatives they have disclosed have had on corporate management.
Epson was selected as an "Environmentally Sustainable Company" and was awarded Silver, making this the third consecutive year that Epson has been recognized in the Environmentally Sustainable Company category. (February 2024)

Epson was awarded the Economy, Trade and Industry Minister's Prize, one of main prizes in the First EcoPro Awards, at a ceremony on the first day of EcoPro 2018.
Epson was singled out for the environmental performance of the PaperLab A-8000 dry process office papermaking system, for innovativeness in recycling office resources, and for the maintenance of information security through the secure destruction of confidential documents.
Epson aims to develop an office recycling ecosystem and a smart recycling business by advancing and leveraging its efficient, compact, and precision technologies to provide innovative products and services. (September 2018)

The Environmental Value Award is granted to companies that earn a high overall score for initiatives relating to climate change, resources, and biodiversity. Companies are evaluated on things such as policies regarding the analysis of risks and opportunities and environmental audits; greenhouse gas emissions, the scope of emissions measured, and actual GHG quantities; quantitative measurement and long-term targets for wastes, power consumption, and water resources; climate change adaptation measures and environmental solutions; and activities to protect ecosystems.
Seiko Epson won its first Environmental Value Award in recognition of its efforts to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions and, increasingly important, those of its business partners, as well as for its support for the TCFD recommendations and disclosure of emissions information in securities reports, and its ambitious targets for introducing renewable electricity.
Epson will continue to strive to contribute to the world through its technologies, products and services in order to achieve a better, more sustainable world as envisioned by the SDGs. (November 2021)

The Kansai Productivity Center (KPC) is a non-profit organization that assists companies that have a large presence in the Kansai Region, a large area of Japan that includes cities such as Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara, with management innovation and human resources development. In December 2021, Epson responded to a request by the KPC to host a group of visitors taking a course in management strategy at the KPC’s Management School. The visitors, who were from four leading Kansai companies in various industries, were exploring the topic of management’s response to environmental problems, which they believe will be an important part of business administration in the future. They discussed a number of subjects with Seiko Epson executives, including the impact that decarbonization and carbon neutral initiatives will have on society and companies. Both sides benefited from the exchange of information.

In addition, we familiarized the visitors with Epson and some of its business activities by giving them a tour of Epson’s Monozukuri Museum and paper recycling center, where paper used internally is recycled using the PaperLab, a dry-process office papermaking system, and by showing them Epson Mizube, a special subsidiary that employs a large number of people with disabilities, providing them with reasonable accommodations and jobs that fit their abilities.

Epson has been working with Kamogawa Sea World and the Japanese government since June 2010 in a project to help protect and preserve endangered loggerhead sea turtles. The project is part of the company's ongoing desire to preserve biodiversity and to test its sensing technology in the field.