KONICA MINOLTA

About Konica Minolta

Giving Shape to Ideas

Addressing Climate Change

Adapting to Climate Change

Adapting to Climate Change

When combating climate change, the most important and necessary actions are mitigation measures to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the crisis. Since it takes a long time for the effects of mitigation to appear, we must immediately begin efforts to significantly reduce emissions. Even if we maximize our efforts to reduce emissions over the long term however, a certain degree of climate change will be unavoidable due to the greenhouse gas emissions that have already accumulated in the atmosphere.
Extreme weather events have a huge impact on our lives, and many weather observation records have been broken in recent years. There are concerns that large-scale flooding and deadly heat waves will only become more frequent and serious going forward. For this reason, adaptation measures are essential to minimize the physical impacts that occur as the climate changes.
Konica Minolta is implementing adaptation initiatives throughout its supply chain to mitigate the physical impacts that climate change is having on natural ecosystems and on social and economic systems. Since the effects of climate change are manifested in various ways depending on geographic, economic, and social circumstances, there are no universal adaptation measures. Therefore, we are working to identify how each country and region might be affected by climate change, in order to devise the measures that need to be taken.

Upstream (Suppliers)

Securing Multiple Suppliers Based on Manufacturing that Avoids Reliance on People, Countries, Places, and Market Fluctuations

Large-scale natural disasters cause supply chain disruptions. To prevent any resulting delays in customer product delivery, we trace our upstream supply routes all the way back to the basic raw materials. For raw materials with a high stable supply risk, we are working to secure multiple suppliers while investigating alternative materials. We select suppliers to achieve manufacturing that does not rely on people, countries, places, or market fluctuations.

Carbon Neutral Partner Activities (Reducing Water Consumption by Suppliers)

Water resources represent an essential ecosystem service for both the daily activities of employees and the production activities of suppliers. As climate change intensifies, weather patterns will change, resulting in more frequent heavy rains and large-scale droughts. This will make it difficult to maintain the same level of available water resources, which could lead to shortages and impact the entire supply chain.
Accordingly, Konica Minolta is promoting Carbon Neutral Partner Activities. We are sharing the environmental technologies and expertise we have developed through Green Factory activities with our suppliers. They are investigating and implementing measures to reduce their water use in accordance with prescribed guidelines.

Operations (Production / R&D)

Green Factory Activities (Water Risk Assessment and Mitigation Measures, and Water Conservation)

Worsening climate change poses an increased risk of major storm and flood damage, landslides, and long-term sea level rise. Having sites located in geographically susceptible locations can make it difficult to continue production and R&D activities. Konica Minolta pays attention to water resource availability as a chronic physical risk posed by climate change. In fiscal 2013, we adopted a comprehensive risk assessment method called Aqueduct to look at water use and flooding at major Konica Minolta Group sites and suppliers worldwide. This enables us to identify sites with high water risk, and implement the necessary measures.

Business Continuity Management

The Konica Minolta Group has established a business continuity plan (BCP), as a concrete emergency action plan, which covers the Group and its global supply chain. The aim is to ensure that even if a site is damaged by a large-scale natural disaster, important operations will not be interrupted (and even if they are interrupted, they can be resumed in the shortest possible time). We have also created an initial response system to collect information on the situation immediately after a disaster. This covers our mainstay digital workplace business, as well as our healthcare business, which makes equipment that will be in high demand in the event of a disaster. The initial response system is also used to determine whether the BCP needs to be activated.

Downstream (Customers)

Industry Business

Wide Area Monitoring System to Detect Gas Leaks

Methane (CH4) is a widely used flammable gas, often found in shale gas and other sources. It is a greenhouse gas that is more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide (CO2) for trapping heat in the atmosphere. Natural disasters and aging infrastructure can cause gas pipelines to leak, allowing methane to escape invisibly into the atmosphere. Konica Minolta is developing a Disaster Prevention Diagnostic Service that makes methane leaks visible and helps prevent fires and explosions. Our handy gas leak inspection system with a built-in battery can streamline initial inspections immediately after a disaster.

SenrigaN Nondestructive Inspection Solution

After a natural disaster such as a typhoon or flood, it takes great deal of time and effort to carry out the corrective maintenance needed to restore infrastructure and essential services for residents. As a priority measure for national resilience, Japan is aiming to deploy preventive infrastructure maintenance, and is taking measures to bolster aging infrastructure.
Konica Minolta's SenrigaN nondestructive inspection solution realizes easy non-invasive inspection of pre-stressed concrete (PC) steel materials inside bridges. It detects invisible fractures and corrosion caused by road salt. The measurement results can be checked immediately using a handheld tablet, offering better maintenance efficiency. This also helps reduce any potential damage caused by a natural disaster.

Preventing Ocean Accidents Through Rip Current Detection

With the acceleration of climate change, typhoons and hurricanes are getting bigger, causing more destructive storm surges and waves. Rip currents caused by tides and waves make up about 51% of swimmer accidents along the Japanese coastline.
Konica Minolta's rip current detection system automatically detects the location of rip currents using IoT camera devices installed on beaches. The system provides the information needed to make this hazard visible, and helps prevent accidents involving beachgoers.

Digital Workplace Business

Regionally Distributed Production and Supply of MFP Cartridges (Toner)

Climate change is expected to generate localized and extreme disasters such as floods and landslides that are large-scale, short-term, and more frequent. Whenever these disasters become severe, procurement and distribution in an affected area can be disrupted, halting the supply of products.
To minimize such disaster risks, we have established production bases in Japan, Europe, and North America. These sites produce printing toner and cartridges (and related parts) for our mainstay professional printing business and office printing business. In this way, we are striving to secure a highly resilient supply chain network that can produce products in the regions where they are consumed.

Digital Workplace Solutions to Support New Work Styles

In order to minimize the impact of climate change, in addition to controlling greenhouse gas emissions it is important to protect carbon sinks, such as rainforests, and maintain forest ecosystems. Excessive deforestation not only reduces carbon sinks but can also drive wild animals closer to human settlement. This can lead to the spread of infectious diseases including dangerous pathogens that people have not yet encountered. From the perspective of forest resource conservation, and to help facilitate new work styles during a pandemic involving a previously unknown infectious disease, Konica Minolta is developing new digital solutions to reduce reliance on paper printing in the office. As part of this, we are expanding sales of new Digital Workplace products. These integrated IT service platforms enable remote collaboration among workplace members, while ensuring robust information security.

Healthcare Business

AeroDR Mobile Solution for Medical Relief in Disaster Zones

In areas where natural disasters have occurred, it is often necessary to carry out medical relief activities without electricity or fuel. Konica Minolta's AeroDR Mobile Solution is an X-ray imaging system that continues to operate after the power supply is cut. It is extremely portable and can even be used outdoors. It allows X-ray images to be viewed on the spot and can be charged during transport.

World's First Pulse Oximeter and 40 Years of Expertise

As climate change accelerates deforestation, humans and wildlife are coming into contact more often, creating opportunities for unknown pathogens to spread and create new infectious diseases. Konica Minolta's pulse oximeter can be used to measure blood oxygen levels (SpO2) and pulse rates without having to draw blood.

Social Contribution Activities

Local Emergency Water Source Creation

In case of a major natural disaster, Konica Minolta, Inc. has established a system at its office in Hino, Tokyo, for accessing well water using its own power generation equipment. At the same time, this emergency water source is available to a nearby hospital designated for disaster relief, as part of local disaster preparedness efforts.

Participating in Recovery Zone Support Activities

After Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, Konica Minolta dispatched about 100 employees to the affected areas and participated in reconstruction support activities. Since 2013, we have participated in a project to regenerate protective coastal forests in the disaster zones. With the aim of preserving and regenerating the coastal ecosystems, we have been involved in activities to restore disaster prevention and mitigation functions in the affected areas.

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