Yokohama Releases 2007 Environmental Report

The Yokohama Rubber Co has produced an English language version of the company’s “Environmental and Social Report 2007”, and a PDF file of this report has been posted on the Yokohama Rubber website. It can be viewed at: http://www.yrc-pressroom. jp/env_en. The 56-page document presents environment related data from 20 of the group’s domestic and overseas production sites plus the Yokohama Rubber headquarters and the group’s companies in Japan. The release of the PDF has been accompanied by the introduction of a new section of the Yokohama website, where information on the company’s environmental and social activities can be found.

In introducing the Environmental and Social Report 2007, company president and representative director Tadanobu Nagumo spoke of the importance of rising to the challenge of environmental issues, a task Yokohama is performing through its medium-range management plan ‘Grand Design 100’ (GD100), which it commenced in April 2006. “The biggest challenge confronting nations across the world today is that of preventing global warming by cutting emissions of greenhouse gases,” said Mr. Nagumo. “For our part, we consider it our duty to steadily implement our plans one by one in accordance with the basic principles laid down in GD100.

“The Yokohama Rubber Group is pursuing a variety of activities based on medium to longer-term perspectives, and these activities are producing concrete results. In fiscal 2006, for instance, greenhouse gas emissions were cut by 8.2 per cent, exceeding the 6 per cent target set by the Kyoto Protocol. We have also been awarded the highest possible environmental rating by the Development Bank of Japan, and our head office operations have been ISO14001 certified. Above all else, however, I have been struck by the solidity of the mechanisms that we have put in place to minimise the impact of our activities on the environment, stimulating the level of environmental activity being pursued throughout the group.”

Mr. Nagumo concluded by referring to the expectations that all stakeholders – financial or otherwise – have for Yokohama, and commented: “One of our management policies is to ‘deal fairly with society and value harmony with the environment,’ and we intend to fulfil our social responsibilities as a corporate citizen to meet these expectations of our diverse stakeholders by ensuring that all our employees throughout the group and across the world follow this principle in their daily activities.”