Third-party Opinions Third-party Opinions
Professor Katsuhiko Kokubu, Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University
Professor Kokubu completed his doctoral program at the Graduate School of Business, Osaka City University, where he was conferred the degree of Doctor in Business Administration. After working as an associate professor at Osaka City University and Kobe University, he became a professor at the Graduate School of Business Administration in Kobe University in 2001. From 2014 to 2016, he served as Dean of the Graduate School. Professor Kokubu also holds posts such as Chairperson of ISO/TC207/WG8 and Chairperson of MFCA Forum Japan. His major publications include, 窶廣ccountability and Business Ethics,窶 (Yuhikaku Publishing, 2017), 窶廝asics of CSR窶 (Chuokeizai-sha, 2017), and 窶廰ow-carbon Supply Chain Operation窶 (Chuokeizai-sha, 2015).
Reducing Load on the Environment through Utilization of ICT
The environmental activities of NTT West can be characterized by the utilization of ICT to reduce the load on the environment. It is of great significance that this initiative not only aims at lightening the environmental burden imposed by NTT West; it is also a solution business that strives to cut down the load by the entire society. Also, it is a unique effort to certify solutions with a reduction in CO2 emission that exceeds 15% with an "NTT Solution Environment Label," while services such as "Hikari Cloud PBX" and "Cloud-based UTM" also seemed to have produced very effective results as described in the report. Another noteworthy endeavor in addition to those related to CO2 is the "local food resource recycling solution" that NTT West offers to address food loss. Conservation of the environment through the introduction of ICT is regarded as a very important means in a circular economy, a concept that is particularly advanced in Europe. I hope that NTT Group will take the lead in Japan to promote a circular economy with the use of ICT.
Addressing Environment Issues of the Local Communities
Another characteristic of NTT West is the high level of concern for the environmental issues of the local communities. In the FY2020 report, interviews with Munakata Taisha and Munakata City were published together with the environmental activities in Osaka and Tottori. NTT West is a company with hubs in different regions. In addition to conserving the local environment, engaging in diverse activities in the respective regions can also be expected to help revitalize the local regions and enhance environmental awareness. Other than those introduced in the report, I believe there are many other projects that are ongoing. It would have a greater social impact if NTT West is able to share information on the entire company, such as the principles for pushing forward such projects as a company.
Reducing the Environmental Load Imposed by NTT West
Data was released on the achievement of the Environmental Grand Design, which showed a significant reduction in total GHG emission, while it was also reported that zero emissions could not be achieved for final waste disposal. However, only results were presented in these cases, and it would be desirable to have a more detailed description of the reasons that contributed to the result of these activities. Since NTT West has already grasped information on environmental load that covers the supply chain of the entire region, such as information on material flow and Scope 3, I hope it can expand its activities to achieve actual reduction of environmental load in future with the use of such information.
Response to Third-party OpinionIn relation to reduction of environmental load with the use of ICT, following the widespread implementation of telecommuting and the longer time spent at home due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we will continue to engage actively in the development of ICT solutions to enhance the efficiency of our activities while minimizing the burden imposed on the environment. Meanwhile, for measures to address issues concerning the global environment, NTT West Group has been contributing to the greening of local communities through the voluntary activities of our employees under the "Midori Ippai Project." However, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the current fiscal year, we had to refrain from activities that require participants to get together. In the next fiscal year, we plan to consider SDGs activities that allow employees to contribute individually to the local community amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. As for the reduction of environmental load by NTT West, we have devoted our effort in this fiscal year to promote the use of green electricity that is produced from renewable energy for electric power consumed in our company, and were able to exceed the targeted level of reduction in GHG emissions. As was pointed out above, instead of reporting only the results, we will work on including the reasons that contributed to the results in the report as well. Environment Management Promotion Office Technology Innovation Department Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation |
Annual Environmental Report
Copyright © 1999-2024 NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE WEST CORPORATION