In this interview, recently published on CDP's blog, Greenstone talks to two leaders at Fujitsu to discuss its journey towards becoming a responsible business, and the importance of reliable data to support it.
In 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its special report into the global impact of temperatures rising at 1.5°C degrees above pre-industrial levels. As a result, the business sector and corporate leaders face mounting pressure to address their impact on the climate and demonstrate how they are taking action to their stakeholders, consumers, employees and investors.
The importance of comprehensive, robust and comparable data is integral for any business that needs to monitor performance against targets, particularly those who demonstrate best practice leadership in their sector. Greenstone‘s partnerships with its clients, some decades-long, have helped businesses grow their programs and become more ambitious and confident through the accessibility of reliable data.
Fujitsu, one of the world’s five largest global providers of IT solutions, with over 129,000 employees worldwide serving customers in more than 180 countries has an 85-year history of being a responsible business. This year, it has committed to bringing its emissions down to zero by 2050 and has joined RE100 – an initiative led by the Climate Group in partnership with CDP - with the aim to use 100% renewable energy.
Interviewees:
- Juliet Silvester, Head of Responsible Business, Fujitsu
- Simon Angel, Head of Engineering, Fujitsu
What does Responsible Business mean to Fujitsu?
Responsible Business has been a substantial part of the Fujitsu Way (our corporate philosophy) since its inception, and therefore it is part of our company DNA. It is genuine and longstanding, and our practice has been recognised and applauded externally in many benchmarks and indices including CDP, the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, FTSE4Good Index and the UN Global Compact 100.
Responsible practices are driven across the entire company, from protecting intellectual property rights and enforcing our human rights policy to encouraging all employees to get involved with community action projects. Our responsible business pillars – Human Rights & Diversity, Wellbeing, Environment, Compliance, Supply Chain, Health & Safety and Community - are the foundation for our country-level strategy whilst defining common themes across Fujitsu.
Fujitsu is committed to using the power of ICT to help resolve social problems as we continue on the path toward a sustainable society. We see that accelerating the pace of innovation to respond to societal expectations is contributing to the achievement of common global goals such as the Paris Agreement on climate change and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Find out how Fujitsu transformed its global environmental reporting with Greenstone
How does Fujitsu report against its Responsible Business Strategy?
Fujitsu has been publishing an Environmental Report since 1996 with the aim of increasing the responsibilities and transparency of companies to society. Since 2003, we have published a Sustainability Report focusing on the approach, initiatives and results of its social and environmental activities.
Has Fujitsu set targets for its environmental impacts?
Absolutely. We are fully committed to reducing our environmental impact across the scope of our operations and through the services we deliver to our customers. The Fujitsu Group Environmental Action Plan forms the core of Fujitsu’s commitment to sustainability. Since its inception, we have set progressively ambitious targets every three years. We are currently at Stage 9 in this journey and have hence been setting targets for 27 years.
Highlights in 2020 include that we achieved zero waste to landfill and joined RE100 where member companies aim to use 100% renewable energy for the electricity they consume. Fujitsu’s aim is to buy 100% of electricity consumed at its worldwide Group locations from renewable sources by 2050.
In August 2017, our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target from our business facilities and a part of our value chain was approved by the Science-Based Targets (SBTi) initiative. We have also established our medium- to long-term environmental vision through to 2050, which includes bringing the Fujitsu Group’s CO2 emissions to zero.
How important is data and measurement in the monitoring of progress against your targets?
Very. We need access to reliable and consistent data to be able to set and monitor our targets closely. We have been using Greenstone’s sustainability software solution to collect, manage and analyse our data for over a decade now. When we first started working with Greenstone, we used it for the UK business only, but once we realised the value of it, we rolled it out globally and the Fujitsu Group now uses it in 21 countries across 400 or so sites.
As a Gold CDP Accredited Provider, Greenstone’s software gives us the confidence that we have access to accurate and reliable data enabling us to streamline reporting, increase engagement both internally and externally and focus on the strategic aspects of our Responsible Business Strategy.
I would say Greenstone’s software is integral to us monitoring our Environmental Performance, as it not only enables us to calculate and report our emissions but it enables us to monitor our progress against specific targets, year on year.
Have you broadened your reporting to align with the SDGs?
Yes we have. Fujitsu views the SDGs as a global common language and as an opportunity for wide-ranging collaboration with other organisations, including international agencies and governments.
We have integrated the SDGs into our responsible business programme and have aligned each to one, or more, of our responsible business pillars; demonstrating how our activities are aligned with the efforts of the international community in achieving the SDGs. We are also tracking our contribution to the SDGs using the responsible business and community KPI data that we collect through Greenstone’s Frameworks module – it makes it easy to have it collated in one central platform.
Fujitsu has been listed on the CDP A List for the past three years, what's your advice for companies thinking of reporting to CDP for the first time?
To become a responsible business, it makes sense to report to CDP. CDP assesses companies on the comprehensiveness of their disclosure, their awareness and management of environmental risks and their demonstration of best practices associated with environmental leadership, such as setting ambitious and meaningful targets. It scores over 5,000 companies throughout the world on their environmental action and identifies those it rates highest on the A List.
Fujitsu earning an ‘A’ (the top rating) from CDP for both climate change and water security, demonstrates the commitment and hard work from our employees in progressing our vision and purpose.
And what’s next for Fujitsu?
The world has become more interconnected with ever-growing complexity, and we are experiencing an era that is fast-changing and uncertain. Various threats to global sustainability have become apparent. It is Fujitsu's responsibility to use technology to deliver value for customers and proactively contribute to the transformation of society. Accordingly, Fujitsu has set out Our Purpose to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation, and renewed the Fujitsu Way for every person in the Group to act with Our Purpose.
In accordance to the new Fujitsu Way, the Group's approximately 130,000 people will work autonomously taking all stakeholders into account and support resolving social issues with innovation. Fujitsu also continues to embrace its new identity as a DX Company that contributes to its customers' digital transformations as a leading player in this rapidly growing domain.
Greenstone – enabling responsible businesses through software
Greenstone works in partnership with its clients to help them advance their sustainability strategies and become responsible businesses. It delivers this through its award-winning sustainability reporting software, its externally recognised best-of-class customer service and its brand promise ‘data that talks to you’.
As a Gold CDP Accredited Solutions Partner, Greenstone’s software has a suite of dedicated tools to streamline the CDP reporting process. This includes GHG Protocol aligned data collection covering Scope 1,2 & 3, climate change risks and opportunities, and an initiatives savings functionality for analysing savings against targets.
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Read about how Greenstone has worked with Fujitsu to advance its environmental data across the global business.
