Panasonic Awarded Best Global Electronics Company for Sustainability by IAIR

28th February 2014, Singapore – Panasonic Asia Pacific (Panasonic) has won the accolade of the ‘Best Company for Sustainability’ in Electronics (Global) at the 4th edition of IAIR Awards^® - Excellence in Global Economy and Sustainability.

“Thanks to its cooperation with Asian institutions, Panasonic has been able to encourage the adoption of green products through public eco-awareness campaigns, focusing on the next generations. The award reflects its commitment to promote environmental conservation initiatives and to reduce its regional carbon dioxide emission footprint,” said Mr. Guido Giommi, President, IAIR Group.

Receiving the award at the ceremony held at Sheraton Hotel & Towers in Hong Kong, Mr Joe Tsuchiya, Director, Brand Management Group, Panasonic Asia Pacific, commented, “The IAIR Awards is one of the world’s leading awards for excellence in global economy and sustainability and we are honoured that our green commitments are recognised. Sustainability has been an intrinsic part of Panasonic’s business philosophy since our founding. We will continue place people before products, focusing on enriching lives around the world by offering eco and smart solutions to contribute to the society’s progress and deliver our brand promise of creating ‘A Better Life, A Better World’ for our customers and partners.”

Creating “a better life” through ECONAVI product innovation

Engineering products that save energy has been a top priority at Panasonic for a long time. The company has gone beyond providing single pieces of hardware to creating total solutions that include software and value-added services to maximise energy-saving performance. Today, Panasonic has a full consumer electronics line-up incorporated with proprietary ECONAVI technology. It combines sensor technology and program control software to automatically monitor ambient surrounding and respond to environmental changes to operate in a more energy efficient and environmentally friendly way, while enriching people’s lives through the products itself.

Total energy solutions for a better world

Beyond the consumer level, Panasonic has also been leveraging its eco-engineering expertise and strengths of various industry partners to innovate total energy solutions that will reduce CO2 emissions by enabling homes, stores and even entire communities to create, store, save and manage energy. Various innovative solutions are now implemented in multiple cities in Japan, and China. The year-long test bed project in Singapore’s Punggol Eco Town, which ran in 2013, saw total household energy consumption reduced by an average of 22%. Panasonic is currently examining commercialisation opportunities in other neighbourhoods in Singapore with the aim of promoting more of such energy solutions across the world.

Engaging stakeholders to contribute to a sustainable future

Panasonic also works with stakeholders to implement programmes to inculcate eco-habits among the public and encourage them to take ownership of the world that we live in.

In Singapore, Panasonic initiated the Heartland E-Waste Recycling Programme in partnership with South East CDC, National Environment Agency (NEA), e-waste recycler Cimelia, public waste collector SembWaste and retailer BEST Denki to provide a much needed avenue for proper e-waste disposal, treatment and retrieval of essential raw materials for the production of new appliances. The six-month trial that started in July 2013 saw very positive responses from the community which led to current ongoing talks to formalise and expand the programme. More than 10,000kg of electronic waste has been collected.

On the education front, Panasonic recognises the vital role of environmental education in achieving long term sustainability. An experiential learning module called ‘Environment Champions (Schools) Industry Module (ECIM)’, organised by Panasonic and NEA, has been running for three years in Singapore to provide students with an opportunity to learn about the real-life environment applications in a factory and inspire them to apply eco values like reduce, reuse and recycle in their daily lives. Across the Asia Pacific region, more than 278,000 students have participated in various eco learning programmes organised by Panasonic.

Through its unchanging sustainability-led business philosophy, Panasonic aims to strive towards building a sustainable future, acting as a public entity of society, to help create harmony in society and the global environment.