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ENVIRONMENT
see reforestation occurring because
people are leaving their fuel source
standing and just trimming off what
they need.
Jeremy Spencer:
Something else
I’d like to add is that when all the
children we help get into education
come home, they generally study
by the light of kerosene lamps.
Kerosene is a very smoky fuel and
a potent greenhouse gas. For a few
dollars, we can give them solar-
powered lamps, which again reduces
emissions and pollution. These
are little, marginal gains that can
completely change people’s lives.
PrintIT:
The social impact of these
projects is clearly enormous, but
what effect has Toshiba’s Carbon
Zero scheme had on emissions?
Jeremy Spencer:
I’m very proud
to announce that we’ve managed
to offset our first 100,000 tonnes
of CO2 – that’s just in the UK,
not counting the projects we run
in Europe. We can also provide
partners with bespoke projects to
support their own green activities
and have just gone through Paris
2016 accreditation to make our
business carbon neutral.
What I really want to tell our
partners is that in addition to
these outward-facing initiatives,
our entire product development
is geared to making sure our
products consume as little energy
as possible. For example, we make
sure our products have sleep
modes, sensible sleep modes,
and automatic duplexing to save
paper. It’s very important for us that
our technology is aligned with our
environmental message.
Paul Chiplen:
That’s an important
part of the carbon hierarchy: to
calculate, manage and understand
your carbon footprint; to reduce it
where possible through technology,
innovation and education; and then
to offset it through high impact
projects. You have to follow that
hierarchy of carbon management,
which is just what Toshiba is doing.
PrintIT:
A comprehensive approach
like that is especially important
considering the bad press that
carbon offsetting has had in the
past.
Mark Simpson:
It has had a bad
press over the years, and you’ll
always get people who pick on
things. However, if you look at what
came out of the Paris agreement,
article 6 is all about carbon
offsetting and carbon trading.
PrintIT:
How have Toshiba’s
customers reacted to the scheme?
Jeremy Spencer:
Very positively.
Some people had the attitude of
‘Do we really need this?’, but once
you sit down and explain things
in granular detail, they really do
appreciate it. Many customers
have brought our schemes into
their own CSR programmes. We
deliver carbon neutral products to
them and give them the opportunity
to offset the paper and energy
consumed in the usage phase.
Paul Chiplen:
The projects sell the
story. It’s basically a win-win: the
customer gets a great quality Carbon
Zero MFP and at the same time
helps people in the poorest parts of
the world, effectively supplying them
with clean water, clean cooking and
saving them time so that they can
start new enterprises, go to school,
have more play time.
PrintIT:
100,000 tonnes sounds
a lot, can you give us some idea
of what that means in a way that
people can understand?
Paul Chiplen:
It’s equal to the
annual carbon emissions of
70,000 homes. Or, from a project
perspective, it’s equal to putting
15,000 stoves into Kenya and
improving the lives of hundreds of
thousands of people, or providing
18.1 million litres of clean water
to villagers in Uganda. That’s an
astonishing figure.
The Toshiba TEC Carbon Zero scheme
is now an official partner of the United
Nations (UN) Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), to which 193 world
leaders agreed in September 2015.
With the aim of ending
poverty, protecting the planet
and ensuring prosperity for all, the 17
universal goals (and 169 individual
targets) are designed to frame
signatories’ agenda and policies until
2030.
Supporting them is the Partnerships
for SDGs online platform, which has
been set up to advise stakeholders
of initiatives carried out by multi-
stakeholder partnerships in accordance
with agreed SDGs. Toshiba’s Carbon
Zero scheme is one of 2,179 initiatives
listed on the website.
By offsetting carbon generated from
the manufacture and distribution of
its MFPs through programmes like the
energy efficient stoves project in Kenya
and the creation of boreholes that
supply clean, safe water in Uganda,
the Carbon Zero Scheme aligns itself
perfectly with SDGs relating to poverty,
hunger and clean water and sanitation.
Toshiba TEC Marketing Director
Jeremy Spencer said: “Having the
Carbon Zero Scheme approved by the
UN as part of its efforts to fulfil the 17
SDGs is a significant achievement for
us and one that we are incredibly proud
of. Even in its infancy we were great
believers in the Carbon Zero scheme
and over the course of almost eight
years it has proved itself to be a brilliant
example of what can be accomplished
by having a sustainable approach to
business and a more environmentally
aware supply chain.”
I’m very
proud to
announce
that we’ve
managed to
offset our
first 100,000
tonnes of
CO2 – that’s
just in the
UK, not
counting the
projects we
run in Europe
...continued
Global recognition
Jeremy Spencer,
marketing
director,
Toshiba TEC
