As the global environment is in critical condition, business communities are expected to take a leadership role in building a new social paradigm.

The changing global environment is posing a great threat to human society. Damages caused by climate change have been occurring frequently and at many locations around the globe. Natural resources have been depleted at an increasing pace. Now is the time for us to change our social paradigm.

Departing from the traditional society driven by mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal, we must create a new low-carbon, resource-recirculating society where ecosystems, the source of the Earth's self-recovery capabilities, are properly conserved. In this positive transformational process, business communities have a large role to play. They are expected not only to reduce the environmental impact of their own business activities, but also to help reduce that of consumers and society as a whole. With this planet facing a critical situation, the Ricoh Group is committed to becoming a business leader in promoting such a societal sea change.

We will strive to earn the public's trust while pursuing both environmental conservation and profit generation at an even higher level.

The goal of environmental conservation is to achieve a sustainable society where environmental impact is limited to a level that the Earth can deal with. In its Extra-Long-Term Environmental Vision, the Ricoh Group expresses its recognition that advanced nations need to reduce their environmental impact to one-eighth the fiscal 2000 levels by 2050. Based on this recognition, we have set medium- to long-term targets, and put into effect a specific environmental action plan accordingly. This goal setting approach is called the back-casting method. Because creating economic benefits by reducing environmental impact is important for private businesses to sustain their environmental conservation efforts over the long term, the Ricoh Group pursues both environmental conservation and profit generation at an even higher level through its sustainable environmental management. To this end, we are working to ensure the participation of all employees and to develop environmental technologies.

Looking at the world economy, environmental issues are having tremendous business implications, such as soaring natural resource prices due to their dwindling supplies and the EU's possible restriction of imports from those non-EU nations that do not implement adequate environmental measures. It is obvious that environmentally irresponsible companies will not be able to survive in either the economic or the societal sense. I could never feel proud if the Ricoh Group were to increase its sales twofold or threefold in exchange for increased environmental impact that would be passed down to future generations.

The Ricoh Group will enhance its sustainable environmental management, and strive to become a corporation that is always growing with the global environment.

A sustainable society cannot be built by the efforts of the Ricoh Group alone. It is important to discuss the way we want the global community to develop with our stakeholders, put forward and exchange ideas, and cooperate with each other in encouraging environmental conservation activities carried out in our respective capacity. We believe it is also important to enhance our longstanding sustainable environmental management to an even higher level. By doing so, we intend to create a new business model and actively communicate it to the public, which will lead to building an expanded network for our sustainable environmental management.

In collaboration with its stakeholders around the world, the Ricoh Group will continue striving toward a sustainable society and work to become a corporation that is always growing together with the global environment.

For more details, please visit http://www.ricoh.com/environment/.