The company is a leading supplier in the domain of document management. Since its founding in 1959, the Kyocera firm has been focussed on sustainability. This is evidenced by its long-standing partnerships with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Germany, as well as by the Kyocera Print Green programme, thanks to which customers can print and copy in a climate-friendly way.
The company began carbon accounting as far back as 2011. Since 2013, Kyocera has made all of its toners sold in Germany climate neutral. Since 1 October 2019, the greenhouse gas emissions produced by the raw material generation, manufacture, transport and recovery of printing and multifunctional devices have also been rendered carbon neutral. As part of its climate action strategy, the company has likewise calculated and offset its corporate carbon footprint, meaning that the German distribution company will also be climate neutral in 2020.
Kyocera regularly articulates its commitment to the environment to its specialist trade partners and customers. The company also makes its employees aware of climate action. Kyocera supports its customers in achieving their own climate action goals through its climate-neutral products. Customers receive climate protection certificates that attest that the products are verified as being climate neutral.
In rural communities in the Siaya region in western Kenya, people traditionally cook on open fires, which requires vast quantities of firewood. Thanks to municipal savings and loan associations, women can now purchase efficient stoves: these require 40–50 per cent less firewood and are manufactured using raw materials available locally. Because of the savings, women also afford medical healthcare, school fees and high-quality seeds.
Moreover, the money used for carbon offsetting flows into training local tradespeople to produce and install the stoves, teaching households how to use them, and running campaigns to raise awareness and encourage afforestation measures. In total, the project has created 166 jobs, resulted in the installation of 59,000 stoves, and provided for the protection of 6,230 hectares of forest from deforestation.
In 2019, Kyocera offset 58,700 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. This corresponds to all greenhouse gas emissions from its toners; from October 2019 it also began to include the company’s printers and multifunctional devices. All the climate action projects selected by Kyocera are required to comply with the Gold Standard and, in addition to saving emissions, they must demonstrate as many positive environmental, social and economic impacts in the local area as possible.
Daniela Matysiak
Environmental and CSR Manager at
Kyocera Document Solutions Germany
Photo credits: Kyocera, MHSKYPIXEL, myclimate, Fairtrade/Anand Parmar, FORLIANCE, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Fußball-Spielbetriebs GmbH
Foundation Development and Climate Alliance
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D-10115 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 3465573-00
Email: info@allianz-entwicklung-klima.de
