2007

The "global excellence" sought by Panasonic went beyond just high profitability and growth and was also critically contingent on advanced environmental initiatives. In October 2007, Panasonic Corporation announced the "Eco Ideas Declaration," our commitment to the acceleration of environmental management. It was announced that there would be a Groupwide commitment to the goals of "accelerating countermeasures to prevent global warming" and "the global promotion of environmental management."
The goal of paramount importance was the reduction of CO₂ emissions in manufacturing activities. Panasonic Corporation has positioned CO₂ emissions as a key management indicator along with sales, operating profits, inventory, CCM, and others. The GP3 Plan included the addition of a clear-cut target: the reduction of 300,000 tons from the FY2006 level.
The Eco Ideas Declaration set the reduction of CO₂ emissions as the first of multiple environmental management tasks. The commitment to environmental management was far reaching and included three approaches: "eco ideas in craftsmanship in manufacturing" (reducing CO₂ emissions and saving resources through enhanced productivity, initiatives concerning waste materials), "product related eco ideas" (exhaustive efforts at coming up with more energy-saving products, recycling initiatives), and "eco idea outreach" (going eco with the local community, initiatives that go beyond national borders).

Emphasizing that environmental issue initiatives were also for bolstering competitiveness, President Ohtsubo stated, "I would like to see and every one of us raise our awareness and pursue far reaching initiatives in order to realize environmental management that is second to none."