Top > Press Releases > Back Issues > June 2009 > Interim report by the Industry & Environment Subcommittee (Environment Committee, Industrial Structure Council): "New Strategy for Businesses Capitalizing on Environmental Competitiveness - Creating New Environment-Oriented Corporate Value" and the "environmental competitiveness" evaluation frame
The Industry & Environment Subcommittee (Chairman: Hisashi Ishitani, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo) of the Environment Committee, the Industrial Structure Council, issued an interim report titled "New Strategy for Businesses Capitalizing on Environmental Competitiveness - Creating New Environment-Oriented Corporate Value" and an evaluation frame for "environmental competitiveness".
Background
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) established the Industry & Environment Subcommittee in February 2008 with the aim of allowing Japan to utilize its real environmental competitiveness to advantage and transforming its industry and society to ones that are sustainable and can balance economic growth with environmental conservation. Since then, the subcommittee has been discussing new strategy for "businesses capitalizing on environmental competitiveness", based on the concept that companies should regard environmental activities as business opportunities rather than risk or cost pressure and use them to their benefit and for strengthening their competitiveness.
The subcommittee compiled a draft interim report as a result of the discussion. Following a public comment process from April 28 to May 27, 2009, the draft report was revised to incorporate submitted opinions and reviewed by the subcommittee on June 22. The finalized interim report on the new strategy is hereby released.
Key points of the new strategy
- Systematization of environmental communication
- Construction and promotion of the carbon footprint system, visualization of 3R information, and development of a method to evaluate environmental competitiveness - Facilitation of the development and introduction of environmental technologies (according to the "Policy Package to Address Economic Crisis" adopted in April 2009)
- Improvement of the efficiency of environmental management
- Strengthening the environmental solution business
- Advancement of 3R efforts through improved resource productivity
- Promotion of next-generation resource-saving manufacturing and the recycling of rare metals - Analysis and dissemination of best practices
- Creation of eco-friendly Asia
- Development of legal systems and a stronger enforcement structure in the environment field and implementation of "water-saving, environmentally-conscious water circulation projects" in Asia.
Environmental competitiveness evaluation frame
As part of this interim report, the subcommittee released the environmental competitiveness evaluation frame, which is designed to appropriately assess companies’ environmental efforts and thereby help environmentally active companies attract more investment and financing and strengthen their competitiveness.
Release Date
June 26, 2009
Division in Charge
Environmental Industries Office, Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau
