Honda Environmental Annual Report 2008 > Message from the President & CEO

The last fiscal year witnessed considerable social change. During this period, as people came face to face with increasingly serious environmental and energy problems, Honda continued to meet the needs of its customers by providing them automobiles, motorcycles and power products, delivering more than 24 million products worldwide. We see the growth we achieved as an indication of higher consumer expectations—and we accept our responsibility to work even harder to meet the increasingly high demands of our customers and society at large.

To ensure the continuing creation of new value for customers during the three-year mid-term concluded in FY2008, Honda acted to strengthen the fundamentals of our product creation capabilities. We have made good progress in further developing our advanced manufacturing systems, strengthening our foundation for growth in international operations and reducing the environmental impact of our corporate activities. We will continue to realize the benefits of these ongoing initiatives as we act from a global perspective to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development for societies worldwide. We believe our proactive efforts to help resolve the world’s environmental and energy problems define our value as a company and fuel our growth.

Environmental problems have deepened with each passing year. At recent summits—in Heiligendamm, Germany in 2007 and in Toyako, Japan in 2008—world leaders have put the question of finding global solutions to environmental issues at the top of their agendas. Meanwhile, the surge in oil prices and other energy problems confront us with daunting long-term dilemmas.

Whereas in the past the challenge of curbing emissions has been addressed solely at the regional level, the threat of climate change and other environmental problems surpasses the regulatory reach of national governments. We now face unprecedented global problems that demand global solutions.

As a corporation providing mobility products on a global scale, Honda considers its approach to environmental and energy issues integral to its operations. We recognize both the urgency of the situation and our responsibility to help contribute to solutions.

Addressing the challenge of developing revolutionary technologies, Honda is continuing its development of a fuel cell vehicle that consumes no fossil fuels and emits no CO₂. Working steadily toward the full-scale commercialization of fuel cell vehicles, Honda released the next-generation FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle in 2008.

Advancing its initiatives in the development of renewable energy technologies, Honda began manufacturing and selling thin-film solar cells in Japan in 2007, and continued its work toward commercial production of ethanol derived from non-edible biomass, a world’s first.

As we continue to develop advanced technologies, we’re making steady progress toward the attainment of worldwide targets, announced in 2006, to reduce our CO₂ emissions from products and production operations by 2010. We will continue to lead the way in applying advanced technology to help solve environmental and energy problems.

Honda recognizes the need to resolve environmental and energy issues. We also recognize that people around the world want sustainable prosperity. We attach the greatest importance to applying technology to the attainment of both objectives, and we recognize the enormity of the challenges ahead.

We approach the future with a sense of confidence born of our past success in overcoming daunting challenges with the help of original thinking and innovation.

We will continue working toward delivering on the promise of truly sustainable mobility for everyone, applying the advanced creativity that defines us and striving to be a company people throughout the world want to exist.