Third-Party Comment
 |
Toshihiko Goto
Chair, Environmental Auditing Research Group
Toshihiko Goto serves as head of the Social Investment Forum Japan and the Sustainability Forum Japan,
both NPOs. In addition to acting as chair of the Network for Sustainability Communication and co-chair of
the Japan Council for Sustainable Development, he is also a part-time lecturer at Tokyo Keizai University
and a trustee of several other organizations, including the Sustainable Management Forum of Japan. In
addition, he participates on government and industry environmental committees and serves as a judge on
various environment and CSR commendation committees. |
The Honda Environmental Annual Report is published as part
of a larger dialogue with the public that includes the company’s
CSR Report and its Annual Report. I respect Honda for compiling
such informative reports, which provide an enormous amount
of information that stakeholders consider vital. I think that this
information could be even better leveraged if Honda thoroughly
documented the connections among the reports’ contents, item
by item, on their website.
While the CSR Report uses the Global Reporting Initiative
(GRI) guidelines as reference, the Environmental Annual Report
follows its own original guidelines. Given that today’s world
emphasizes relevance over comprehensiveness, it would benefit
Honda to define the concepts upon which it established these
guidelines—to explain what it considers material and relevant. I
think that Honda’s decision to place a global perspective as the
focus of the 2008 report was a very appropriate editorial policy,
considering the nature of their operations.
The directors’ forewords show deep insight into environmental
and energy problems and reaffirm the company’s efforts to
be innovative. They also present a broad range of technological
developments and advanced initiatives. Having said that, world
leaders mapped out a course at last year’s Bali conference toward
the regulation of total emissions of greenhouse gases as a
response to climate change. I consider that we are entering into
a sustainability revolution nearly comparable to the Industrial
Revolution. I would like to see Honda focus on the goal of reducing
global greenhouse gases in half by 2050. Setting such a goal
would seem to be an ideal extension of its long-term vision. Plans
for the 2020s and mid-term plans for 2013 could be defined in
that longer-range context. While 2050 seems distant, it is the
year when today’s newly hired university graduates become 65
and face retirement, so it is a relevant milestone. It may also be
time to revise the 1992 Honda Environment Statement.
Honda has been implementing Environmental Management
Systems (EMS) worldwide and thus will continue to improve the
accuracy of global data assessment. I would like to see an increase
in the quality of strategic EMS utilized not only for the forecasting
of three-year plans, but for mid- and long-term plans.
I do not see much information on biodiversity in the description
of Honda’s initiatives. In 2010 the Conference of the Parties
to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10) will convene
in Nagoya, and a major theme will be private sector initiatives.
I would like Honda to increase the visibility of their initiatives in
this domain. Dealers may make efforts of their own, but I would
like to see Honda enumerate organization-wide initiatives and
quantify their results.
Although I consider it appropriate enough that this report
take booklet form out of consideration for its readership, I would
like to recommend more extensive use of the web version of this
report when handling the considerable volume of information
being published.
A few years ago, a European economist mentioned to me
that he was under the impression from speaking to people in
the Japanese automotive industry that Honda was not a typical
Japanese firm. He praised Honda for not following the Japanese
crowd. I hope that Honda will continue to blaze its own path as
a unique Japanese company.
