Biodiversity and Water Resources

Basic Concept

Recognizing that biodiversity, the foundation for the bountiful lives people enjoy, is facing critical challenges, Konica Minolta maintains a deep awareness of the impact its business activities have on biodiversity and its dependence on the bounty of nature. The Company takes steps to conserve biodiversity and ensure its sustainable use.
Konica Minolta supports the goals of a “nature positive” and “zero deforestation” society sought by the international community and promotes efforts to reduce the impact of its business activities on biodiversity by monitoring biodiversity risks and collaborating with various stakeholders.
To clarify its position on its dependency on and the impact of natural capital on business, its assessment of such, and its commitment to addressing opportunities and risks, Konica Minolta supports the ideals of the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). In January 2024, Konica Minolta registered as a TNFD early adopter company at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Switzerland. Konica Minolta aims to gain deeper insight into the relationship between its business activities and biodiversity, enhance its information disclosure based on the new framework, and introduce new assessment methods.

Konica Minolta has established the Konica Minolta Group Charter of Corporate Behavior as principles of action that embody the Konica Minolta Philosophy, which includes our philosophy and management vision and is approved by the Board of Directors. The Charter of Corporate Behavior expresses Konica Minolta’s basic approach to activities that contribute to reducing its impact on ecosystems while conserving biodiversity.

Under its long-term environmental vision, Eco Vision 2050, Konica Minolta is committed to restoring and preserving biodiversity, aiming “toward zero use of natural resources by reducing natural resource use in our products by 90% or more by 2050” and “maximizing our contribution to reducing global resources in products other than our own.”

As a result of conducting natural scenario analysis in accordance with TNFD, we have identified the use of global resources, including natural resources and plastics, as a priority area for immediate action and have incorporated it into medium- to long-term quantitative targets. Konica Minolta will enhance core technologies developed through the integration of AI and technologies spanning business areas, aiming to minimize global resource usage in its products and increase contributions from customers and suppliers towards reducing global resource use.

We have established management indicators in the Medium-Term Environmental Plan 2025, which is linked to our Medium-term Business Plan (2023-2025), as milestones for achieving these long-term targets. Konica Minolta aims to reduce global resource usage by its products by 20% and achieve a 400,000-ton reduction in global resource usage for its customers and society from sources other than its own products. The Company formulates annual plans, conducts quarterly progress checks, and considers additional measures as necessary.

Utilizing the Ecological Service Review (ESR) for companies, developed based on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment—an environmental assessment conducted under the auspices of the United Nations—Konica Minolta identified business activities that depend on and impact ecosystems across all its Group businesses worldwide. The Company then created a “relationship map” that summarizes, by product life cycle stage (upstream raw materials procurement, downstream transportation and sales, product use and maintenance, recovery and recycling, and design and operations), the benefits that its business activities obtain from the ecosystem (INPUT) as well as the impact they have on it (OUTPUT). The map is evaluated to identify specific items to be addressed. As a result, Konica Minolta has confirmed that its operations (design and manufacturing) have a high dependency on and impact on ecosystem services, and it does not operate near important biodiversity hotspots domestically or overseas.

Based on the results of the natural scenario analysis conducted in accordance with the TNFD framework, the Company will manage its business activities with full consideration given to their impact on the ecosystem. If it anticipates a significant impact, the Company will strive to minimize and restore it. These efforts will promote biodiversity preservation initiatives not only within its business but also through cooperation with a wide range of external parties, including suppliers, business partners, and customers, via our supply of product solutions.