An increasing number of companies rely on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power for energy consumption in their offices.
Enforcement of the Paris Agreement, an international framework for measures against global warming, has spurred the introduction of renewable energy around the world. Many companies are quick to take steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with a motive to boost corporate value and also lower management risk.
RE100 (see below) is a leading international network for introduction of such energy, involving a total of 152 member companies including Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Starbucks Corp. and furniture retail giant Ikea. Eleven of them are Japanese companies. Member companies make use of their own solar power generation facilities or purchase electricity generated from renewable energy sources.
Kita Ward, Osaka-based Daiwa House Industry Co. built a solar power plant in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki Prefecture. The plant, covering an area as big as four Tokyo Domes, began operating in August. The company has set a goal of having its power supply from renewable energy exceed the company's power consumption by 2030 and eventually covering its all electricity consumption with renewable energy by 2040.
Katsuhiro Koyama, Daiwa House's environment division head, said: "We'll improve our know-how in renewable energy, strengthen competitiveness in this field and eventually make it a pillar of our business."
Ricoh Co., based in Ota Ward, Tokyo, became the first Japanese company to join RE100 in April 2017. It has installed solar panels at its domestic and overseas offices.
The Johnan Shinkin Bank in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, purchases electricity generated by renewable energy sources. Sekisui House, Ltd., based in Kita Ward, Osaka, aims at 100 percent use of renewable energy by 2040.
The Paris Agreement seeks to keep the increase in global temperature across the period from before the Industrial Revolution until the end of this century to below 2 C, or to pursue under 1.5 C if possible.
To achieve this goal, "divestment" has spread globally in which financial institutions withdraw or refrain from investment and lending to oil- or coal-related companies, and the movement has been putting a pinch on those industries.
The World Bank declared that it would, in principle, no longer finance the development of oil and gas fields from 2019 onward. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking has launched a policy to tighten lending for coal-fired plants.
Waseda University Prof. Hiroshi Onoda, specializing in environment and energy engineering, said: "It has significance for major companies to join such moves, and I hope this will develop discussions on the introduction of renewable energy. The central and local governments should introduce subsidies and regulations to support such moves."
2 ministries involved
Japan's Environment Ministry and Foreign Ministry have announced this year that they will participate in RE100, becoming the world's first public entities to do so.
The Environment Ministry aims to achieve 100 percent introduction of electricity generated from renewable energy in the early 2040s. An official of the ministry's Climate Change Policy Division said, "We thought we must take the initiative and act, instead of merely calling for companies to make efforts."
Even so, it is hard for the ministry to overcome this hurdle. The introduction rate of renewable energy in all facilities in the ministry is only about 6 percent now, and it is difficult to drastically increase the rate in its current main building in the Kasumigaseki district of central Tokyo. It plans to switch to renewable energy while monitoring power usage and also introduce it nearly in one swoop when the ministry relocates its main office to the nearby Japan Post Holdings Building in fiscal 2020 or later.
The Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, tries to raise its proportion of renewable energy use -- currently around 10 percent -- by installing solar panels at its main building and its diplomatic establishments abroad as well as introducing electricity originating from renewable energy in Europe. However, it has not made as much progress as desired due to problems such as that some buildings are structurally unsuitable for mounting solar panels, or that it is costly in some countries to use power generated from renewable energy.
An official of the ministry's Climate Change Division said: "It's important to set a goal first in order to achieve the target of the Paris Agreement. We want to start with doing what we can."
-- RE100
The term comes from the initial letters of "Renewable Energy 100%." It is a global business coalition committed to relying 100 percent on renewable electricity for power consumption. It was established in 2014 by a Britain-based international environmental group and its office is in London. Member companies draw up plans for up to the year 2050 and submit them to the entity.
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