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JFS Newsletter No.179 (July 2017)
Image by Motohiko Tokuriki Some Rights Reserved.
Viewing the history of citizen-oriented businesses in Japan, we find they have played certain significant roles in common: to raise mere "consumers" into mature citizens of Japan and to take the lead in confronting social problems of each era through their business activities. Among the citizen-led businesses in Japan, the Seikatsu Club Consumers' Cooperative Union (Seikatsu Club) is particularly noteworthy for its efforts as a Japanese federation of consumers' cooperatives. It is supported by about 370,000 members and operates 33 co-ops in 21 (out of 47) prefectures. Its endeavors are highly regarded even overseas.
This month's JFS newsletter introduces the activities of the Seikatsu Club through interviews with Mr. Shoichi Murakami, executive director of Seikatsu Club Consumers' Co-op Tokyo, and Mr. Koichi Kato, chairperson of the Seikatsu Club. These interviews were conducted on January 10 and 19, 2017 respectively, arranged and edited by JFS from among the *"Interviews with 100 social entrepreneurs."
* "Interviews with 100 social entrepreneurs": a series of dialogues through which people can study business models from experienced social entrepreneurs. The Social Business Network (SBN) has conducted the course once a month since June 2012.
Image by Sass Peress Some Rights Reserved.
Japan Climate Leaders' Partnership (Japan-CLP) announced on April 25, 2017, the establishment of a partnership with an international non-profit organization, the Climate Group, which hosts international business initiatives such as RE100, EP100 and EV100. The Group was established in 2004 to address climate change, and members include about eighty large enterprises and state/city governments from around the world.
The participants in RE100 are companies aiming to achieve 100 percent renewable energy for business operations. Meanwhile, the EP100 participants are companies aiming to double the energy efficiency of their operations. Lastly, the goal of EV100 is to solve problems in the rapidly growing transportation sector by electrification.
Japan-CLP views the above initiatives as efforts that aim to promote/support corporate efforts (renewable energy, energy saving and decarbonization of mobility), and are consistent with the goal established by the Paris Agreement of keeping the global rise in average temperature to well below 2 degrees. Furthermore, Japan-CLP fills the role of the Climate Group in Japan, and aims to support the willing participation by companies in these initiatives in Japan.
Moreover, Japan-CLP plans to set up a working group related to carbon-free operations and business, to ascertain the demand for decarbonization from the companies associated with RE100, EP100 and EV100. Japan-CLP also plans to consider providing business solutions, with the expectation that the partnership with the Climate Group will produce a synergistic effect.
Reduce / Reuse / Recycle
Image by Tarourashima Some Rights Reserved.
Pacifico Convention Plaza Yokohama announced on March 27, 2017, that starting April 2, they have been providing electricity generated using waste from the convention facility to Rinko park, which is adjacent to and managed by Pacifico Yokohama. Pacifico Yokohama is located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, and is one of the largest MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions/events) facilities in Japan.
Pacifico Yokohama ranks at the top in the number of international and academic conferences, meetings, exhibitions and other events held in Japan. It is also committed to reducing its environmental impact to make the facility more sustainable. Pacifico Yokohama aims to fully grasp the amount of waste collected from the facility (124 tons recorded in fiscal 2015) and endeavors to recycle 100% of the waste. As a result of these efforts, more than 90% of the waste has been recycled over the past five years. The city of Yokohama has recognized the facility as a leading 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) business.
JFE Kankyo Corporation collects the waste from the convention facility and transports the waste to its industrial waste treatment facility to incinerate and generate electricity. Urban Energy Corporation, a JFE group company, buys the generated electricity, amounting to about 300,000 kWh annually, and supplies it to Rinko Park in the Pacifico Yokohama convention complex. Thus, Pacifico Convention Plaza Yokohama is eligible for an electricity cost reduction that corresponds to the amount of waste from which power is generated, through a discount scheme called sodenwari in which Urban Energy Corporation discounts electricity charges when the power generated from waste is supplied to the facility where the waste was collected.
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