Fujitsu sets 1.5C science-based climate targets

The company met its 2020 climate targets

At a company meeting in Tokyo late last week, executives confirmed that the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) has verified a new target to reduce operational emissions by 71.4% by 2030, against a 2030 baseline. Fujitsu believes this target will enable the delivery of net-zero operational emissions by 2050. It covers all business sites globally, including offices and manufacturing.

Fujitsu’s plans for delivering the new target centre around energy efficiency and renewable energy generation and procurement. The firm is notably a member of the Climate Group’s RE100 initiative. It has also said it will do more to engage suppliers, as 1.5C verification required new commitments on Scope 3 (indirect) emissions.

Further information on how reductions will be delivered, as well as details on short-term targets for the 2021 and 2022 financial years, will be confirmed in an update to the Fujitsu Group Environmental Action Plan in the coming weeks. The firm met its 2020 targets, including reducing emissions from business sites by 14% against a 2013 baseline and making data centres at least 2% more energy efficient. These goals were 2C-aligned.

New targets, Fujitsu said in a statement, will also take into account the firm’s vulnerabilities to biodiversity loss and what it has called an impending “natural resource crisis” – both of which are linked to climate change.

Beggars Group

In related news, independent record company Beggars Group has announced an ambition to achieve carbon-nnegative operations in the UK by 2022 and in the US by 2024. Beggars Group’s head of sustainability Will Hutton said that there is currently better data on UK emissions, accounting for around two-thirds of the business’s footprint, than on US activities.

Beggars Group, which owns labels including Matador and Rough Trade, has said it will seek 1.5C verification for targets to reduce its absolute emissions by 46% by 2030. As an SME, the SBTi is able to verify Beggars Group’s Scope 1 and 2 targets. 

Beggars Group has said that its main sources of emissions are product manufacturing, physical distribution, digital distribution and business travel, making these focus areas for driving reductions. A company-wide internal carbon price will underpin these activities.

In the meantime, and after the 2030 target has been met, the company will invest to offset more carbon than its operations generate. It has said that it will focus on products that “actively remove and store carbon” wherever possible, such as forest restoration.

“We’ve worked hard to make sure the pathway we have established is built on rigorous analysis of available data,” Hutton said.

“We will continue to collaborate with partners across our supply chain to improve the availability and accuracy of the information for the benefit of the whole record industry.”

Sarah George

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