President & CEO Junichi Miyakawa explains SoftBank Corp.'s Carbon Neutral 2030 Declaration at the earnings results briefing on May 11, 2021
Under the United Nations Climate Change Convention to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs), the Japanese government has set bold targets to tackle climate change. The government's targets include pledges to reduce GHGs by 46% by the year 2030 versus 2013 levels, and to go completely carbon neutral by 2050.
To help meet these targets, and as part of its ongoing initiatives to achieve the SDGs, on May 11, 2021 SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) unveiled its own commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. Under its Carbon-neutral 2030 Declaration, SoftBank will work to reduce GHG emissions from its business activities—including emissions resulting from the use of electrical power, crude petroleum and gas—to effectively zero.
In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020 (FY2019), SoftBank emitted the CO2 equivalent of roughly 680,000 metric tons of GHGs. This amounts to the GHG emissions of approximately 250,000 average-sized households in Japan. Of these 680,000 metric tons of GHGs, more than half came from power usage at SoftBank's 230,000 base stations located across Japan.
Starting in FY2020, SoftBank began purchasing renewable energy from its subsidiary SB Power Corp., and at the end of FY2020, approximately 30% of electricity used at base stations came from renewable energy sources. SoftBank plans to step up this ratio to more than 50% in FY2021, and to above 70% in FY2022 to further reduce GHG emissions.
Increasing energy efficiency through research of next-generation batteries
The SoftBank Next-generation Battery Lab (photo provided by ESPEC CORP.)
To further reduce its carbon footprint, SoftBank is also studying the option of directly procuring electricity from SB Energy Corp., a SoftBank Group Corp. subsidiary that operates renewable energy projects, including solar parks and wind farms.
In addition to switching to renewable energy sources to power its facilities and equipment, SoftBank will fully utilize AI, IoT and other advanced technologies to maximize energy efficiency across its businesses. To further promote the adoption of renewable energy, SoftBank is also researching advanced battery technologies at its SoftBank Next-generation Battery Lab, which is scheduled to open in June 2021. SoftBank is undertaking these R&D activities with a view to using next-generation batteries for its High Altitude Platform System (HAPS) business, which uses solar-powered unmanned aircraft systems, and other sustainable telecommunications infrastructure systems.
With these and other initiatives, SoftBank will strive to realize a decarbonized society.
(Posted on June 9, 2021)
by SoftBank News Editors
