The NTT Group is helping to reduce CO₂ emissions in the world.

What is climate change?
What is the NTT Group doing to reduce CO₂ emissions in society?
How does ICT contribute to reducing CO₂ emissions?

What is climate change?

Climate change is the collective term for the various climatic impacts of CO₂ (carbon dioxide) and other greenhouse gases.

Climate change is more than just higher temperatures; it includes a variety of secondary impacts such as rising sea levels, concentrated rainfall and flooding.

They cause extensive damage as well as droughts and other climate events that lead to food shortages.

Scientists agree that climate change is more than 95% likely to be caused by human activity.

This is why it is so important for humankind to reduce the amount of CO₂ that we generate.

But concerned individuals cannot hope to tackle the climate change problem in isolation; it requires a concerted effort from all of us, because the air, the seas and the skies of our planet are all part of a whole.

The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international discussion forum on global solutions to climate change issues.

The 21st COP meeting, held in the autumn of 2015 in Paris (often referred to as COP21 or the Paris meeting), produced the Paris Agreement in which signatory nations pledged to reduce their CO₂ emissions.

Japan is a signatory to the Paris Agreement.

Paris Agreement (enacted November 4, 2016, ratified by Japan on November 8, 2016)

Target for atmospheric temperature	Keep the atmospheric temperature at less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels (and ideally less than 1.5°C).
Target for greenhouse gas emissions	Eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions associated with human activity by the middle of the 21st century.

Climate change explained

Source: Japan Center for Climate Change Actions (JCCCA)[Japanese] Open other window

Impacts of climate change

Climate change is associated with a variety of risks including concentrated rainfall and flooding, rising sea levels and high tide events, disruption to vital infrastructure, heatstroke, food and water shortages, and loss of ecosystems.

What is the NTT Group doing to reduce CO₂ emissions in society?

The NTT Group is helping to tackling environmental issues, in particular the fight against Climate Change.

To this end, we are working to steadily reduce CO₂ emissions in society.

The Paris Agreement specifically mentions the role of ICT in addressing a range of environmental issues. Here at the NTT Group, we are using the most advanced ICT services and technologies to help to reduce CO₂ emissions in society.

At the same time, we are also actively pursuing a range of initiatives designed to curtail CO₂ emissions in wider society, such as researching strategies to combat climate change, encouraging employees to get involved in local environmental programs, and promoting awareness of our environmental work both within and outside the organization.

NTT strategy for reducing CO₂ emissions

The green circle shows the reduction of CO₂ shows the reduction of CO₂ emissions in society (i.e. outside the NTT Group) that can be attributed to the efforts of the NTT Group. The red circle shows CO₂ emissions within the NTT Group. The green circle is ten times larger than the red circle.

Working to reduce CO2 emissions in society by more than ten times the amount generated by the NTT Group

How does ICT contribute to reducing CO₂ emissions?

You might take the car or motorbike to go out and buy a book or CD, or to see a film.

But imagine if you could access these in the form of digital content instead.

In the age of the internet, you can read books, listen to music and watch films without leaving home. This means you cut down on gasoline usage and therefore CO₂ emissions.

But that's not all!

Think of the savings in terms of paper to print books, electricity to power the factories that make the CDs and DVDs, gasoline for the trucks that deliver the products to the shops and so on.

Each of these processes generates CO₂ emissions.

The same applies to business. Instead of printing documents such as briefing materials and invoices, we can generate electronic documents and send them via the internet.

Thanks to video conferencing, we don't have to use a company car to visit the client for every meeting. Fewer cars on the road means less congestion.

As well as limiting CO₂ emissions, technology helps companies to be more efficient.

Of course, ICT services require energy, and this translates to CO₂ emissions.

But the emissions reduction far outweighs the energy requirements of ICT services, and so there is net benefit to the environment.

Even the simple act of switching to more energy-efficient ICT products and services makes a significant contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions.

At the NTT Group, any product or solution that contributes to reduce CO₂ emissions in society is certified as environmentally friendly and is designated by the environment logo.

How digital technology reduces CO₂ emissions

How digital content reduces CO2 emissions

Environmental Solution Label

This logo designates environmentally friendly solutions, defined as those that reduce CO₂ emissions by 15% or more

"Cycle Sharing" by Utilizing ICT

The bicycle is an environmentally friendly mode of transport that uses no electricity or gasoline. Automated bike sharing schemes allow anybody to reserve and borrow a bicycle, then return it to the bicycle rack after use. The bicycles are fitted with GPS for remote monitoring. Bicycle racks do not require connection to a power source and so can be installed virtually anywhere.