In what could easily be described as one of the biggest renewable electricity moves by the global entertainment industry, Sony Corporation has joined global corporate leadership initiative RE100 alongside other big names including the Royal Bank of Scotland, McKinsey & Company, and WeWork, in commitment to securing 100% of their electricity needs from renewable energy sources.
Announced on Friday last week, RE100’s latest announcement is expected to be the first of several made during the Global Climate Action Summit being held this week in San Francisco which will see a number of business, state, regional, and city leaders from around the world gather to talk about clean energy.
“By stepping up and joining RE100 these leading companies are saying loud and clear that 100% renewables are the solution – they reduce business risk and drive down greenhouse gas emissions,” explained Helen Clarkson, CEO of The Climate Group.
“By putting renewables at the heart of their business strategies, RE100 members are sending the demand signals needed for national governments to increase their own ambitions on clean energy.”
However, it will be difficult to overshadow the announcement of one of the world’s largest electronics and entertainment companies, Sony Corporation, which committed to securing 100% of its electricity for its business sites from renewable energy sources by 2040, with an interim goal of 30% by 2030.
“For many years, Sony has been an industry leader in actively addressing climate change and other environmental issues,” said Kenichiro Yoshida, President and CEO, Sony Corporation.
“As part of our “Road to Zero” initiative to eliminate our environmental footprint, we are pleased to join RE100 and contribute to the realization of a society that operates on fully renewable energy.”
Sony Corporation already boasts 100% renewable electricity at its European sites, but it will now expand that to its North American and Chinese locales, through the use of Renewable Energy Certificates as well as:
- Promote the installation of solar panels at manufacturing sites in Thailand, Japan, and elsewhere.
- Within Japan, which contains many of Sony’s semiconductor manufacturing sites and has the largest energy consumption within the Sony Group, establish an intracompany electricity transfer plan generated at Sony sites.
- Consider supplying Sony sites through electrical grids owned by power companies with energy created by in-house generation facilities that use renewable energy such as solar panels.
- Within Japan, work together with other RE100 member companies to strengthen outreach to renewable energy market to ensure sufficient and stable supply of economic renewable energy.
“We are excited to welcome Sony aboard RE100,” added Helen Clarkson.
“From PlayStation and image sensors to consumer electronics, music, and film, this is the largest entertainment and technology business in the world stepping up and switching its entire operations to 100% renewable electricity. Sony is at the forefront of cutting-edge innovation and this commitment shows the global marketplace that renewable energy is the future.”
As Yoshida explained, Sony’s new commitment stems from the company’s “Road to Zero” long-term environmental plan that seeks to channel the company’s energies into securing a zero environmental footprint for its operations and the lifecycle of all its products by 2050.
In addition to Sony’s announcement, management consultancy McKinsey & Company, global coworking and community company WeWork, and one of the oldest banks in Europe, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), also announced their own 100% renewable electricity commitments of 2025, 2023, and 2025 respectively.
“McKinsey has been researching and working with our clients on sustainability for more than a decade,” explained Kevin Sneader, Global Managing Partner, McKinsey & Company.
“It is important to us that as firm we operate in a way that is environmentally sustainable. That is why we are going to become carbon neutral and why we are proud to be joining the RE100 group of companies who are demonstrating their leadership by committing to 100% renewable electricity.”
“We want to help build a cleaner, more sustainable economy for the future,” added Kirsty Britz, Director of Sustainable Banking, RBS. “So, we’re pleased to be joining the RE100 network as we work towards using 100 per cent renewables for all our electricity across our global operations.
This is part of our work towards building a more sustainable bank; we lend to more renewables projects in the UK than any other bank, and we’ve recently changed our lending policies to ensure that we no longer fund high polluting projects like new coal fired power stations or new thermal coal mines.”
