An award was presented to Toshiba for its commitment to climate leadership by Natural Capital Partners, the UK-headquartered carbon neutral certification body.

David Dunn, Toshiba’s managing director for new equipment sales, said: “We were the first HVAC manufacturer in the country to make this commitment. Today, despite the rise of environmental issues to the top of the agenda, we remain the only manufacturer to hold carbon neutral status.

“Toshiba took a leadership position as we believed it was one of the most important issues facing the industry and, indeed, society as a whole. As events unfold and scientific understanding develops, it seems clear that the evidence is compelling and that our initiative is well-founded.”

The company’s carbon neutral status means that, through a programme of strict business monitoring and certified offsets, its carbon impact on the environment is zero. For end users with progressive environmental and procurement policies, it assures that purchasing equipment from Toshiba conforms with the highest environmental standards of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

CSR principles are at the heart of Toshiba’s business strategy. On a global level, Toshiba signed the United Nations Global Compact in 2004 and has implemented its key principles concerning human rights, labour and care for the environment.

To achieve carbon neutral certification in the UK, Toshiba works with Natural Capital Partners to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in accordance with The Carbon Neutral Protocol, the internationally recognised gold-standard for carbon neutral certification.

This includes a detailed and independent annual assessment of GHG emissions to quantify the total produced by the business, both directly and indirectly. These include CO2 emissions from travel, waste, water consumption and energy. This is followed by internal reduction measures to further improve resource efficiency and purchase of assured carbon offsets to reduce remaining CO2 emissions to zero.

For every tonne of GHG emissions Toshiba produces, the company purchases a verified carbon offset from Natural Capital Partners which guarantees an equivalent amount of GHG emissions is reduced from the atmosphere.

Recent carbon offset projects administered by Natural Capital Partners include the Jath Wind Power programme in India. Located in the Sangli District of Maharashtra, this delivers zero emission renewable electricity to India’s national grid, playing a key role in achieving the country’s 2022 green power targets, and enhancing the local economy by creating jobs.

Another verified project supported is a solar cookers programme in Danjiang River, China. This involves harnessing clean and free solar energy for cooking by rural households, replacing traditional inefficient coal-fired cookers, significantly reducing fuel consumption and air pollution.