TOKYO — Panasonic Corp. is getting so serious about being "green" managers will see pay slashed if plants don't meet the Japanese electronics maker's internal emissions targets, an executive said today. Panasonic's new "environmental performance system" for some 297 manufacturing sites around the world includes carbon dioxide emissions as a key standard for evaluating management, along with sales and costs, said Akira Nakamura, Panasonic group manager.
The system, which began in April, is part of the Japanese company's plan to reduce its global carbon dioxide emissions by 300,000 tons over three years to 3.68 million tons in the fiscal year ending March 2010.
Panasonic aims to reduce such gases by half from today by 2050, Nakamura said. The targets are voluntary, but the public's ecological concerns are becoming so serious that being green is a must for the company's business strategy, he said.
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The move will also extend to bonus pay for workers. The company did not give specific figures for the possible pay cuts. Panasonic, based in Osaka, central Japan, is installing meters and gauges to check energy consumption at all manufacturing sites by March 2009 to ensure that emissions are measurable, it said.
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