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Epson steps up sustainability with Platinum rating
Fri, 6th Nov 2020
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Epson has earned a platinum rating for sustainability from EcoVadis.

The platinum rating, which was established in 2020, indicates that Epson was ranked among the top 1% of companies in the industry. Epson had received a gold rating the previous three years.

Gold is awarded to companies that score in the top 5% of companies evaluated. The platinum rating was awarded in recognition of Epson's global corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

The EcoVadis assessment focuses on four themes: the environment, labour and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement.

Epson received an "Outstanding" (the highest score) for the environment, as well as high scores for sustainable procurement, labour and human rights, and ethics, putting it in the top 1% in the computer and peripherals manufacturing industry.

"Sustainability is a core management strategy for Epson, so the fact that we received a Platinum rating after three consecutive years of Gold ratings is an honour and has tremendous value. As stated in the Epson Group's Management Philosophy, our goal is to make Epson an indispensable company for our customers and society and we believe that actions that demonstrate good governance and social responsibility across our supply chain are essential elements for achieving this goal. The whole group will work together to further advance the technologies that will make our products and services more efficient, compact, and precise so that we may contribute to solutions to societal issues across Epson's value chain and help to realise a sustainable world," says Epson president Yasunori Ogawa.

EcoVadis provides an independent, trusted, common platform for evaluating and rating more than 65,000 groups and companies across 200 industries in 160 countries using CSR assessment criteria that are based on the sustainability standards of thousands of external sources such as NGOs, labour unions, international organisations, local governments, and auditing organisations.

Epson has identified six materialities, including "advancing the frontiers of industry" and "achieving sustainability in a circular economy," and is currently working to deliver products and services that contribute to social sustainability.

It is leveraging its efficient, compact, and precision technologies to drive innovations in four areas, including inkjets and believe that their technology can help to shrink environmental impacts, increase productivity, and play a major role in solving societal issues and in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

Epson seeks to achieve social sustainability and publishes details about its environmental initiatives, the creation of social value, corporate governance, and other CSR activities in its Integrated Report and Sustainability Report.