Top Message
The invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 completely changed the world’s security and energy environment. Nations throughout the globe, including Japan, have been forced to compete ruthlessly for energy and revise their energy policy. At the same time, the action being taken to achieve 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs), and the increase in ESG (environment/society/governance) investment based on the Paris Agreement, reflect the situation in Ukraine, and other chaos throughout the world, and we have seen continuous growth despite uncertainty about the future.
For decades the TEPCO Group has been responsible for providing energy to mainly the Tokyo Metropolitan region, and we will continue to strive to improve corporate value and create social value by ensuring a stable power supply regardless of social circumstances, and providing new value to society and our customers that is based on carbon neutrality and preparedness.
Initiatives to achieve carbon neutrality
The TEPCO Group has set a goal of reducing CO2 emissions originating from the sale of power to customers by 50% of FY2013 levels by the year FY2030, and our 4th Comprehensive Special Business Plan announced in 2021 clearly states that we shall, “aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.”
Furthermore, in April 2022, we announced our “business structure reforms for balancing long-term stable supply with carbon neutrality goals” in which we explain how we will use renewable energies as baseload power sources on the supply-side while also delving deeper on the demand-side by greatly transforming our business model to focus on facility services, such as renewable energy sources and storage batteries, etc., and ascertaining the usage status of facilities and energy by our customers in an effort to create new corporate value.
Preparedness initiatives
After Typhoon Hagibis caused long-term power outages in 2019, we started to steadily replace our aging power supply facilities while building mechanisms that utilize drones and digital transformation (DX) to contribute to quick recovery and the dissemination of accurate information during a disaster.
In conjunction with this, in order to improve the resilience of society as a whole, we are promoting the installation of storage batteries, the use of independent power sources that revolve around renewables, and V2X with electric vehicles. In addition to this, we are working with customers on initiatives that envision the use of privately owned facilities as regional energy sources in the event of a disaster.
Proactively disclosing information and encouraging dialogue
As a result of proactively disclosing information on primarily climate-related issues, TEPCO’s ESG rating has risen to the top amongst Japan’s energy operators, and we have been adopted as a new ESG index by the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF).
Going forward, we shall further our information disclosure on leading worldwide initiatives, such as information disclosure pertaining to human rights protection, human capital, and biodiversity (TNFD), etc., based on International Sustainability Standards Board sustainability reporting standards (ISSB standards). Additionally, based on these information disclosures we shall promote dialogue with various stakeholders, such as institutional investors, while also further deepening understanding about TEPCO’s businesses in order to engage in ESG operation that ascertains/reflects the desires of society and our customers.
In addition to serving as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), in April, I was newly appointed to the position of CFO in charge of ESG. I will leverage my position of being able to apply integrated thinking to financial and non-financial (future financial) issues to engage in projects for solving social issues, such as preparedness, and do my best to cut a pathway to creating ¥450 billion in annual profits as put forth in the 4th Comprehensive Special Business Plan.
April 2023
Hiroyuki Yamaguchi
Representative Executive Vice President
