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January 25, 2006

Omron Wins Excellent Sustainability Report Award

Omron has won an Excellent Sustainability Report award at the 9th Environmental Communication Awards, organized by the Global Environmental Forum (GEF) and supported by the Ministry of the Environment and Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper.

The Environmental Communication Awards have been held annually since 1997, and are aimed at encouraging companies to disclose information and improve the quality of their environment-related communications, through recognizing excellence in environmental reporting and advertising.

Out of 3 award categories* entered, Omron was one of 6 major Japanese companies to win the “Excellent Sustainability Report Award” in the “Environmental Reporting” category (301 entrants). Other winners included Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., and Sony Corporation. The award itself is presented to corporations that have produced excellent environmental reports which objectively examine the sustainability of their business’ impact on society.

Senior Vice Minister for the Environment, Yasuyuki Eda attended the awards ceremony held on 25th January, 2006, where Mr. Yoshiaki Kotani, General Manager of Omron’s Quality and Environment Dept, was presented with the award.

Today it is essential for companies to make environmental information available to a wide range of stakeholders. At Omron, we have been producing an environmental report annually since 1998. By actively communicating our stance towards the environment, and providing information on our environment conservation activities to our stakeholders, we are aiming both to demonstrate our accountability and contribute to growing corporate value. From 2004 onwards, we widened the scope of our reporting to incorporate a fuller review of all our CSR activities, including not only environmental aspects, but social and economic reporting too. This new comprehensive report is the award-winning Sustainability Report.

This award is not only a commendation of the quality of our CSR reporting, but also an affirmation that Omron is a pioneering example in terms of fulfilling corporate social responsibilities. The award thus represents a valuable contribution to our corporate value.

*Award Categories

  1. Excellence in Environmental (Sustainability) Reporting

  2. Excellence in Environmental Activities Reporting (reports based on the Ministry of the Environment’s environmental activity evaluation program, Ecoaction 21)

  3. Excellent Environment-themed TV Commercial
Judges'comments on Omron's "Sustainability Report 2005"

One of the defining features of Omron’s report is the concept of the “corporation as a public entity” which is central to Omron’s stance on corporate governance. The company is conducting its business, and environmental programmes effectively according to this concept. Additionally, the report clearly outlines how Omron relates to its stakeholders through corporate citizenship activities. Both easy to understand and including all the necessary information, Omron’s report is an example for others. Befitting its status as a global company, the report includes data and information from the overseas markets in which Omron operates. However, the fact that most of the staff and stakeholders who appear in the report are Japanese is perhaps an area for improvement. The report gives a clear explanation of company policy regarding responsible procurement, and we look forward to seeing this implemented as soon as possible. The section on the environment is concise, but comprehensive and well compiled. However, the data presented largely relates to activities, products and services. In the future, we hope to see more details on how Omron is promoting sustainable development through its main business operations, such as efforts to combat poverty or conserve resources. In addition to this, we look forward to a report that is still richer in dialogue between Omron and its diverse stakeholders.