Eco-business / Social Venture

September 18, 2006

 

New Business to Evaluate Social and Environmental Benefits of Corporate Green Zones

Keywords: Eco-business / Social Venture Non-manufacturing industry 

Kokusai Kogyo Co., a Japanese engineering consultant company, started a new service, "Eco-Profiler," in June 2006. This service will promote CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) by clarifying the social and environmental contributions made by green zones planted by companies around their factories. By interpreting aerial photographs and conducting questionnaire surveys, the service clarifies the problems and contributions made to surrounding areas. The cost is about 500,000 yen (U.S.$4,300) for a factory site several tens of thousands of square meters in extent.

The potential environmental asset represented by the factory's green zone is examined by using existing aerial photos and topographical maps. Its contribution to the surrounding community and the environment is then quantified with reference to the distribution of other local green areas. Recent and past photos of the site and its adjacent area are examined to determine environmental change, and the functions it can be expected to perform are analyzed..

Kokusai Kogyo's service incorporates a questionnaire survey on maintenance and management of the green zone and other methods in order to confirm its present advantages and disadvantages, so that it can offer clients guidance for the future.

Green zones have various functions, such as absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2), climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation and contributing to a pleasant landscape. Thus, an increasing number of companies are actively conserving and improving their green zones as a CSR activity. Kokusai Kogyo hopes to identify positive values that will assist this kind of CSR activity.

http://www.kkc.co.jp/english/

Posted: 2006/09/18 11:27:51 PM
Japanese version

 

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