The annual social responsibility activity aims to realise the company’s vision of bringing wellness to people and contribute to the sustainable development of the country. Besides that, specialised forest planting will contribute to the promotion of carbon credits and carbon emission reduction.
From 2013 until now, Panasonic has planted and donated more than 270,000 trees in 10 cities and provinces, with the active participation of the company’s employees.
This year, more than 100 Panasonic employees travelled hundreds of km to the specialised forest area in Xuan Lien Nature Reserve, collaborating with authorities and local people to plant 15,000 trees. These are mainly large timber native tree species that have value in restoring impoverished forest land and contributing to the development of specialised forests to improve watershed protection, absorb CO2 and protect against climate change.
With the support from the Management Board, Panasonic has contributed a total of 33 hectares of forestry in the last two years. In 2023, Panasonic planted 13,000 trees in its annual the Eco Relay programme, and another 10,000 trees in another programme “Live Wellness Contribute Green” at Xuan Lien Nature Reserve.
Eco Relay is the global initiative of Panasonic aim at inspiring each employee to be a “sustainable ambassador” to convey the message of environment protection and the inspiration of sustainable development to communities.
Besides planting new trees, Panasonic’s members had offered memorable experiences to re-visit and take-care of their planted trees in last year’s initiative to understand more about the importance of forestry development and protection.
They also joined various activities to support the local community, such as environmental and STEM learning classes for students, and work on organic waste treatment.
“In 2022, Panasonic Holding declared our vision as our commitment, to reduce over 300 million tonnes of CO2, equivalent to 1 per cent of global CO2 emissions, in the whole value chain for our whole global business before 2050. But in Vietnam, the environment protection is a more critical and urgent matter, as you can see that there have many disasters in our country recently,” said Marukawa Yoichi, director of Panasonic Vietnam.
This year, Panasonic will to plant trees in Xuan Lien as this area plays a vital role in the upper forested watershed of the Chu River, covering a large area including natural forests, rivers and lakes that help protect water sources for domestic use and irrigation for millions of people in Thanh Hoa province and surrounding areas, while also preventing erosion and landslides, as well as reducing floods.
Thanh Hoa has being one of six critical provinces participating in the forest carbon credits sale as part of Emission Reductions Payment Agreements in the north central region, signed in 2020 between the World Bank and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. 2023 marked a significant milestone for the forestry sector, as Vietnam successfully sold 10.3 million forest carbon credits.
Vi Manh Hung, Vice Chairman of Van Xuan People’s Committee, said, “Activities carried out by Panasonic help raise awareness of environmental protection for residents, while inspiring and providing knowledge to future generations to contribute to sustainable development.”
Thanh Van
