RMK-12: A prosperous society begins with taking a greener approach

THE Twelfth Malaysia Plan (12MP) emphasised the importance of adopting green technology in Malaysia as we progress towards a more prosperous society. This is unsurprising as sustainability has become an increasingly important topic in the world, especially in developing economies.

To address the impact of climate change on our environment and ecosystem, businesses of all sizes are adopting greener practices to appeal to the wider socioeconomic demands. One of the popular ways to do so is to reduce the carbon footprint in the workplace by leveraging green technology, be it corporate or home offices. Doing so can have long-term positive impacts on business performance including cost-savings and increased productivity.

For local businesses to be successful in adopting green technology, they have to start by taking small steps as majority of the economic activities are driven by local MSMEs. This can be as simple as an office equipment change. In fact, research has shown that businesses can reduce over 1.5 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions if every office product purchased was ENERGY STAR certified . The Epson's Heat-Free technology integrated in all Epson inkjet printers is an example of such sustainable innovation. With its ability to reduce up to 85% less energy and CO2 emission for each print, businesses will be able to save considerable amount of operation costs, reduce overall carbon footprint, while enjoying the same functionality as regular printers.

Another practical way to reduce carbon footprint is to convert physical meetings to virtual ones. Seeing that transportation is a large contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, virtual meetings counters the need for work travel. Many companies are turning to online meetings to save time, resources, costs , and increase productivity. With the increased adoption of online meetings, this trend may continue even post pandemic due to the conveniences it brings.

Aligned with Malaysia's direction moving forward, the Epson Environmental Vision 2050 also outlined our efforts in contributing to the development of a sustainable society by leveraging efficient, compact and precision technologies to reduce the environmental impact of products and services across their life cycles. While the COVID-19 pandemic may have side tracked some of the corporate social responsibility focuses, it's expected that sustainability will be an even more important agenda post pandemic.

Daisuke Hori

Managing Director of Epson Malaysia