Efforts to address climate change

We are addressing the issue of climate change through such efforts as reducing power consumption at offices, reducing CO2 emissions from employee travel and purchasing green power certificates. We also collect and disclose group-wide environmental information.

Reducing power consumption

We are reducing power consumption at Group-owned buildings under an ongoing program of replacing electrical equipment with energy-saving models and managing these with greater efficiency. For example, we are encouraging the replacement of air-conditioning units with more efficient models and implementing energy-saving operations by reducing hours of usage and adjusting room temperature settings. We are also actively working to reduce power consumption from lighting, as Nomura Asset Management changed over all of its lighting at its head office building and the Daiichi Edobashi Building to LED in fiscal 2011.

We are also lowering emissions from our heating systems by replacing oil-fuelled models with gas-powered units.

Expanding the use of green energy

We have been purchasing green power certificates every year since fiscal 2006 as part of our efforts to expand our use of green energy.

In fiscal 2011, we purchased green power certificates equivalent to an annual 6.4 million kWh, which we allocated to our Nihonbashi head office and Takanawa Training Center. We also purchased an additional 2,000kWh of green power at the 31st Central Bank Seminar held in April 2012. In addition to this, we are holding seminars and utilizing green power to print brochures and other materials.

Moreover, our offices in Switzerland and Germany have actively switched over to renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectricity.

Reducing CO2 emissions from employee travel

Around 84.7% of company vehicles that we lease in Japan are defined by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport as low-emission models, compared with 80% in fiscal 2010. Our fleet also includes 77 hybrid vehicles, an increase from 59 in fiscal 2010. Of the newly introduced vehicles in fiscal 2011, 98.4% were low-emission models. We will deploy more such vehicles as existing leases expire.

In order to promote eco-friendly driving habits, we provide information through our intranet and implemented a system to monitor the driving practices of drivers. We have also adopted a car sharing system as part of our commitment to effectively utilize company-owned vehicles.

To further reduce our environmental impact, we use videoconferencing, effectively utilize IT equipment, and cut vehicle use and employee travel. All our offices in Japan had installed videoconferencing systems by March 2006.

Our German office has also been using a program by Deutsche Bahn, Germany's national railway operator, to run 100% of its trains on renewable energy. As a result, business travel using Deutsche Bahn has been CO2 free since 2011.

• Environmental performance data