Environmental Management Environmental Sustainability Report 2004

Promotion of Employee Initiatives

Raising Employee Awareness of the Environment Environmental education         It is the first prerequisite for sustainable business activities that employees, who are the driving force for corporate activity, have a caring outlook toward the environment. Kobe Steel implemented an educational program from fiscal 1998 to raise the environmental awareness of all employees. Since then it has adopted new educational materials, and has been upgrading and expanding the contents in order to continuously improve learning effectiveness. Environmental education Group environmental award system         In day-to-day operations, various suggestions for energy savings, waste control, and recycling are made and these suggestions have resulted in reducing the environmental burden as well as development of eco-friendly products and technologies. The activities implemented are presented at the annual Kobe Steel Group Environmetal Conference to spread those activities throughout the entire group. Activities of excellence are given recognition to raise the environmental awareness in the group companies. Holding group environmental conference Sharing information by Intranet Kobe Steel posts the ECOWAY NETWORK on its Intranet. This site contains the latest information on environmental laws and ordinances; disaster prevention information; examples of environmental and energy-saving initiatives; and an environmental business database. The site posts timely information for effective use. Promotion of employees' environmental certification Kobe Steel places a great deal of effort into increasing its number of qualified pollution control managers and energy managers who can contribute to reducing the environmental impact of its corporate activities. Number of environment-related qualified personnel (parent company only) Qualification Number of qualified personnel Pollution Control Manager (Air) 115 Pollution Control Manager (Water) 115 Pollution Control Manager (Noise) 130 Pollution Control Manager (Vibration) 82 Pollution Control Manager (Dust) 14 Pollution Control Manger (Dioxin) 33 Senior Pollution Control Manager 9 Energy Manager 192 Total 690 Household eco-bookkeeping Since October 1998, Kobe Steel distributes 50,000 copies of the environmental account books, called the Kobelco Ecolife Notebook, to its employees every six months. Much like a household accounting book, this book is used to keep a record of the amount of utilities used and refuse thrown away every month so that families are able to save energy, improve recycling and increase their awareness of the environment, thus contributing to the prevention of global warming and increasing resource recycling on the personal level. The results are fed back and the ideas received are widely introduced. Ecolife Notebook