We interviewed Senior Executive Vice President Kaoru Kanazawa about NTT Group's CSR efforts.

Please discuss NTT Group’s fundamental approach to CSR.

NTT Group adopted the “NTT Group CSR Charter” in June 2006 as a statement of its fundamental policy to proactively further its group companies’ existing CSR implementation. The “NTT Group CSR Charter” consists of a CSR Message, which is a statement of the group’s commitment to corporate social responsibility, and four “CSR Goals” that outline specific goals of NTT’s CSR activities. Pursuant to the “NTT Group CSR Charter,” NTT hopes to achieve higher corporate value and the continuous development of the company by contributing, through its day-to-day activities, to solving various social problems such as the low birthrate and aging of Japanese society, as well as healthcare and educational issues. NTT hopes to do so through the utilization of information and communications technologies, and by complying with international standards and rules, thereby meeting the expectations of, first of all, NTT shareholders, and NTT stakeholders as well. Through NTT’s continuous CSR activities, NTT Group is contributing to the development of a safe, secure and prosperous society by connecting people, communities and the world.

NTT Group CSR Charter

What is NTT Group’s approach to CSR management?

NTT Group places considerable emphasis on the concept of the “group,” and not just with respect to CSR activities. In this context, we are seeing the convergence of, and collaboration between, fixed and mobile services and between communications and broadcasting services achieved through technological innovation in the information and communications sectors. It is therefore crucial for the entire NTT Group to create synergies among its different sectors to strengthen and improve its services. Also, we are entering an era in which businesses are evaluated as groups based on such criteria as internal controls and consolidated results. We must ensure that we have a good reputation as a group in terms of governance and compliance, and consequently, it is necessary that the entire group work together and strive for overall optimization of CSR. We have listed issues that all group companies should address under “NTT Group’s CSR Priority Activities” below.

Please discuss the contents of NTT’s CSR activities.

Recent topics include the adoption and the May 1, 2010 implementation of the “NTT Group Energy Saving Performance Guidelines.” These guidelines set forth our basic stance concerning the development and procurement of ICT equipment, such as routers and servers, used by the eight NTT Group companies¹ as a part of NTT Group’s activities to mitigate global warming. Currently, more than 90% of the greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide) emitted by NTT Group is produced from the use of electricity by communications equipment and in offices. The eight NTT Group companies acquired the Eco ICT Mark², adopted by the ICT Ecology Guideline Council³, to clarify the group’s efforts in this regard.

1. NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION, NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE EAST CORPORATION, NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE WEST CORPORATION, NTT COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION, NTT DOCOMO, INC., NTT DATA CORPORATION, NTT FACILITIES, INC., and NTT COMWARE CORPORATION.

2. A logo mark indicating that the telecommunications carrier has adopted appropriate carbon dioxide reduction measures.

3. The council to formulate Ecology Guidelines in the ICT field, jointly established by the Telecommunications Carriers Association, Telecom Services Association, Japan Internet Providers Association, Communications and Information Network Association of Japan and ASP-SaaS Industry Consortium.

What are NTT’s policies for the future, and what issues will it face?

Basically, we would like each group company to undertake activities daily that are in alignment with the Group’s priority activities and goals. It is important that NTT Group implements a thorough PDCA⁴ and conducts activities based on the concept of continuous development of both business and society. In terms of disaster countermeasures, as a provider of infrastructure that is crucial as a lifeline, we are aware of the tremendous impact a disaster may have on society. We are working on the maintenance of the systems necessary for ensuring the continuity of our business activities.

4. PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) is an iterative four-step problem-solving process that serves as the management framework for continuous business process improvement.