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Case Study

Lowering CO2 emissions from products: Sony’s eco-innovation for televisions

By Corey A. Billington, Tania Braga and Aileen Ionescu-Somers

9 pages

December 2009

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Reference: IMD-2-0154

The case demonstrates the potential companies have to drive innovation in order to reach ambitious CO2 reduction targets. It documents Sony’s efforts under WWF International’s Climate Savers initiative. Climate Savers is a platform to transform business and industry into pioneers on climate and energy solutions. To reduce CO2 emitted in the use of its products, Sony started to focus on improving the energy efficiency of televisions. By combining sophisticated technological improvements with simple features that make it easy for customers to save energy, Sony achieved a sustained reduction in the carbon footprint of its televisions. The case also provides a framework for discussions around Sony’s major challenge: reducing the total (absolute) emissions from product use under market growth.

Learning Objective

1) Deliver strong arguments that ambitious CO2 reduction targets trigger innovation and are therefore good for business development and growth. 2) Inspire business leaders to adopt transformational change in product innovation. 3) Show how to create, develop and market climate friendly products.

Keywords

Innovation, Climate Change, Energy Efficiency, Consumer Electronics, Product Innovation, Corporate Responsibility, Partnership, Carbon Footprint, Corporate Sustainability Management, Sustainability

Settings

World/global
Sony
2006-2009

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

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