Ricoh Asia Pacific (Ricoh), a Japanese multinational imaging and electronics company, today brought together corporate and government leaders to plant 315 tree saplings at Fort Siloso in Sentosa, as part of Ricoh’s 2018 Eco Action Day campaign.
Each sapling planted matches a corporate pledge received during the 2018 campaign. Campaign partners and sponsors, including Keppel Land, Keppel REIT, Singapore Pools, Interface, Sunseap, Mitsubishi Electric, PacificLight Power and Eco Business, were also present at the event.
Gracing the event was Guest-of-Honour Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. Minister Masagos said: “I am heartened by the support from business leaders and corporates in taking climate action for a sustainable Singapore. I hope to see more climate action champions in the Public, Private, and People (3P) sectors go beyond individual actions to engage their partners in making a more positive impact on our environment.&rdquo
For Ricoh, this is the third time Fort Siloso has been chosen for the planting of saplings, after similar events in 2008 and 2017. The planted saplings contribute to the resort island’s reputation as a green, sustainable leisure and tourism destination. While rapid developments have transformed Sentosa in recent decades, the natural environment and heritage of the island are being preserved through initiatives such as Ricoh’s Eco Action Day campaign.
The annual national campaign encourages awareness of, and action for, the environment, and is celebrated in conjunction with United Nations (UN) Environment Programme’s World Environment Day (WED) held every 5 June. The campaign encourages corporations, schools, and individuals to pledge themselves to greener actions.
Mr Kaz Goto, managing director of Ricoh Asia Pacific, said: “The overwhelming support for Ricoh’s 2018 Eco Action Day campaign, culminating in today’s plantings, shows that we still care for the wide range of environmental issues at hand. At Ricoh, we continue to support the preservation of our natural environment through efforts in raising awareness and building public -private partnerships to help secure our greenery for future generations.&rdquo
This year’s campaign saw 313 organisations, 17 schools and 1,254 individuals pledge their eco actions for a sustainable Singapore. The pledges are approximately 30 per cent more than 2017, highlighting the increase in national awareness and alertness to take environmental action. Each pledge also contributes to the Climate Action Pledges by the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR), which has drawn a total of 302,926 pledges to date.
Ricoh’s Eco Action Day also brought together government, senior business, and academic leaders for an Industry Roundtable on 31 May 2018. Entitled “Industry Innovation in the Year of Climate Action,” this year’s Industry Roundtable focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) 9: to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation. Participants convened to discuss how companies can apply the principles of SDG 9 in a Singapore context.
In Singapore, Eco Action Day has gained the support of several public and private sector organisations for over a decade, becoming Singapore’s largest and longest led environmental initiative. Eco Action Day will return next year with a focus of UN SDG 13: take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
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About Eco Action Day
Eco Action Day is a national public awareness campaign organized by Ricoh since 2007, in partnership with key NGO, government and private sector partners in Singapore. It is held on 5 June every year, to commemorate the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Environment Day, which seeks to raise global awareness on the need to take positive action for the environment. Every year, Ricoh, along with various supporting partners, engages its employees, customers, corporate neighbours and government organisations and the wider public to take steps to reduce their impact on the environment.
To date, more than 1,100 organisations, including multinational corporations, government agencies, private companies and tertiary institutions have participated in Eco Action Day.
For further information, please visit www.ecoaction.sg
About Ricoh
Ricoh is empowering digital workplaces using innovative technologies and services enabling individuals to work smarter. For more than 80 years, Ricoh has been driving innovation and is a leading provider of document management solutions, IT services, commercial and industrial printing, digital cameras, and industrial systems.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in approximately 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ended March 2018, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,063 billion yen (approx. 19.4 billion USD).
For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com
About World Environment Day
World Environment Day (WED) is the biggest annual event for positive environmental action and takes place every 5 June. Since it began in 1972, global citizens have organised many events as they celebrate, engaging millions across the globe through events on the ground in over 70 countries. Every year, participants, young and old, organise many events. These include neighbourhood clean-ups, action against wildlife crime, replanting forests, art exhibits, concerts, dance recitals, recycling drives, social media campaigns, all themed around caring for the planet.
WED has grown to become one of the main vehicles through which the United Nations encourages positive action for the environment. Through WED, the UNEP enables everyone to realise not only the responsibility to care for the Earth, but also reminds one and all of their individual power to become agents of change. Every action counts, and when multiplied by a global chorus, becomes exponential in its impact.
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