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Activity Report (Society)
Environmental Protection Activities
- Green Program for Employees
- “goo Green Label” Activities
- Coastal Area Cleanup Activities
- Woodlands Conservation Initiative
- Chiyoda Ward Cleanup
- Local Landscaping and Greening
- Allowing Environmental Preservation Activities at Our Telecommunications Facilities
Green Program for Employees
In November 2022, NTT Communications launched the Green Program for Employees, which visualizes daily CO2 emissions to promote employees’ eco-actions. We first introduced the program to the NTT Communications Group and held an in-house event to implement it.
About 2,300 employees participated in the event, and we worked to reduce CO2 emissions by raising their environmental awareness and encouraging behavioral changes in daily life through program components: an eco-performance evaluation, a dietary journal, eco-action registration, and a quiz.
As a result, CO2 emissions were reduced by approximately 20.5 tonnes, roughly equivalent to the amount absorbed by about 2,300 cedar trees in a year. In addition, survey results showed that the program helped approximately 80% of the participating employees to improve their environmental awareness and encourage behavioral changes. Even the relatively small reduction that any one person can make adds up to a significant contribution when everyone takes part. That is why individual action is so important. The entire Group recognized this once again and reaffirmed the importance of incorporating this work into their daily lives.
The knowledge gained from our own work on the program will be applied to develop future green transformation (GX) solutions. We also offer GX solutions to support corporate customer initiatives in utilizing carbon credits and other means for realizing a circular economy and ultimately contribute to achieving carbon neutrality throughout society.
For more information, see:
GX Solutions (in Japanese only)
◆ Eco-Actions
“goo Green Label” Activities
In response to growing public expectations that the ICT business provide useful information through Internet media, we will continue to proactively use a variety of online media to communicate the importance of biodiversity and encourage a diverse range of people to engage in ecosystem conservation.
NTT Resonant operates the “goo Green Label” portal, an initiative for donating a portion of the profits generated through use of the site to organizations engaged in environmental protection and social activities. All users can participate in this initiative simply by changing the top design version of the “goo” web portal to “goo Green Label” and using the search engine. A total of 59 companies, including those in the NTT Group, have signed up as Corporate Partners, a program that has been recommended for in-house use within those companies. Since its inception in August 2007, donations totaling 58.79 million yen have been made to 46 organizations, the majority of which are NPOs engaged in global environmental protection activities.
Coastal Area Cleanup Activities
We have been cleaning the beaches around Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture, since 2017, amid growing international concern over waste plastic, including environmental pollution caused by microplastics. Although coastal cleanups were canceled in 2020 due to the spread of Covid-19, we intend to resume the activity once the pandemic subsides. Meanwhile, NTT Communications’ Shining Arcs rugby team participated in the LEADS TO THE OCEAN project in August 2020, the aim of which is to reduce the volume of waste that ends up in the ocean by keeping towns clean. Launched in 2015, the project is a joint effort between the Nippon Foundation, which has been engaged in marine and social issues for over half a century, and the non-profit organization Umisakura, which has been organizing the Enoshima beach cleanup since 2005. The Shining Arcs is the first rugby team to participate in the project.
Woodlands Conservation Initiative
The NTT Communications Group, as a part of our CSR, provides opportunities for our employees and those of our partners as well as their families to give back to local communities and preserve the environment through hands-on experiences and engagement in issues close to them. One such action led by Group companies is the Shiroi Woodlands Conservation Initiative underway in Shiroi City, Chiba Prefecture.
Its purpose is to raise awareness of environmental problems and dietary education through direct participation as well as to contribute to the preservation of the natural environment as a company by maintaining forests, planting rice, and observing nature.
The initiative has been well received for improving family communication through the participation of employees with their children and cultivating the children’s aesthetic sensitivity while also facilitating collaboration among Group companies by co-organizing the activities.
We have been conducting these activities three times a year—in the spring, summer, and autumn—since 2010, though we were unable to do so in 2020 due to COVID-19. In 2021, we helped gather fallen branches in the Shiroi Sports Park by limiting participation to members of the secretariat. We plan to resume the initiative on a continuing basis once the pandemic begins to subside.
Chiyoda Ward Cleanup
Participating in local cleanup campaigns is both our responsibility as a member of the community and an opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge of environmental issues. That is why we take part in cleanups around all our business locations. Employees and partners of NTT Communications working at the head office take the lead in the Cleanup Chiyoda Ward Campaign, held early in the morning before regular working hours in June and November every year.
Local Landscaping and Greening
We consider it is important to take into consideration for biodiversity in facility designs toward contributing to local greenery in our surroundings.
At the Tokyo No. 6 Data Center, one of the largest of such facilities in Tokyo, we have been working closely with the community to promote greening activities by applying a subsidy from the Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association’s Urban Green Fund. The green spaces at the site have been divided into two zones, spring/summer and autumn/winter, and planted accordingly so that visitors can enjoy flowers there throughout the year. We seek to achieve harmony between the data center and the surrounding environment. For example, we simulated a wind environment around the building and planted evergreen trees in the southwest corner, which is exposed to wind.
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Spring/summer zone
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Autumn/winter zone
Allowing Environmental Preservation Activities at Our Telecommunications Facilities
Wireless relay stations, the backbone of data communication networks, are often located in the midst of abundant natural surroundings, and we pay due consideration to biodiversity in operating these facilities. For example, every year since September 2012, the Amami Ornithologists’ Club, an NPO, has hosted events for observing the migration of Chinese sparrow hawks on the premises of our wireless relay station in Amami City, Kagoshima Prefecture. Although the stations are normally off limits because of their vital importance to telecommunications infrastructure, we grant an entry permit to the club for these annual events in response to a request that explained how well suited this particular area is for monitoring the ecosystem.
The Chinese sparrow hawk is a small bird of prey that breeds in the Korean Peninsula and mainland China and passes through Japan in its fall migration to winter in Southeast Asia. The Amami Ornithologists’ Club has conducted three observations and on one occasion confirmed a large flock of more than 2,000 birds. Hawks are at the top of the food chain and viewed as a keystone species for gauging the health of the entire ecosystem based on the size of the migratory flock. We hope to continue cooperating with activities that contribute to the conservation of ecosystems.
Regional Development
Assistance for reconstructing disaster-affected areas
The NTT Communications Group fulfilled its social mission by providing assistance soon after the Great East Japan Earthquake struck in 2011. We undertook initiatives that only an ICT company can, while also creating an environment wherein our employees could assist with the reconstruction.
In disaster-affected areas, our volunteers have helped in various ways since the summer of 2011, such as by removing waste and debris, rebuilding communities, and communicating with survivors, mainly in Shichigahama Town, Miyagi Prefecture. Moreover, we provided relief to those affected by the Kumamoto Earthquake in 2016. We offered assistance through our business, such as by waiving communications fees and setting up communications services in evacuation centers, including OCN Hikari Flet’s and OCN Mobile ONE services.
For those affected by the torrential rain that hit western Japan in 2018, our volunteer employees went to disaster areas and took part in support activities.
We will continue to offer assistance for reconstruction after natural disasters strike.
Pro Bono Work
The NTT Communications Group encourages its employees to use their professional skills and expertise to provide public services on a pro bono basis.
- Special Lecture at Chuo University
- Participation in a Pro Bono Project Organized by the DOCOMO Group
Special Lecture at Chuo University
In June 2022, Yuzuru Okada, Technical Manager of Service Network Department of NTT Com Engineering Corporation, gave a special lecture entitled “Diversity Management Initiatives in the Information and Communication Industry” during a session of the Diversity Management course taught by Professor Mayumi Hori of the Faculty of Global Management at Chuo University.
NTT Com Engineering Corporation monitors and maintains international submarine cables 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at its Cable Network Operation Center. In the lecture, Mr. Okada explained the importance of submarine cables as telecommunications infrastructure. He also discussed how the company is working to achieve diversity while managing the team at the center, which consists of members from more than ten countries. To better convey the actual situation on the ground, center team members participated in the lecture online.
After the lecture, students asked questions about diversity and inclusion as well as organizational and team management. The session provided a good opportunity for directly experiencing the enthusiasm and curiosity of the students in a different way from internships.
For more information (in Japanese only, external site)
Participation in a Pro Bono Project Organized by the DOCOMO Group
In 2022, the NTT Communications Group participated in NTT DOCOMO’s pro bono project as a member of the new DOCOMO Group.
Nine employees from the NTT Communications Group took part in the project over a period of about four months starting in October 2022, which involved helping three organizations address their respective issues. The employees proposed surveys and other measures needed by each organization and developed promotional tools.
The participants, reflecting on the project, felt that although maintaining a balance between that work and their jobs was a challenge, the support activities helped improve their skills, while the diverse communication with the organizations and project members was stimulating.
Encouraging employees to develop their careers and grow through pro bono work as a contribution to society will also create new value for addressing social issues through our business. Recognizing the benefits generated by this positive cycle, NTT Communications will continue to intensify pro bono activities.
International Cooperation
- Addressing Educational Challenges in the Philippines through ICT
- Participation in Table for Two
- Eco-cap activities
- Sales Events for Fair Trade Products
- Reselling Pre-owned Books
Addressing Educational Challenges in the Philippines through ICT
The government of the Philippines implemented major educational reforms in 2017 and has been focusing on developing human resources for the nation’s future. Nevertheless, some concerns remain. These include poverty, difficulty in commuting, and lack of parental understanding of the value of education, which often leads to students dropping out of school.
As one way to address global social problems through its business, NTT Communications entered into a partnership with the NPO e-Education in June 2018 and launched a project to resolve educational issues in the Philippines.
To date, we have conducted feasibility studies on ICT solutions to the issues identified through interviews with the local department of education. These solutions include online distance learning and supplementary classes that create learning opportunities for students along with the digitalization of standard teaching materials to reduce the burden on teachers.
We are advancing toward the full-scale launch of these solutions and will continue to help improve the educational environment in the Philippines through ICT based on a deep understanding of local circumstances and needs.
For more information, see: Collaborating with an NPO on Global CSR Activity
Participation in Table for Two
In March 2010, NTT Communications introduced Table for Two at its cafeterias.
Under the Table for Two system, a ¥20 donation is made for each applicable boxed lunch or meal purchased by an employee to buy school lunches for children in developing countries. This amount is enough for one school meal in a developing country, and the initiative associates one meal in an advanced country with the donation of a meal in a developing country.
As an early supporter of the initiative, we have participated in Table for Two for 11 years, during which a total of ¥1,357,660 in donations have been made (as of November 2021).
We will continue to provide meals through this organization to school children in developing countries.
＊This initiative is implemented in cooperation with Table for Two International, a specified nonprofit corporation.
Eco-cap activities
At the NTT Communications Group, we have participated in eco-cap activities since 2007 with the aim of providing vaccinations to children around the world as an activity anyone can do.
This activity entails the collection and separation of PET bottle caps as a recyclable resource, which are converted into cash for vaccinations for children in developing countries. It also helps protect the environment by reducing CO2 emissions that would be emitted if the caps were incinerated.
In developing countries, 4,000 children die every day because they could not be inoculated with vaccines. Around 860 bottle caps are worth ¥20, enough to administer the polio vaccine to one child in a developing country, which could save their life. The collected PET bottle caps are recycled and reused in other products, such as industrial materials, civil engineering materials, distribution materials, ball pens and collection boxes.
As a Groupwide effort, we engage in this initiative to contribute to the world through personal action.
Sales Events for Fair Trade Products
In an effort to resolve poverty and worldwide environmental issues, NTT Com Marketing Corporation organizes sales events for fair trade products in collaboration with the Wakachiai Project, an international NGO.
These events have been held every year since fiscal 2015 and are now widely recognized by employees, who even place requests for particular products. While the spread of COVID-19 prevented face-to-face sales events in 2020 and 2021, we intend to continue promoting this initiative during the pandemic by considering alternative sales methods such as sales based on accepting orders.
Reselling Pre-owned Books
NTT Com Marketing Corporation collects used books and DVDs from its employees and from staff at its corporate partners and sells them under the Happy Book recycling and resale project. The proceeds are donated to create educational opportunities for children in developing countries in Asia and Africa. Since the start of the project, the company has donated around ¥28,000 to support education of girls through Room to Read, an international NGO.
The Arts, Culture, Education and Sports
- Activities of the Corporate Rugby Team
- Bring the family to work day
- Joy of learning for children—exhibition of workshops at The Children’s Kasumigaseki Tour Days
- Contribution to the continuation of school events—online video streaming of the graduation ceremony
Activities of the Corporate Rugby Team
As a social contribution through sports and to enrich the lives of its employees, NTT Communications engages in several projects that leverage the expertise of its Shining Arcs rugby team, which competes in the Japan Rugby Top League. In 2019, the Shining Arcs became the first rugby team in Japan to launch a full-scale SDG initiative.
In 2021, we began verifying the ways sports teams can contribute to regional revitalization by connecting our rugby players with local residents using the remote-controlled avatar robot OriHime to create new ways of expressing support and watching matches. We placed one OriHime robot at a local facility for disabled children and another at Arcs Urayasu Park, the home ground of our rugby team. We offered a glimpse into the team’s practice activities and conducted a tour of the facilities at the park through the remote connection to engage children and players in friendly interaction.
We also began verifying ways to engage with children who eat their meals alone. The Shining Arcs uses the OriHime robot to communicate with children while sharing a meal. The children are provided with the same nutritionally balanced boxed meals as the players so that they learn healthy dietary habits at the same time. We can easily establish communication with many children in different locations by effectively using ICT.
As a social contribution through sports and to enrich the lives of its employees, NTT Communications engages in several projects that leverage the expertise of its Shining Arcs rugby team, which competes in the Japan Rugby Top League. In 2019, the Shining Arcs became the first rugby team in Japan to launch a full-scale SDG initiative.
The team contributes through the power of sports in deleteC, a collaborative project in Japan for making cancer a curable disease. The Shining Arcs have been educating the public through diverse efforts such as wearing training jerseys displaying the deleteC logo, donating a portion of revenues from the sale of original goods, and actively communicating through social media.
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Training jerseys displaying the deleteC logo
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Collecting donations at match venues
The team also participates in the ”Calorie Offset Program by Shining Arcs,″ which is focused on addressing the global food issue as the first such effort by the Japanese rugby community. We calculate the calories burned during a game by players, as well as Shining Arcs fans who cheered for the team at the stadium, and we then donate the equivalent in monetary value. The funds are used to support the agricultural industry and set up infrastructure in developing countries through TABLE FOR TWO International, an NPO. This is one way we promote social contribution activities with our fans and supporters.
Achieved second place in the sports category in the first TABLE FOR TWO Awards
In addition, the team has adopted a multifaceted approach to demonstrate its commitment to the SDGs through rugby. Non-Japanese players are featured in an international cooperation event in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The team also participates in the ”LEADS TO THE OCEAN″ project, which is focused on sports and beach-cleaning activities, and implements the ”1 TRY × 1 TOY″ project, in which one toy is delivered for each try the player makes in the top league to nursery schools in Urayasu City, Chiba Prefecture, the team’s home.
We signed a collaboration and support agreement with Urayasu City, Chiba Prefecture, and have been focusing on educating children as part of our Sports × Career Education initiative. Team members have been visiting elementary and junior high schools to play tag rugby with students. New projects have included sports tourism events as well as classes during school trips, in which children receive career education lectures from players, coaches, and other staff. We also sponsor lectures by a former player who suffered a stroke and now speaks about his own experience living with a disability while achieving happiness. These activities provide children with opportunities to learn about career design and develop their values and at the same time broaden their perspectives.
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Workshop on developing teams
capable of achieving their goals -
Shining Arcs player giving a
presentation to students during a class -
「Signing ceremony for the collaboration and
support agreement」with Urayasu City
Bring the family to work day
The NTT Communications Group organizes an annual Family Day, on which its employees can bring their families to the workplace. This popular event has taken place during summer vacation since 2010 as a means of improving work-life balance and providing children with opportunities to learn about work.
Although we had to cancel the event in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been participated in by the families of about 50 employees every year. They take tours of cable tunnels, play rugby, and practice exchanging business cards.
The kids learn about where their mothers and fathers work and gain a new perspective of what they do while also deepening their understanding of family and the workplace. As for the parents, their coworkers are reminded that they have families, which helps improve the work-life balance for everyone.
We will continue to hold the event to strengthen connections by deepening family understanding of work while improving employee communication and motivation.
Joy of learning for children—exhibition of workshops at The Children’s Kasumigaseki Tour Days
In 2021, NTT Communications held a workshop at The Children's Kasumigaseki Tour Days, a summer holiday event organized by the government ministries and agencies located in Kasumigaseki. Using the education software Manabi Pocket, the employees who were in their first and second year took the lead to plan the computer programming hands-on lesson cooperating with the National Strategy office of Information and Communication Technology, Cabinet Secretariat (currently known as the Digital Agency) and both internal and external stakeholders.
For the first time ever, The Children’s Kasumigaseki Tour Days was held online. Over the two days of the event, a total of 29 third- to sixth-grade children participated from all over Japan. While puzzling over the original quizzes created by the employees, the children talked to each other about how to solve the problems and enjoyed programming. In the questionnaire after they participated, we heard the happy voices of children: “Too much fun, not enough time!”
Through NTT Communications’ services, we will continuously create opportunities for children so that they think learning and ICT are fun.
Contribution to the continuation of school events—online video streaming of the graduation ceremony
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented crisis that threatens to disrupt children’s education. NTT BizLink is addressing this by providing video solutions as part of its contribution to the continuation of school events.
“The graduation ceremony is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for students, and I hope to share it with everyone in the community.”
Driven by his passion as an educator, the principal of Tsurumaki Junior High School in Tokyo approached us with this earnest wish. NTT BizLink had helped his school share the entrance ceremony online and provide internal video streaming of student council meetings. This time around, we broadcast a live video stream of the graduation ceremony, which is the highlight of the school year.
We harnessed our strengths in high-quality video distribution to help create a memorable graduation ceremony by showing unusual close-up shots that captured the expression on students’ faces as they received their diplomas, complete with captions, and by providing vivid images through seamless transmission. The lively video was viewed by people in 14 prefectures in Japan as well as overseas, and we received words of gratitude and appreciation from many students and their families. Many other members of the community participated remotely, which reminded us about the importance of supporting children’s growth through the involvement of the local community and society as a whole.
We intend to make a continuous effort to contribute to the education and growth of children.
Health, Medical and Welfare Fields
- Sales Events for Products Made by Persons with Disabilities at Sheltered Workshops
- Sales Events for Bread in Support of Persons with Disabilities
- Donation of Calendars
- Ongoing Training for CPR in Emergencies
- Efforts to prevent waste of disaster stockpiles —donating to food banks
Sales Events for Products Made by Persons with Disabilities at Sheltered Workshops
Within the NTT Communications Group, we periodically hold events for selling confectionaries made by persons with disabilities at sheltered workshops, and these are timed to Christmas and Valentine’s Day as well as Japan’s White Day. Purchasing delicious confectionaries is an easy action to take for our employees and results in promoting the self-reliance of persons with disabilities. We also foster a greater awareness of social welfare among our employees through these events.
The sales events were launched in 2003, and we have maintained the initiative amid the COVID-19 pandemic by consulting with the sheltered workshops and switching to sales based on accepting orders. The confectionaries are so popular that they are consistently sold out and have been frequently held at Group companies as well.
Sales Events for Bread in Support of Persons with Disabilities
NTT Com Marketing Corporation began organizing sales events for bread products in 2015 as a means of supporting persons with disabilities. Today, the events are held to sell bread, baked sweets, and goods produced by employees of Pasona Heartful Inc., whose company motto is “a disability is part of one’s personality, and talent knows no handicap.”
Employees at the events offer explanations about their products and engage in friendly exchanges with NTT Com employees.
Donation of Calendars
In January 2020, the NTT Communications Group donated 1,308 unused calendars and notebooks from our business offices to Community Support Center Kobe, a certified NPO. The calendars are distributed by the organization mainly to senior citizens and persons with disabilities through disaster relocation housing, local governments, regional organizations, and other NPOs.
Ongoing Training for CPR in Emergencies
The NTT Communications Group conducts CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) courses, mainly for its employees.
In Japan, approximately 70,000 people die every year from sudden cardiac arrest while not under hospital care for heart disease. There have been many cases in which bystanders were unable to perform emergency aid procedures, and 90% of those victims have died as a result of not receiving immediate help.
Fast, appropriate basic life support can save lives in many different situations, and we must protect employees, their families, and as many other people as we can. To that end, in addition to regular training, we periodically conduct remote programs through a video conferencing system that we developed, enabling us to promote the importance of life-saving as a value we share with all of society.
Efforts to prevent waste of disaster stockpiles —donating to food banks
Since fiscal 2020, NTT Communications has been donating disaster stockpiles prepared in our major office buildings in the Tokyo metropolitan area to food banks.
Disaster stockpiles are required to be replaced regularly due to their expirations. As a part of promoting CSR activities, the disaster stockpile management service Sonaerun CSR + provided by NTT TechnoCross Corporation has a matching function that connects companies wishing to donate their disaster stockpiles and food banks. Using this function, we donated unnecessary preserved water and food that was close to expiration, as well as cooking equipment such as pans, pots, gas stoves and tableware, to 22 food banks across Japan through the organization registered in the system. We will continue to work to reduce food waste and contribute to social support.
