Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is aiming to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the use of 84 products by an average of 27 percent, compared to levels in fiscal 2001, as part of a new three-year action plan.

The Japanese corporation’s Seventh Environmental Plan is a three-year blueprint aligned with its Environmental Vision 2021 strategy, which calls for CO2 from product usage to be brought 30 percent below 2001 levels by 2021.

The three-year plan also calls for the company to cut emissions from production operations, per unit of product net sales, by 17 percent versus fiscal 2011 levels. This is a reduction of 121,000 tons. In this case the company says it has chosen to use a 2011 rather than 2001 baseline because its production and sales volume fell in FY 2009-10 due to the 2008 economic crisis, lowering its total CO2 emissions.

The company has pledged to expand its photovoltaic power generation capacity by 6,400 kW within the next three years, to a total of 14,100 kW, including existing solar arrays. Mitsubishi Electric is also planning to incorporate demand control systems to control peak demand in electricity at all 68 major domestic locations contracted to purchase at least 500 kW of electricity. And it has pledged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions through power-saving efforts, such as replacement of air conditioners with more energy-efficient products.

The corporation is also aiming to maintain its final waste disposal ratio below 0.1 percent at its own sites, and achieve less than 0.1 percent at Japanese affiliates’ sites and 1 percent at overseas affiliates’ sites.

In February, Mitsubishi’s Outlander Sport – made by the corporation’s motors division – came last in the Ecology Center’s ranking of the toxicity of car interiors. The Honda Civic was ranked as the car with the least toxic interior.