It is not only the company that has to protect the environment, we all have to be eco-friendly in every aspect of our daily lives. That is why the Daikin Group in Japan started the eco-action initiative.

The initiative helps raise employee environmental awareness and encourages them to take "eco-action" in their daily lives. For two months starting in February 2008, we gave employees an Eco-Action Kit that included a checklist of things any family can do-watch one hour less TV, shower for a minute less-and had them report on the weekly results. Through action that was entirely voluntary, the 3,300 "Eco-Action members" (participants) managed to reduce CO2 emissions by eight tons.

We plan to come up with other similar initiatives that will get employees and families not just thinking about the environment but actually doing something about it everyday.

Eco-Action checklist

Employees check off whether they did each of the items each day- such as shop with a reusable tote bag and set the air conditioning 1ºC higher. On the last day, participants can calculate how much their actions helped reduce CO2 emissions.