[Address by Tadashi Hasegawa, Director and Corporate Executive Vice President, Fujitsu General Limited (excerpt)]

We sincerely appreciate your selecting us for the Grand Prize at the inaugural Kawasaki Carbon Neutral Brand Awards.

In accordance with our corporate philosophy of “Living together for our future,” Sustainable Management is a pillar of our management. We are working toward the goal of carbon neutrality by expanding the deployment of air conditioners that utilize heat pump technology. They generate far less greenhouse gas emissions than heating equipment that burns fossil fuels.

The nocria room air conditioner awarded this Grand Prize generates 14% fewer CO2 emissions over its life cycle than the equivalent 2013 model. This is because advanced energy-saving technology and design are used.

Fujitsu General has been running our business from Takatsu-ku in Kawasaki City for 68 years since 1955. In recent years, we have endeavored to perform joint demonstration experiments with Kawasaki City. Together, we nurture the next generation of talents through exchanges with elementary schools in the city. As a brand representing the local community, it is particularly special for us to be honored with this Grand Prize this year. We are glad that the prize marks the 20th anniversary of our launch of the nocria series.

Finally, I would like to say a few words about the nocria brand. The name nocria was coined by reversing the spelling of the word “aircon” (air conditioner). This symbolizes our desire to overturn the conventional wisdom of air conditioners. We have done this successfully, for example, by creating the world’s first air conditioner with an automatic filter cleaning mechanism. We will continue using our technology to contribute to realizing carbon neutrality.