Along with having guidelines for environmentally conscious design, Sharp sets objectives for the development of environmentally conscious products and devices as well as assessment standards for certification as such. Every year, the company revises these guidelines and standards, thus constantly improving the environmental performance of its products and devices.

Sharp calls its environmentally conscious products Green Products (GP). The GP Guidelines, which define development and design guidelines in line with seven concepts, have been in use at all product design departments in Japan and overseas since fiscal 1998.

In developing products, Sharp sets specific objectives according to the GP Standard Sheet, which is formulated based on the GP Guidelines; and in the trial manufacture and mass production stages, it determines how well the actual product has met these objectives, with those achieving the standards being named GP. Each year, Sharp reviews the objectives contained in the GP Standard Sheet, and although they have been made progressively more challenging, all new products since fiscal 1998 have met the assessment criteria necessary to be designated as GP. Sharp will continue working to develop products with even higher environmental performance.

Among Green Products, Sharp has been certifying those that offer a particularly high level of environmental performance as Advanced Green Products (AGP), and further, among these AGP, certifying those with the highest possible levels of environmental performance as Super Green Products (SGP). (In Japan, products that meet the criteria for AGP certification bear Sharp’s proprietary Green Seal label.)

SGP and AGP certifications apply to products worldwide, but Sharp incorporates certification criteria set by region based on the needs of customers and on official systems introduced in each region to not only deliver high environmental performance, but also to create SGPs and AGPs tailored to specific regions.

In Japan, where interest in energy-efficient products is especially high, Sharp has revised the evaluation criteria for energy efficiency to be even more stringent.

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