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September  6, 2001
Olympus Publishes 2001 Environmental Report
Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (President: Tsuyoshi Kikukawa) is pleased to announce the publication of its "Olympus Environmental Report 2001," which summarizes the Group's environmental activities during fiscal 2001 (April 2000 to March 2001).
The Report provides a general overview of the environmental protection activities undertaken by the Olympus Group during fiscal 2001, and includes both quantitative environmental load data and an environmental accounting information for main 13 development and production facilities in Japan. Olympus has made every effort to comply with the GRI* guidelines and the Ministry of the Environment's "Environment Reporting Guidelines" (Fiscal Year 2000 Version) in the organization and content of the report.

Among the highlights in this year's Olympus Environmental Report are: 1) improvements made for a wide range of products including cameras, microscopes and magneto-optical disk drives based on the environmental assessment results; 2) efforts to reduce environmental load on the distribution side by integrating distribution bases and transportation routes; 3) progress in efforts to fully eliminate the use of chlorinated solvents as part of hazardous chemical reduction program; and 4) reinforcement of the environment management systems at overseas subsidiaries by encouraging them to obtain ISO 14001 certification.

The Environmental Report is available in its entirety on the Olympus web site. Olympus plans to publish regular environment reports next year and beyond as part of its efforts to enhance communication with customers, shareholders and other interested parties.

Olympus views environmental protection as one of its most important managerial challenges. It has concrete plans and organizations in place both on a company-wide level and at individual operational facilities to achieve this goal. Its efforts focus on energy saving, resource conservation, waste reduction and hazardous substance control in both manufacturing activities and products. The company sets high environmental targets in all of these areas. A total of 13 facilities, including virtually all of the domestic development and production facilities and two overseas affiliates, have achieved ISO 14001 certification. The domestic and overseas Olympus Group companies will continue to move forward with ISO 14001 certification for their head office divisions, sales and service and other manufacturing areas that have yet to obtain certification. The Group will also take steps to reinforce its integrated environmental management systems and to expand and improve the performance its environmental protection activities.
* GRI: Global Reporting Initiative. An organization founded in 1997 to formulate a set of guidelines that is applicable around the world. The mission is to elevate the comparability and credibility of sustainability reporting practices worldwide.
*Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. was changed to OLYMPUS CORPORATION as of October 1, 2003.
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