As more firms shift to renewables to power their operations, electronics and ceramics components maker Ibiden Co., based in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture, is drawing international attention as a forerunner in clean energy use.
"Ibiden is the first company in Japan to pledge it will power all of its Apple manufacturing with 100 percent renewable energy," client Apple Inc. said in a statement in March last year.
Apple's announcement suddenly put the century-old firm in the spotlight. Many global companies have started asking their manufacturing partners to transition to cleaner energy sources amid an increasingly pressing need to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide — a key contributor to global warming.