Since 2012, Panasonic Corporation has been working on the 100 Thousand Solar Lanterns Project, a project that aims to donate a total of 100 thousand solar lanterns to the world's non-electrified areas by 2018, which is the cenetennial of Panasonic's foundation.
As part of the effort, the company donated a total of 1,584 solar lanterns for the first time to three nonprofit organizations (NGOs) working in the three countries of the Republic of South Africa, Kingdom of Swaziland, and Kingdom of Lesotho.
On the 27th March 2017, a donation ceremony was held at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in South Africa.
The donation ceremony, held by the Nelson Mandela Foundation in South Africa, was attended by government officials from the Republic of South Africa and Shigeyuki Hiroki, Ambassador of Japan in the Republic of South Africa.
At present, approximately 1.2 billion people are living in areas without electricity, which accounts for about 16% of the world population, of which approximately 600 million people are in African countries.
Although many households in these areas without electricity use kerosene lamps for lighting, its smoke poses a health hazard and exposes people to the risk of fire.
By utilizing solar lanterns, children will be able to learn safely and women's groups can engage in activities that create income at night in the community, which will help them
100 Thousand Solar Lanterns Project has achieved over 80,000 donations in total to improve their lives and help a sustainable society.
Moreover, this reduces the economic burden of fuel purchase costs. In order to contribute to resolving these social issues, Panasonic has been promoting corporate social responsibility (corporate citizenship activities) by proactively using the company's core technologies and products, and as part of this, has been implementing the 100 Thousand Solar Lanterns Project.
