Mitsubishi Electric Named Best-of-the-Best
Award Winner by US EPA for Outstanding Contributions to Protecting the Global Environment

Tokyo, September 9, 1997 -- Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Takashi Kitaoka, President) is proud to announce that it will receive the Best-of-the-Best Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) in recognition of its leadership in helping to preserve the Earth's protective ozone layer. The awarding ceremony for the Best-of-the-Best Awards will be held on September 14 in Montreal, Canada, site of the Montreal Protocol agreement signing 10 years ago when the entire world began moving toward protection of the ozone layer.

The EPA presents Stratospheric Ozone Protection Awards every year to individuals and organizations that make distinguished contributions to the protection of the ozone layer. To date, 320 individuals and organizations have received the awards. Mitsubishi Electric won the award in 1994 in recognition of its contributions to activities for a complete production and consumption phase-out of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), trichloro ethane and other ozone depleting substances, and particularly for developing the world's first rotary compressor that uses the refrigerant HFC-134a, a substance with a zero ozone depletion coefficient, as a replacement for CFC-12, and putting it into practical use in freezer-refrigerators.

In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Montreal Protocol agreement, the Best-of-the-Best Awards are presented to individuals and organizations from among the past EPA Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award winners, and whose international achievements and technological innovations in ozone layer protection are particularly distinguished. Mitsubishi Electric will receive the Best-of-the-Best Award for the Corporate Leadership & Environmental Excellence category in recognition of the company's continued efforts in environmental initiatives such as the prevention of global warming after the total ban on designated CFCs in 1995, and for active promotion of external activities concerning the environment worldwide. According to the EPA announcement, 40 individuals, 9 organizations including industrial associations, and 22 corporations and military organizations won Best-of-the-Best Awards.

Mitsubishi Electric, on the occasion of winning this Best-of-the-Best Award, continues to strive for further protection of the global environment.