Environmental Reporting

We believe that the Kuraray Group’s mission as a material and intermediate material manufacturer is as follows:

• Contributing to society by providing the materials and intermediate materials needed to create a low carbon society and an eco-friendly society; and
• Producing these items with as low an environmental impact as possible.

Based on this mindset, we consistently work through global manufacturing to implement environmental improvement activities, such as promoting measures against global warming, reducing chemical substance emissions, and ensuring the beneficial use of resources.

Environmental Targets and Results

☆☆☆: Largely achieved,
☆☆: Achieved,
☆: Need to be improved

• *1）FY2021 targets were set as single-year targets.
• *2) Greenhouse Gas
• *3) Almost all electric power and steam is purchased from external sources at the Kuraray Group outside Japan. Because the source of supply has a large effect on GHG emissions (changes in emission factor), energy consumption is evaluated without incorporating the impact of the supply source in order to properly evaluate the activities of the Kuraray Group outside Japan.

■Environmental Conservation Promotion System

To undertake company-wide environmental conservation activities, the Kuraray Group has established the Environmental Conservation Working Team (WT) and Global Warming WT within the CSR Committee, promoting measures against global warming, managing chemical substance emissions and ensuring the beneficial use of wastes and water resource.

■Kuraray Group Environmental Basic Policy

The Kuraray Group has established the Kuraray Group Environmental Basic Policy, and is engaged in activities for environmental preservation. Furthermore, continuous improvements in its environmental activities are made by implementing a Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle and improving it in the plants, group companies and head office in accordance with Kuraray Environmental Activity Management Rules. The Kuraray Group’s plants and affiliates have acquired ISO 14001 (Environmental Management Systems) certificates and are continuing to operate.

■Environmental Impact Management

In fiscal 2019, no leak accidents of chemical substances and wastes that cause severe damage to the environment were reported. The statutory effluent standard of drainage to public waters is strictly observed by the Kuraray Group in Japan, and there was no incident causing significant impact on public waters including rivers, underground waters and marine waters. The transportation of hazardous wastes, which includes transportation of waste containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to outside disposal companies, is handled appropriately in accordance with the Act on Special Measures concerning Promotion of Proper Treatment of PCB Wastes (Act on Special Measures Against PCB Waste).

■Carrying Out the Medium-term Environmental Plan

The Kuraray Group has been engaged in a three-year Medium-term Environmental Plan that started in 2018, for which a Production Intensity Index* is used to directly reflect the results of environmental improvement efforts at production sites.

As the Medium-term Environmental Plan was scheduled to complete in 2020, we are originally supposed to formulate the new plan, and the new plan should have been started from 2021. However, as the outlook of the global economy and the business environment became uncertain due to the spread of COVID-19, we changed the initial year of the next Medium-term Environmental Plan to fiscal 2022, in accordance with the change of the initial year of the Medium-Term Management Plan to fiscal 2022.

In fiscal 2021, we set environmental targets for a single fiscal year, which take over the policy of the former Medium-term Environmental Plan until fiscal 2020. Specific numerical targets are presented in “Environmental target and performance.”

With regard to global warming prevention, the Paris Agreement, an international framework on climate change, will enter the implementation phase in 2020. In Japan, a long-term national strategy has been formulated based on the Paris Agreement with a view to realizing a “carbon-free society” with milestones in 2030 and 2050.

Progress has also been seen in discussions and activities within the production industry on marine plastic pollution and other global environmental problems. As a materials manufacturer, we have joined the Japan Initiative for Marine Environment (JaIME), and participates in discussions and exchanges of information on its activities. In light of these changes in the external environment, the Kuraray Group will steadily strive to improve the environment by thoroughly implementing the PDCA cycle for environmental improvement activities. The targets are shown in the table “Environmental Targets and Results.”

* Production Intensity Index = Converted
Production Volume/Environmental Load
Converted production volume: Production volume converted from the production volume of each product as the production volume of the reference product using a conversion factor determined based on the environmental load intensity of each product in the reference year.
Environmental Load: GHG Emissions Volume (Japan), Energy Consumption Volume (outside Japan), etc.
Converted production volume per environmental load unit. Figures are an index based on fiscal 2016 as 100. In order to reflect the results of GHG emissions reduction efforts, Kuraray newly introduced an “Intensity Index” of converted production volume to evaluate “how efficiently the company conducted production activities.” While reviewing the conversion coefficient in accordance with a change in the business environment, it helps reflect on-site environment improvement activities more clearly. Starting from fiscal 2018, Kuraray aims to improve this “Intensity Index” as an environmental objective.

■Material Flow in Business Activities

The Kuraray Group uses energy, chemical substances and water resources required for its business activities. We make quantitative surveys on the used raw materials, resources, products supplied outside the Group and emitted substances every year to help reduce environmental load associated with our business activities.

■Collaboration with industry associations

The Kuraray Group has joined Japan Chemical Fibers Association (board member), Japan Chemical Industry Association (member), and Japan Petrochemical Industry Association (member) to enhance our environmental management efforts, and engages in a broad range of activities, such as reduction of GHG emissions, energy conservation, reduction of chemical substance emissions, and prevention of marine plastic pollution, in cooperation with the industry in order to address global environmental issues.