All of our domestic business sites have switched their purchased electricity to electricity derived from renewable energy sources at all manufacturing and research sites, which is significantly reducing CO₂ emissions from fiscal 2022 onward.

We are also encouraging our overseas business sites to switch to electricity derived from renewable energy sources, and in fiscal 2023 some sites in parts of the China and Southeast Asia region made the switch.

With efforts to actively install solar power generation also playing a role, both energy usage per production amount value and CO₂ emissions per production amount value were on a reduction trend during fiscal 2023.

We will continue with our plans to utilize renewable energy sources during fiscal 2024 and beyond, with the view to further reducing CO₂ emissions.

At our domestic business sites, we have switched from purchased electricity to electricity derived from renewable energy sources at all major business sites. We are also encouraging our overseas business sites to make the switch, and are actively installing solar power generation. As a result, our global CO₂ emissions reduced by the use of renewable energy sources came to 32% of the total in fiscal 2023.

We have focused on fuel conversion from petroleum-based fuels to natural gas from an early stage.

Natural gas reduces SOx and NOx emissions as well as CO₂ emissions by about 30%, compared to petroleum-based fuels.

In domestic business sites, we began switching over from around 2005. And in 2009, most of our plants directly operating under Sumitomo Bakelite’s management had been converted to natural gas (city gas). Even subsidiaries that were slow converting due to certain infrastructure issues are now moving ahead with initiatives for gas conversion.

Overseas, business sites in North America and Europe were early in converting to natural gas, but sites in China and other Asian regions have also been gradually converting to natural gas, and by 2023, most business sites had completed the fuel conversion.

Currently, natural gas and other energy sources account for around 87% of the fuel used by the entire Sumitomo Bakelite Group, but we are aiming to achieve 90% or more by 2027 by moving ahead with conversion at our domestic subsidiaries.

The targets for 2020 agreed on at the WSSD call for the worldwide and comprehensive management of chemical substances throughout the product life cycle, from development to manufacturing, use, and disposal in order to minimize the significant adverse effects on human health and the environment caused by the manufacture and use of chemical substances. Since then, the laws and regulations in each country have become stricter, and our Group is taking action to comply with laws and regulations.

Aiming to achieve the SDGs in 2030, the government of each country is taking action proactively. The Group (each of our plants and research institutes worldwide) is working on the SDGs through the management of chemical substances carried out as part of our Responsible Care activities.

In terms of its management of chemical substances, the Group has a system in place for studying and reviewing chemical substance-related laws and regulations in Japan and throughout the world from the product development phase onward. We manage the chemical substances contained in products in order to comply with the laws of the countries where we operate and to minimize environmental impacts throughout product life cycles.

We are focusing on promoting the use of SDSs*¹ across the Group not only for disclosing information related to chemical substances under regulatory control in Japan and overseas, but also for disclosing relevant information voluntarily so as to improve the quality of the Group’s information disclosure practices. Particularly for the GHS*² system, we have introduced ExESS*³ and offer SDS and labels that are compliant with the laws and regulations of 46 countries and territories, including Japan, in the official languages of each country. We are revising our SDSs to comply with the addition of substances subject to the Industrial Safety and Health Act from April 2023.

We believe it is important for our Group to adhere to environmental laws and regulations, and conduct business activities that minimize our environmental impact. For waste, we have established rules for on-site verification of waste disposal contractors in accordance with the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act, and we continue to manage and quantify the amount of waste generated based on the issuance of manifests. Based on the above, we promote minimization of material loss and effective utilization (reuse/recycling), and promote activities to reduce material loss, including valuable materials.

We also consider it important to work to reduce the environmental impact of society through our products and services as stated in our Environmental Vision for 2050 (Net Zero) “02. Contribute to reducing CO₂, including along supply chains”: “Develop products that factor in reducing CO₂ throughout their life cycle.” In this context, weight (volume) reduction, longer service life, recycling, and mono-material design are also initiatives by which we reduce waste in the supply chain as well as CO₂ emissions.

Meanwhile, we have been systematically disposing of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) waste in accordance with the Act on Special Measures concerning Promotion of Proper Treatment of PCB Wastes. Disposal of high-concentration PCBs has been carried out systematically in accordance with the capabilities of the Japan Environmental Safety Corporation (JESCO) in each region, with a view to complete disposal during fiscal 2024. Planned disposal of low-concentration PCBs has also been under way since fiscal 2017, and we are moving forward to complete disposal by the legally mandated deadline.

The Group’s business sites in Japan have been promoting a shift of boiler fuel from heavy oil to city gas since fiscal 2004. With the completion of the fuel conversion from heavy oil at the Shizuoka Plant in mid-2019, SOx emissions for the Group as a whole have been further reduced. We were able to greatly decrease emissions of NOx due to a decrease in the nitrogen content of city gas and stabilization of combustion conditions.

Heavy oil is still in use at some business sites in regions where city gas supplies are unavailable, and we are working to optimize the combustion conditions and keep both emissions of SOx and soot and dust down at low levels.

The switch to city gas is also currently being considered to stem the use of heavy oil.

We continuously assess water risks in the regional watersheds where our domestic and overseas group sites are located, and are disclosing information on 17 domestic and 27 overseas sites.

In addition to the results of the WRI* Aqueduct survey, we also conduct our own surveys for water risk assessments that factor in our water consumption. This also adds a water consumption factor based on the scale of each location’s operations, and clarifies the risks by region where our Group operates.

Overseas, there are no sites with high overall water consumption rates, but there is a significant regional increase in water risks in the Southeast Asia and China areas, which will require continued attention. In light of these results, we will undertake more highly effective water resource conservation moving forward.

Our Group carries out risk assessments relating to leakage of chemical substances at all of our business sites, and we promote both the development and implementation of preventive frameworks. At the same time, when contamination caused by past leakage accidents is confirmed, we actively undertake voluntary surveys and institute countermeasures in order to prevent the environmental impact and health damage from spreading.

We did not suffer any severe leakage accidents in fiscal 2024.

When it comes to the problem of marine plastics, we are moving ahead with activities to contribute to reducing plastic marine waste via a number of initiatives based on the Japanese government’s Plastic Resource Recycling Strategy. These initiatives include managing the raw materials used and the plastic products we manufacture, promoting the recycling of said products, and developing new products.

We are currently taking part in the Clean Ocean Material Alliance (CLOMA), which was established by a broad range of business operators related to supply chains for plastic products, including those in the chemical industry and distribution/retail industries, with the goal of forming cross-industry partnerships. Through this, we are working to address a variety of challenges by aiming to curb plastic waste across our supply chain as a whole and promoting recycling via 3R activities for plastic products.

Our Group promotes recycling as a means to make efficient use of resources. This recycling includes the recovery and recycling of phenol from waste liquid produced by phenolic resin reactions during the product production process, fine grinding of offcuts from phenolic laminated sheets and decorative melamine resin decorative laminates for use as a filler in phenolic molding compounds reuse of molded parts by-products (sprues and runners) as raw material for molding materials, as well as reuse of excess sludge from activated sludge effluent treatment equipment as compost (organic fertilizer).

Our Group has been using inedible plant-derived raw materials as renewable raw materials, primarily of phenolic resins (cashew nutshell oil, rosin (pine resin), wood flour, etc.) and molding compounds. They account for about 2.7% of all raw materials used.

In fiscal 2022 we added to our lineup packaging films for food and pharmaceutical products made from renewable biomass materials, and in April 2023 we added eco-friendly phenolic molding compounds using plant-derived lignin.

Details of the “Fluorocarbon Emissions Control Act” that was enacted in April 2015 and further enhanced in April 2020 have been provided to each business site to ensure that they conduct regular quick inspections of the commercial air conditioners and freezer systems under their possession, and regular inspections as required by law for equipment with a rated output of 7.5 kW or higher. Given that there are a large number of air conditioners, particularly for office use, we are also working on strengthening management aspects, such as conducting annual inspections through internal audits to prevent omissions and missing inspections during upgrades.

We are also promoting the switch to refrigerants with zero ozone depletion potential and low global warming potential, with a view to preventing depletion of the ozone layer and curbing global warming.

Existing facilities are regularly inspected on a yearly basis for the amount of leakage in accordance with the “Fluorocarbon Emissions Control Act,” to check that there are no leaks in amounts that are required to be reported.

We were also awarded the highest rank of "A" in the “Third JRECO CFC Control Measure Rating” that assesses efforts to comply with the Fluorocarbon Emissions Control Act run by the Japan Refrigerants and Environmental Conservation Organization, which aims to enlighten and promote compliance with the Act, together with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of the Environment.