Based on its material CSR issues (materiality), the Nabtesco Group has been promoting Group-wide efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to enforce energy-saving activities as part of its measures against climate change. We have not only introduced environment-related incentive systems such as the energy conservation activity commendation program, energy-saving product certification system, and environmental contribution achievement ranks but also strive to steadily reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the implementation of NEMS and by quantitatively monitoring the status and effects of Group-wide efforts.
In November 2016, the Paris Agreement*1, an international framework for countermeasures against climate change beyond 2020, came into effect and the 2 degrees Celsius target*2 was adopted as an international target. In response, the Nabtesco Group set a long-term target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which has been approved by the SBT (Science Based Targets)*3 Initiative.
The Nabtesco Group also advocates the measures taken by the CDP*4of the United Kingdom to mitigate the impact of climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In FY2010, we began to disclose the Nabtesco Group’s climate change strategies and greenhouse gas emissions to the CDP to enhance the transparency of our own efforts. Nabtesco Corporation was selected for inclusion in the Climate A List, the highest CDP rating, from FY2016 to FY2018 and was selected as one of the CDP's Supplier Engagement leaders in FY2018. In addition, we announced our support for the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)*5, reported this to the Financial Stability Board (FSB)*6, and begun efforts to uphold this declaration. Going forward, along with the progress of our efforts, we will disclose climate change related information in accordance with the TCFD.
Nabtesco Corporation's Board of Directors determines and supervises our strategies, basic policies, and the execution of important operations by sharing information through reports on important issues. Regarding climate change, a director in charge of environmental security reports on the progress toward the CO2 emission reduction goal and the status of major environmental facility investments.
Under the guidance and supervision by the Board of Directors, the President and CEO (hereinafter, "CEO") establishes Nabtesco Group's environmental philosophy, environmental action guidelines, and long-term goals. At the Board of Executive Officers (composed of the CEO and executive officers), the director in charge of environmental security reports the status of CO2 emissions at our companies and main group companies. If there is a gap between the current status and the goal, we identify the causes and take measures accordingly. If any item under discussion or report is deemed to affect our business, the CEO determines appropriate measures and reflects them in our business strategies.
As a promoting organization under the direct control of the CEO that is involved in Environment, Safety, and Health (ESH) management, Nabtesco has established the Group ESH Committee with jurisdiction over the entire Nabtesco Group. The CEO appoints the chairperson and members of the Group ESH Committee from our officers, including members of the Board of Directors. The chairperson of the Group ESH Committee collects important information on the environment, safety, and health, including climate change-related risks and opportunities, from our companies and group companies. The chairperson also visits each site to carry out ESH audits and company-wide energy conservation meetings, etc. The Group ESH Committee uses the results of this monitoring to evaluate importance and deliberate measures for any issues deemed to be important.
When the result of the audits by the Group ESH Committee shows that any issues (risks or opportunities) associated with climate change have an important effect on our business, they are reflected to our business strategies by the determination of the CEO.
In the future, the following risks are anticipated depending on requests from the market or customers: increase of carbon prices, increase of operating costs due to the purchase of electricity from renewable sources, increase of capital expenditures for the introduction of power generation equipment, etc. using renewable resources and the increase of R&D costs for energy-saving product development. There are also physical risks such as business interruption due to damaged infrastructure or unstable electric power supply caused by wind or water disaster.
On the other hand, the following opportunities are also expected: new business opportunities from the establishment of new laws and regulations (e.g. the energy-efficiency labeling system becoming obligatory) and the expansion of opportunities for the Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul (MRO) business, etc. due to a change in consumers' preferences for longer product lives to reduce CO2 emissions as their awareness of climate change increases.
Going forward, Nabtesco Corporation will continue to strive to identify risks and opportunities associated with the environment and make efforts to take measures to address the risks and realize the opportunities, including the further promotion of energy conservation activities.
The Group ESH Committee collects important information related to risks and opportunities associated with climate change from the companies and group companies and evaluates whether or not they have a significant impact on our business activities and discusses measures for issues that are determined to be important. They evaluate and prioritize possible amount of financial impact and probability or feasibility. The Group ESH Committee draws up and discusses the measures to address highly probable risks on a preferential basis, regardless of their impact. In addition to climate change, the Group ESH Committee evaluates waste, chemical substances, and employees' safety and health.
In FY2016, the Nabtesco Group set long-term greenhouse gas emissions targets for FY2050. Specifically, we aim to reduce (1) CO2 emissions by our Group companies in Japan and (2) CO2 emissions relative to sales (per unit of sales) from global production activities including emissions from our overseas sites, by 30% by FY2030 and by 80% by FY2050 compared to FY2015 levels. Moreover, the long-term target for the reduction of CO2 emissions from Nabtesco Corporation, which is included in (1) above, has been approved by the SBT Initiative.
We have also set medium-term targets for FY2020. Specifically, we aim to reduce our domestic CO2 emissions to a level below that of FY2015 and to lower our emissions per unit of global sales by 9% or more, in light of the anticipated increase in production volume and reinforcement of plants and equipment in line with the expected future growth of our operations.
CO2 emissions target | FY2015 (base year) |
FY2020 | FY2030 (30% reduction) |
FY2050 (80% reduction) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Total CO2 emissions in Japan(t-CO2) | 46,100 | 46,100 | 32,270 | 9,220 |
Global CO2 emissions per unit of sales | 0.239 | 0.217 | 0.167 | 0.048 |
In addition, we have begun to expand activities from our company alone to our suppliers as well. Of the greenhouse gas emissions from the entire supply chain, the percentage of emissions from purchased goods and services (category 1 of Scope 3 emissions) is high, making it essential for our suppliers to take initiatives to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. In response, we begun a survey of our main suppliers (the top suppliers constituting 70% of annual purchases) to see if they have set voluntary targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. As of FY2019, 69.9% of our main suppliers have set voluntary targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and begun to take initiatives to achieve these targets. We will provide support so that all of our main suppliers set voluntary reduction targets by 2025.
Scope 3 Emissions
Thanks to energy-saving activities and the introduction of solar power systems, the Nabtesco Group achieved a significant reduction in domestic CO2 emissions in FY2019. Although the target for the internal management indicator was not achieved, the intermediate target for FY2020 for the actual emissions indicator was achieved one year ahead of schedule.
In FY2019, as an energy-saving activity, we renovated processing facilities using inverters and replaced air conditioning and lighting equipment with high-efficiency equipment.
Our reduction of global emissions per unit of sales from both domestic and overseas sites exceeded the target by 6%, achieving the intermediate target for FY2020 one year ahead of schedule.
The Nabtesco Group has been engaging in energy-saving activities by improving the efficiency of production and air conditioning facilities and by making use of energy monitoring systems, with the aim of achieving our long-term targets. Although our production capacity is expected to continue to expand in line with operational growth in the future, it is a prerequisite that new plants to be established in Japan and overseas cut their energy consumption by 40% or more relative to that of existing plants. It is our plan to leverage energy-saving technologies to be developed at these new plants for use at our existing plants, thus achieving the reduction of CO2 emissions across the Group.
Item | FY2019 Targets | FY2019 Results | Performance | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Total CO2 emissions [In Japan]*1 *2 *3 *4 |
49,154 | 51,382 | 5% above target | Not Achieved |
Per unit of sales [Global] *1 *3 *5 *6 |
0.223 | 0.209 | -6% | Achieved |
The Nabtesco Group began to calculate greenhouse gas emissions from the entire supply chain in FY2013 with a view to identifying and effectively reducing the environmental impact of our business activities as a whole. The following table shows the calculation results of past three years.
Classification | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 |
---|---|---|---|
Direct emissions (Scope 1)*7 *8 | 8,686 | 8,781 | 6,599 |
Indirect emissions through the use of electricity and others (Scope 2)*7 *8 | 61,538 | 61,395 | 53,874 |
Emissions from the supply chain (Scope 3)*9 | 871,463 | 979,097 | 940,976 |
The following table shows the breakdown of our Scope 3 CO2 emissions. Of our Scope 3 CO2 emissions, “Purchased goods and services” (category 1) accounts for the largest percentage of 72.2%, followed by “Upstream transportation and distribution” (category 4) at 20.8%.
At the Nabtesco Group, we will continue to identify and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our entire supply chain.
In order to ensure the reliability of the calculation results, we had them verified by a third party, Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Limited.
Category | Emissions (t-CO2) | Rate (%) | Remarks | |
---|---|---|---|---|
FY2019 | ||||
1 | Purchased goods and services | 679,177 | 72.2% | |
2 | Capital goods | 34,655 | 3.7% | |
3 | Fuel- and energy-related activities | 3,149 | 0.3% | |
4 | Upstream transportation and distribution | 196,021 | 20.8% | |
5 | Waste generated in operations | 1,078 | 0.1% | |
6 | Business travel | 3,507 | 0.4% | |
7 | Employee commuting | 1,540 | 0.2% | |
8 | Upstream leased assets | - | N/A (No corresponding leased assets) | |
9 | Downstream transportation and distribution | - | N/A (Completed products transported on consignment are included in Category 4) | |
10 | Processing of sold products | - | N/A (Nabtesco products are completed products and not processed after being sold) | |
11 | Use of sold products | 20,885 | 2.2% | |
12 | End-of life treatment of sold products | 964 | 0.1% | |
13 | Downstream leased assets | - | N/A (No corresponding leased assets) | |
14 | Franchises | - | N/A (No corresponding franchises) | |
15 | Investments | - | N/A (No corresponding investments) | |
Total | 940,976 | 100.0% |
The Scope 3 calculations for FY2019 were made by the following method and for the following period and scope.
The Nabtesco Group strives to reduce its energy consumption. We are continuously working to conserve energy and replace existing equipment with energy-saving alternatives. We have also installed electricity meters in our energy-heavy production facilities to monitor excessive use of electricity and standby power, repair equipment, and improve operational methods.
We have also visualized our energy consumption by introducing a monitoring system, which permits us to monitor our energy consumption on a real-time basis.
To raise awareness of energy conservation, we established the energy conservation activity commendation program in September 2012. In FY2019, the Railroad Products Company, Nabtesco Automotive Corporation, Toyo Jidoki Co., Ltd., and TS Precision Co., Ltd. received awards in this commendation program.
The Nabtesco Group is promoting the use of renewable energy equipment at its facilities. First introduced to the Tarui Plant (Gifu Prefecture) in 2012, solar power generation facilities began operating at the Tsu Plant (Mie Prefecture) and the Kobe Plant (Hyogo Prefecture) in 2016, at the Gifu Plant (Gifu Prefecture) and a precision reduction gear plant of a Group company in China in 2017, at Toyo Jidoki Co., Ltd. (Yamaguchi Prefecture) and Nabtesco Service Co., ltd. (Kanagawa Prefecture) in 2018, and in 2019, a second system was introduced at both the Tsu Plant (Mie Prefecture) and the Gifu Plant (Gifu Prefecture).
The Nabtesco Group will continue its proactive measures to promote the use of renewable energy in the future.
This certification system was established to foster the design and the development of energy-saving products in order to promote environmental protection and the development of a sustainable society. Through this system we are contributing to the mitigation of global warming while increasing the environmental awareness of our employees.
For products that have obtained the certification, we issue certificates, approve the use of the certification mark and make announcements about the certification in our in-house magazine. For energy-saving product certifications, we internally evaluate products to be released on the market to see whether they meet more than one certification criteria and exceed existing levels in non-requisite criteria items.
In FY2019, we certified the following product manufactured by the Accessibility Innovation Company. The Company’s NATRUS+e reduces doors’ unnecessary opening and closing time by 70% compared to the previous automatic door product, helping keep indoor temperatures stable and thus contribute to the saving of energy. The Nabtesco Group will continue to make its best efforts to contribute to solving climate change by further developing its motion control technology for moving precisely and stopping objects.
Downsizing and weight reduction |
Higher efficiency and less energy use |
|
---|---|---|
By 15% or more compared with previous models |
By 15% or more compared with previous models |
Longer life | Non-use of hazardous substances |
|
---|---|---|
By 20% or longer compared with previous models |
Not contained |
Product name | Evaluation criteria | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Downsizing and weight reduction |
Higher efficiency and less energy loss | Longer life | Non-use of hazardous substances |
|
NATRUS+e | Same as before | 70% reduction of the unnecessary opening and closing time of the door | Same as before | Not contained |
Our products, which are used in a range of fields, have an impact on the environment throughout their life cycle. We quantifiably grasp the whole picture over each phase of the product’s life cycle and take environmentally friendly measures, as a part of our regular initiatives to reduce environmental burden. As part of theses initiative, we present the results of the LCA.*
In order to identify sources and improvements that can be made regarding the environmental burdens of our products and systems, we have assessed the impact (CO2 emissions, fossil fuel usage) on global warming from procurement to disposal and recycling for our major products (in Nabtesco Corporation). Please note that the amount of waste disposal of raw materials and toxic substances in products are extremely small, and we consume very little water in the procurement, manufacturing, transportation, and use phases. The emissions of air pollutants other than CO2 are very small compared with CO2 emissions, so that they are not included as a subject of the LCA assessment. Consequently, we have determined that only the LCAs of CO2 and fossil fuels will suffice for the full LCA. Results of the LCA are greatly utilized during the design of existing and new products.
Purpose | Identification of sources and improvements that can be made regarding the environmental burdens of products and systems |
---|---|
Product scope | Major products (in Nabtesco Corporation) |
Assessment method | Assessing environmental issues, i.e., the impact on global warming(CO2 emissions) |
Usage of assessment results | Utilized in the design of future products |
System scope | From Domestic procurement to disposal and recycling |
Taking these results into consideration, our products recognize the important orientation of our company toward environmentally friendly designs as follows.
Company | Product category | CO2 emission risks in phases |
Result (product development orientation) |
|||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Raw Materials | Manufa-cturing | Use | Dis- posal |
|||
Precision Machinery Company |
|
High | Low | - | Low | Weight reduction, rigidity improvement, MRO |
Power Control Company |
|
High | Low | - | Low | Weight reduction, MRO |
Aerospace Company |
|
Middle | Low | - | Low | Weight reduction, MRO |
Railway Company |
|
Middle | Low | - | Low | Weight reduction, MRO |
Marine Company |
|
Middle | Low | - | Low | Weight reduction, MRO |
Living Environment Company |
|
Low | Low | High | Low | Energy saving, in design and opening and losing |
The Precision Equipment and Power Control Companies are concerned about weight reduction and MRO in the design of their products because their products emit larger amounts of CO2 in the raw materials phase. The Accessibility Innovation Company designs its products to save energy during their opening and closing because its products emit larger amounts of CO2 in the use phase.
The Nabtesco Group collects important information about the environment, safety, accident prevention, health, and others, including climate change-related risks and opportunities, assesses the materiality of related issues, and discusses measures to implement for those that are deemed to be important.
In FY2019, to diminish the risks of climate change, we implemented some measures, for example we replaced air conditioning facilities with the models that are expected to increase energy efficiency as the rising average temperature accelerates their use, and moved forward with measures to prevent the leakage of rainwater and drainage problems. The expenses for these activities were approximately 175 million yen.
Furthermore, in FY2018 we spent about 9.9 billion yen on R&D related to climate change measures, development of green products, and other initiatives.
The Nabtesco Group owns motion control technologies, which are used to control movements of a variety of equipment, including precision reduction gears for industrial robots, travel unit for excavators, aircraft flight control actuation systems, brake operating units and door operators for railroad vehicle, engine control systems for marine vessels, and automatic doors for buildings and other structures. Based on these technologies, we will pursue higher energy efficiency in a range of business fields and thereby contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions generated through use of the above equipment by our customers.
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