Sustainability

Sustainability Top

Environmental Management

Basic approach

Since business activities depend on the earth's resources, countermeasures against environmental issues such as climate change are an essential issue for manufacturing companies. Our group recognized environmental conservation as an important issue from an early stage and has established the "Basic Policy on the Environment" (revised on January 1, 2024) and has been working to reduce our environmental impact. In our group's environmental management system, we position this basic policy as an environmental policy in accordance with ISO 14001, and work to ensure that all employees are fully aware of it.We also set objectives and targets for each and promote initiatives to achieve them. .

Since its founding, the artience Group (hereinafter referred to as the “Group”) has strived to comply with the laws and regulations of the countries and regions in which it operates, and to respect international codes of conduct in the development, manufacture, and provision of chemicals. In particular, we have worked to address the preservation of the global environment and local natural environments, the reduction of environmental impact, and the maintenance and improvement of people’s safety and health through appropriate Chemical Substance Control as serious management issues for the Group as a chemical manufacturing company.
Based on this basic approach, we have established this Basic Policy on (the) Environment (hereinafter referred to as this “Basic Policy”), and fulfill our social responsibilities relating to the environment in all of our business activities and strive to contribute to the improvement of social sustainability.

  1. Scope of application
    This Basic Policy applies to all companies and organizations that make up the Group. In addition, all officers, corporate advisors, employees, contract employees, and part-time employees of the Group, as well as temporary dispatch workers and all other persons engaged in the Group’s business operations (hereinafter referred to collectively as “officers and employees”) are obligated to comply with this Basic Policy. We also ask all suppliers, distributors, and other business partners who form the Group’s supply chain to understand and support this Basic Policy.
  2. Establishment and maintenance of an environment management system
    The Group has established an international-standard environmental management system based on ISO 14001, and will continuously and progressively operate a Group-wide system to identify and assess various environmental risks, avoid risks and reduce their impact when they occur, and achieve medium- to long-term environmental targets.
  3. Development and provision of products and services that contribute to environmental conservation and restoration
    In the development and provision of products and services, the Group aims to reduce environmental impact throughout the entire product / service life cycle, from raw material procurement to production, distribution, use, disposal, and recycling, and works to protect and restore the environment and give consideration to people's health and safety.
  4. Response to climate change
    The Group regards responding to climate change as an important issue, and will continue working to contribute to the realization of a decarbonized society by reducing energy consumption in all business activities throughout the supply chain, reducing emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, actively switching to renewable energy, and achieving carbon neutrality.
  5. Waste management and pollution prevention
    The Group aims to minimize the amount of waste generated by reforming production processes and promoting resource recycling, and works to thoroughly prevent pollution in soil, wastewater, and exhaust gases. In addition, we will take maximum measures against noise, vibration, and odors that are not pollutants but have a negative impact on the living environment.
  6. Sustainable use of resources
    The Group will work to conserve and reduce the use of natural resources such as water, fossil fuels, minerals, and biologically derived materials through product development, formulation design, and production process reforms, and to conserve resources and energy by encouraging the substitution, reuse, and recycling of raw materials.
  7. Management of chemical substances
    The Group will appropriately manage chemical substances in accordance with global and regional laws and regulations relating to chemical substances. We will minimize and prevent the occurrence of chemical substance risks by reducing or substituting highly hazardous raw materials, reducing the amount of chemical substances emitted in production activities, etc., and working to reduce worker exposure at production sites and product usage sites.
  8. Water resource management
    The Group will minimize the environmental impact and impact on ecosystems caused by irrigation, wastewater, and water quality by thoroughly managing water resources relating to its business activities, and work to identify and evaluate water risks that affect business continuity and the sustainability of local communities, and implement appropriate management and countermeasures.
  9. Biodiversity conservation
    The Group will actively engage in the sustainable use of biological resources, the reduction of burdens on soil, water, forests, air, and ecosystems, and biodiversity conservation activities in cooperation with local communities, with the aim of conserving and restoring biodiversity that may be affected by its business activities.
  10. Information transmission and dialogue
    The Group will engage in environmental conservation activities and work to improve people's safety, security, and health by actively distributing information on environmental initiatives in its products, services, and business activities, and communicating with customers, consumers, employees, governments, and local communities.
  11. Enlightenment and education
    The Group will continue to conduct appropriate awareness-raising and educational activities to ensure that its officers and employees are strongly aware of the current state of the global environment and the need for environmental conservation and restoration, and so that the Group as a whole can contribute to the improvement of the sustainability of the global environment.
  12. Revision, abolition and management
    Decisions regarding the revision or abolition of this Basic Policy shall be made by the Board of Directors of artience Co., Ltd.
    The department in charge of the revision and abolition of this Basic Policy shall be the department that oversees the environmental activities of artience Co., Ltd.

Established in June 1996
Revised on January 1, 2024 (Resolved at Board of Directors on December 8, 2023)

Environmental management system

Sustainability Committee and its affiliated ESG Promotion Subcommittee promote climate change response and information disclosure based on the TCFD recommendations. In addition, artience Co., Ltd.'s Production-Logistics Planning Department and ESG Promotion Office are dedicated organizations that supervise and manage the entire group, and work together with related departments to advance initiatives.

Organizations and systems related to environmental management (FY2023/Updated in July 2023)

Organizations and systems related to environmental management (FY2023)

Targets

We believe that efforts from a longer-term perspective are necessary in order to respond to the social situation where demands on companies are becoming more active, such as recent global trends in climate change response, carbon neutrality, and SDGs initiatives. In January 2022, we formulated the sustainability vision "ASV2050/2030" as medium- to long-term goals looking toward 2050.

ASV2050/2030 consists of two parts: "ASV2050", which shows the ideal state with 2050 as the target year, and "ASV2030", which backcasts the 2030 goal as a milestone. Our group aims to achieve "carbon neutrality" in 2050 while strengthening our efforts with environmental goals (SIC-II goals) and the medium- to long-term goals "ASV2050/2030" as indicators of sustainability activities. .

Sustainability vision “asv2050/2030”

asv2050/2030 (2030 target)
Milestones to 2050
Contribution to achieving SDGs
asv2050/2030 (2050 target)
Achieving carbon neutrality
1. Realize a sustainable society
Providing products and services
・Sales ratio of products that contribute to sustainability: 80%
・Expansion of products that can contribute to reducing CO 2 emissions from a life cycle perspective
・All products contribute to sustainability
・Contribute to customers' decarbonization
2. Reducing the environmental impact of manufacturing ・CO 2 emissions: 35% reduction in Japan (compared to FY2020)
35% reduction overseas (compared to FY2030 BAU)
・Waste discharged externally: 50% reduction domestically (compared to 2020)
・Hazardous chemical emissions: 30% reduction in Japan (compared to FY2020)
・CO in production activities 2 Virtually zero emissions and minimize environmental impact
・Minimize waste generation
・Achieve sustainable water use
3. Building a trusted corporate foundation ・Realization of raw material procurement that is in harmony with the environment and society
・Respecting the diversity of employees and coexisting with nature and the local community
・Continuously rebuilding the governance system
・Continuously reform and transform supply chains, human resources, local activities, and governance from the perspective of environmental and social contribution

Environmental target SIC-Ⅱ (FY2021-2023)

Three directions for environmental goals KPIs/goals
1. Reducing the environmental impact of manufacturing CO 2 emissions (domestic) 12% reduction (compared to FY2020)
Chemical emissions (domestic) 10% reduction (compared to FY2020)
External waste emissions (domestic) 19% reduction (compared to FY2020)
Energy intensity (overseas, major production bases) 3% reduction (compared to FY2020)
2. Realize a sustainable society Improving the sales composition ratio of environmentally-friendly products 70% (4 points increase compared to FY2020)
3. Coexistence with nature and the region Promoting biodiversity Promote forest conservation through tree planting, etc., and environmental conservation of local rivers and lakes.

Legal compliance status

In fiscal 2022, there were no environmental accidents requiring emergency response at our group's domestic and overseas business sites. Additionally, there was no administrative guidance related to environmental laws and regulations in Japan. Overseas, when guidance is provided, we respond appropriately and correct deficiencies.