Sustainability
Initiatives for Environment and Safety
The Central Glass Group is working for the realization of a prosperous society by considering the global environment, people's health and safety, and the environment through our Responsible Care activities.
Environment and Safety Management
The Central Glass Group has established the Guidelines for Environment, Safety, and Health based on the Corporate Philosophy and Code of Conduct. While not only appropriately complying with the law, we also promote management considering the environment and safety with the aim of carrying out corporate activities at a higher standard, meeting social demands, and creating a safe and comfortable working environment.
Guidelines for Environment, Safety, and Health
The Central Glass Group, as part of the Responsible Care Initiative, shall ensure environment, safety, and health compliance in all processes from development to manufacturing, logistics, use, final consumption, recycling, and disposal with the sincere cooperation of each and every employee. The Group shall announce the achievements and engage in dialogue and communication with society
| Management system | Compliance | Accurately understand and comply with the details of laws and regulations. |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous improvements | Engage in activities based on rules such as regulations and standards and strive for continuous improvement. | |
| Prevention and risk treatment | Try to prevent problems from occurring and, if a problem should occur, make efforts to prevent a recurrence by analyzing the root cause appropriately. | |
| Confirm the conformity, validity, and efficacy of each requirement through regular audits and investigations and take appropriate action if necessary. | ||
| Environmental protection | Understand the influence that activities related to all processes from development to manufacturing, logistics, use, final consumption, recycling, and disposal have on the environment and promote the reduction of their environmental impact. | |
| Process Safety and disaster prevention | Secure a working environment that enables employees to work safely and ensure the safety and security of the local community by making efforts to prevent accidents and disasters such as fire, explosions, and chemical spills. | |
| Occupational health and safety | Endeavor to eliminate potential dangers in the working environment and promote activities that lead to the support and maintenance of mental and physical health, in addition to promoting activities to protect one’s own life, body, and health. | |
| Distribution safety | Comprehensively promote safe logistics to protect safety of employees, forwarding agents, pickup and delivery service providers, and the environment by managing the means of transportation, transportation status, and safety information, and making efforts to broadly communicate measures in the event of an accident. | |
| Chemical substance management | Protect the safety of all operators, including our customers and the environment, by understanding the danger and toxicity of chemical substances and managing and handling them properly. | |
| Communication | Announce the details of our activities and achievements and actively engage in dialogue with all stakeholders. | |
Environment and Safety Management Promotion System
The Central Glass Group has established the Environment Safety Promotion Committee, and the Environment and Safety Department acting as its secretariat is promoting Group-wide environment and safety efforts. The head office, research centers, plants and affiliate companies incorporate items unique to each business site into a specific activity plan and engage in environment and safety initiatives.
Promotion of Environmental Protection
Material Balance of the Central Glass Group
The Central Glass Group continues its efforts to reduce the environmental impact of production activities by carefully monitoring the amount of energy and resources used in our production activities as well as the environmental impact they generate. These efforts primarily focus on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (hereinafter referred to as GHG) and discharge of environmentally hazardous substances into the air and water, as well as on recycling waste and reducing the final disposed amount. We will continue to monitor our resource consumption and amount of waste to further control generation, emissions and discharge of GHG, environmentally hazardous substances, and waste, as well as promote cyclic use to build a recycling-oriented society.
Reduction of GHG Emissions
Medium- and Long-Term Targets
Reduce total Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions for the entire Group by 40% from the FY2013 level by FY2030
Challenge to realize net-zero GHG emissions in 2050
GHG (Scope 1 and Scope 2) Emissions Result
In FY2022, we withdrew from the automotive glass businesses in United States and Europe and suspended the operation of some of the domestic glass furnaces, which led to the reduction to 332 thousand tons-CO2 (58% reduction from the previous fiscal year). We are planning to evaluate the feasibility of the 2030 targets after implementing a structural adjustment calculation of the amount of emission from the businesses that have already been sold.
We have included our policy to constantly reduce GHG emissions intensity in our Company’s materiality (priority issues), and achieved a reduction to 2.0t-CO2/million yen (47% reduction from the previous fiscal year) in FY2022.
We will continue to work on the reduction of GHG emissions and environmental impact throughout the Central Glass Group, including both at domestic and overseas affiliates in order to prevent global warming.
Reduction of Water Use
In the Central Glass Group, water use decreased in FY2022 due to the non-operation and periodic repairs of the flat glass manufacturing lines, which led to a year-on-year decrease in water intake intensity per sales.In FY2023, we are expecting to see a short-term increase in water intake due to an expected increase in water use following the reactivation of the flat glass manufacturing lines that underwent periodic repair; we will aim to decrease water intake intensity per sales in the medium to long term by proactively promoting the efficient use of water.
Reduction of the Final Disposed Amount of Industrial Waste
The Central Glass Group strives to reduce industrial waste.
In FY2022, the final disposed amount of industrial waste from our Company increased due to implementing the prior disposition of sludge. The final disposed amount of industrial waste from the domestic and overseas affiliates decreased; however, the one from our Group was 15,600 tons (23% increased from the previous fiscal year).
We will continue to work toward the reduction of final disposal amount through the promotion of emission reduction and recycling by reducing industrial waste generation and the use of plastics, as well as by implementing thorough sorting of waste.
Promotion of Industrial Health and Safety, and Security and Disaster Prevention
Promotion of Industrial Health and Safety
With the aim of ensuring the safety of workplaces, our Group has formulated the Safety and Health Management Policy, and conducts occupational health and safety activities at each business site in Japan and overseas.
In FY2022, our Company and domestic affiliates and business partners suffered a total of 27 occupational accidents, of which 6 cases were accidents that require time off from work and 21 cases were accidents not accompanied by lost worktime, with year-on-year decrease of 7 and 5 cases, respectively.
Our employees throughout the Group will continue to carry out activities to prevent work-related accidents and work on the promotion of industrial health and safety.
*Lost time injury frequency rate: (number of deaths or injuries resulting in lost work hours/total working hours) x 1,000,000
For the rate of lost time injuries in the manufacturing industry, we referred to the results of the 2022 Industrial Accident Trend Survey by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
Promotion of Security and Disaster Prevention
Our Group has been working on the development of disaster prevention and security systems with the aim of reducing to zero the number of accidents including fire and explosion accidents, chemical spills, etc. However, we have seen an increase in the number of forklift-related accidents involving property damage in the last few years.
In FY2022, we strove to prevent such accidents by making opportunities for discussions on causes and countermeasures based on these accident cases, and continuing to implement skill training courses of forklift operation offered by a forklift manufacturer, while intensifying hands on training involving partner companies.
We will continue to make every effort to ensure not only safe working environments for our employees but also safe and secure local communities.
Addressing Climate Change Issues
1. Basic Approach
Climate change is one of the key issues to be addressed on a global scale in order to realize a sustainable society. Central Glass is working to contribute to the environment by providing environmentally friendly products and to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through energy conservation and fuel conversion, as well as promoting research and development for the recovery and utilization of GHG.
In response to the recommendations of the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures), as an enterprise, we seriously address the issue of climate change, promote efforts to address it, and strive to proactively disclose such information.
2. GHG Emissions Trends
GHG emissions (Scope 1 and 2) Non-consolidated + Consolidated subsidiaries
GHG emissions (Scope 1 and 2 breakdown)
(10,000 t-CO2)
| 2013 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scope1 | 72.3 | 49.3 | 48.5 | 44.7 | 44.2 | 21.4 |
| Scope2 | 24.4 | 45.7 | 41.0 | 35.7 | 35.0 | 11.8 |
| Total | 96.7 | 95.0 | 89.5 | 80.4 | 79.2 | 33.2 |
3. Disclosure based on TCFD recommendations
Governance
The Group's efforts to address environmental challenges and social issues, including climate change, are deliberated and resolved by the Management Committee, which is the decision-making body for business execution. We have established a Sustainability Committee for the purpose of analyzing and evaluating the status of efforts to address each issue across the organization. As appropriate, the Committee deliberates on individual policies and measures and reports and makes proposals to the Board of Directors on the results of these deliberations. The Board of Directors deliberates and supervises Central Glass's response to and progress in addressing environmental issues, etc., in response to discussions and recommendations made by the Management Committee and the Sustainability Committee.
Strategy
We have assumed the following impacts on our business from risks and opportunities related to climate change.
We will continue to analyze scenarios to assess the impact of climate change risk on our businesses.
| Risks | Opportunities | |
|---|---|---|
| Policy & Regulations | Rising costs of energy and raw materials due to introduction of carbon tax and stricter CO2 emission reduction targets | Basic unit improvements (cost reductions) by promoting the introduction of energy-saving technologies |
| Technologies | Recovery of technology development costs to address decarbonization technologies | Enhanced revenue opportunities through the development and sale of products that contribute to decarbonization (low GWP products, products that contribute to energy conservation, etc.) |
| Markets | Detecting consumer behavior and needs, and responding in a timely manner | |
| Reputation | Market valuation through lack of promotion of decarbonization initiatives, etc. | Improved market evaluation by promoting energy-saving technologies and products that contribute to decarbonization |
Introduction of internal carbon pricing system
The Central Glass Group introduced the Internal Carbon Pricing (ICP) program in June 2023 as part of our efforts to achieve our GHG emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2) reduction targets. This system uses an internal carbon price to visualize carbon costs and utilize them in capital investment decision making. The Central Glass Group will continue to promote investment in emission reductions to meet the growing demand for GHG emission reductions.
Reference: Internal carbon price (at the time of introduction): 10,000 yen/t-CO2
Risk management
With regard to risks related to business operations, each business unit identifies risks, evaluates their impact, and reports them to management as appropriate. The Sustainability Committee also shares business risks, opportunities, and countermeasures due to climate change and other factors across the organization, analyzes and evaluates them, and reports and makes proposals to the Board of Directors as necessary. In particular, for GHG emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2), we began operating a mid- to long-term GHG Emissions Reduction Target Management Scheme from FY2023 to achieve the 2030 target and the 2050 target of zero net GHG emissions. This scheme estimates future emissions, evaluates the possibility of achieving the targets, formulates an action plan to reduce emissions, and revises the plan as necessary. It is positioned as an important process in the Group's GHG emissions reduction activities.
Indicators and Targets
- We aim to reduce GHG emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2) of the entire Group, including overseas, by 40% in FY2030, compared to the FY 2013 level.
- Aiming for zero net GHG emissions by 2050.
External Evaluation
CDP Climate Change and Water Security
In the 2023 survey conducted by CDP, Central Glass Co., Ltd. received a B- (B-minus) rating in both the areas of climate change and water security.