SustainabilityKyowa Kirin's Effort to Realize a Sustainable Society

Based on the Kyowa Kirin Group Environmental Policy, the Kyowa Kirin Group has made a clear commitment to the environment in the conduct of its business activities. We are working actively to contribute to the sustainability of society by passing on a rich global environment to future generations with the goal of achieving the Kirin Group Environmental Vision 2050.

In addition to practicing CSV management by tackling social issues, the Kyowa Kirin Group has identified material issues (materiality) while also incorporating materiality into its Medium Term Business Plan. Moreover, among these materiality issues, we have especially positioned the SDGs related to “climate change (prevention of global warming)” and “preservation of water resources” as core issues of our environmental activities.

Key matters related to the Group’s environmental management activities are discussed and decided by the Group CSR Committee, which is chaired by the Representative Director Executive Vice President, who also serves as chief executive officer for all environmental matters. Details are reported to the Board of Directors.

Daily environmental management activities are conducted in accordance with the ISO 14001 environmental management system. Effective from January 1, 2019, all domestic production and research sites have switched from third-party accreditation of compliance with ISO 14001 to self-declaration.

Aspiring in Kirin Group Environmental Vision 2050 to work together to create a society that has overcome climate change, the Kirin Group is striving to realize net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from the entire value chain while at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions in conjunction with its stakeholders in a bid to take the lead in building a carbon-free society.

In addition to upholding the global goal of reducing CO₂ emissions for FY2030 (to 20% less than the FY2015 level^*1) in collaboration with its parent company, Kirin Holdings Company, Limited, in accordance with the Science Based Targets (SBT) approach, the Kyowa Kirin Group has set individual per-unit energy consumption targets for each of its production and research sites while implementing measures to raise productivity. In FY2020, per-unit energy consumption declined 2.9% compared with the previous year (global target: 1% reduction year on year).

Meanwhile, Kyowa Kirin was the first pharmaceutical maker in Japan to introduce Aqua Premium^*2, a 100% hydropower electricity supply service that generates zero CO₂ emissions at its Takasaki Plant from January 1, 2020, replacing 75% of the electricity used at the Takasaki Plant with hydroelectric power generation.

Through the introduction of “Aqua Premium,” about 23.4 million kWh of the Kyowa Kirin Group’s annual electricity consumption of about 72.4 million kWh^*3 has been replaced with renewable energy derived from hydropower. As a result, the Kyowa Kirin Group^*3 reduced its annual CO₂ emissions by about 20%, equivalent to about 10,300 t-CO₂.

Kirin Holdings Company, Limited announced its support for the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) before any other company in the food and beverage industry in Japan on behalf of the Kirin Group.

Kirin Holdings has also conducted analyses of different scenarios, evaluated the resilience of business strategies with respect to climate change and published the results. Moreover, the Kyowa Kirin Group is working to disclose information in accordance with the TCFD recommendations. The impact of the transition to a carbon-free society or the progress of climate change on our business varies.

Recognizing that many factors are intricately linked, we are sorting out these relationships, evaluating climate-related risks and opportunities and identifying key drivers (factors with high uncertainty that can have a decisive impact on business performance). In the meantime, we have developed several scenarios for future changes in society due to climate change.

In the future, we will conduct scenario analyses for these key drivers to quantify the business impact of each scenario, examine the response policy for business impact and the resilience of strategies, and disclose these results in sequence.

As part of its activities to preserve ecosystems and ensure biodiversity, Kyowa Kirin has been working to protect water resources through its engagement in the Kirin Group’s water-source preservation project since FY2007. The Takasaki and Ube plants carry out weeding, planting and tree thinning to create forest areas that provide water resources. The Takasaki Plant has entered into a three-party agreement with Gunma Prefecture and Kurabuchi Furusato Public Corporation, under which it engages in Takasaki Water Source Forest Conservation Activities to protect forest areas in Kurabuchi-machi, Takasaki City.

In addition, for the fourth year running, Kirin Holdings Company, Limited has been recognized as the highest Water Security A List company by CDP, an international non-profit organization that provides an environmental data disclosure system. CDP praised the Kirin Group, of which Kyowa Kirin is a member, for its efforts to protect water resources.

Furthermore, to comply with the Act on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity through Regulations on the Use of Living Modified Organisms (Cartagena Act), we have put in place an internal committee to conduct proper management.