Climate Change

Kyowa Kirin Group recognizes that the impacts of climate change present risks and opportunities for business continuity, and thus regards this as one of our Group’s most important management issues. In answer to the international community’s demands for a transition to a decarbonized society under the Paris Agreement among other appeals, we will be working to reduce CO₂.

The Kyowa Kirin Group's policy on climate change is set forth in the Kyowa Kirin Group Environmental Policy, which specifically calls for striving to save resources and energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to prevent global warming.
In 2020, Kirin Group formulated the Kirin Group Environmental Vision 2050 as a new long-term strategy for strengthening social and corporate resilience. In pursuit of “a society that has overcome climate change” that constitutes the society of 2050 that we want to create together with respect to climate change described in the Kirin Group Environmental Vision 2050, Kirin Group has set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions for the entire value chain to net zero and is working with stakeholders to reduce CO₂ emissions and take the lead in building a decarbonized society. Kirin Group as a whole has set the more specific medium- to long-term goals of reducing its CO₂ emissions to 50% of their 2019 levels by 2030 (Scope 1 and 2), joining RE100, and achieving a 100% reliance on renewable energy for electric power by 2040, and it is developing various measures designed to accomplish these.
Kyowa Kirin Group has also set its own independent goal of reducing CO₂ emissions by 55% from 2019 levels by 2030 to bring about a “society that has overcome climate change”. Kyowa Kirin Group will help realize this “society that has overcome climate change” by utilizing the Kirin Group’s global network to actively put in place climate change measures that take advantage of the characteristics of its business.

Furthermore, Kyowa Kirin Group has a new vision for 2030. To fulfill this new vision, we have established “retaining the trust of society” as one of the strategies in our 2021-2025 Medium-term Business Plan, with “helping to protect the global environment” being one of the measures to be pursued to that end. Our specific commitments pertaining to climate change include working to reduce CO₂ emissions as soon as possible with a particular focus on energy-saving approaches inclusive of capital investment as well as expanded use of renewable energies, and to make an energy transition.

Since 2016, our Group had been pursuing its global target of cutting its CO₂ emissions to less than 380,000 tons, 85% of their 1990 levels (i.e., achieving a 15% reduction in emissions vis-à-vis 1990) by 2020. Thanks to these efforts, CO₂ emissions in 2020 were down 16% year on year to 278,000 tons, 62% of their FY1990 levels (representing a 38% decline), and the target was achieved.

In 2020, we strove to cut CO₂ emissions to achieve our 2020 and 2030 targets^*1 and to reduce unit energy consumption by 1% or more from the previous year. As noted above, we successfully reached our 2020 targets.
By introducing renewable energy at our mainstay Takasaki Plant, we significantly reduced CO₂ emissions in 2020 compared to the previous year. Further details on this will be provided below in “Major Initiatives: Promotion of Renewable Energy Introduction ".
We also achieved a year-on-year reduction of 2.9% in unit energy consumption by setting unit energy consumption reduction targets for individual workplaces, implementing various energy-saving measures, and optimizing the operation of air-conditioning equipment.
In addition, we are a Specified Business Operator under the Energy Saving Act, and we are thus obliged to try for an average reduction in unit energy consumption of 1% per year, and we have maintained an S-class evaluation (target achieved) under the Energy Saving Act’s business operator classification system (SABC evaluation system) for three years running.

Various data on CO₂ emissions are posted in the ESG data.

ESG Data

Our Group has collaborated with Kirin Holdings to set and pursue a target of reducing CO₂ emissions by 20% from their FY2015 levels to 289,000 tons or lower by FY2030 based on Science Based Targets (SBT). This target was revised in 2021 in response to growing social demand for addressing climate change in the face of increasingly serious climate change. A new target just for our Group was set based on the SBT 1.5°C target: a 55% reduction in emissions from 2019 levels.
To achieve this target, we will be undertaking continuous energy-saving activities inclusive of capital investment until 2030, while accelerating expanded introduction of renewable energy by leveraging the distinctive feature of our business that most of the energy we use is electricity, to achieve a reduction in CO₂ emissions. Specifically, our Group will implement the following measures.

While continuing the above-mentioned measures through 2030, we will be pursuing an energy transition away from fossil fuels with the aim of net zero CO₂ emissions for the entire value chain.

In an effort to promote the wider use of renewable energy, Kyowa Kirin has been installing solar power generation facilities since 2011. As of 2021, such facilities are in operation at the Tokyo Research Park, Fuji Site, and the Ube and Takasaki plants, generating a total of 131,000 kWh of solar power, equivalent to 65.6 tons^* of CO₂ emissions.
We are also planning to introduce solar power generation equipment using the on-site PPA model at plants in Japan, and to synergistically accelerate CO₂ emission reductions by implementing these measures. The Takasaki Plant introduced "Aqua Premium" in 2020, thereby switching to hydroelectric power that does not emit CO₂ for 75% of its electricity use. With this introduction of "Aqua Premium," approximately 23,400,000 kWh of the Kyowa Kirin Group's annual power consumption of about 72,400,000 kWh has been switched over to hydropower sources. Our Group's annual CO₂ emissions have thus been cut by approximately 21% (approximately 11,000 tons). Kyowa Kirin Group is the first company in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry to introduce "Aqua Premium."

We plan to push forcefully ahead in introducing and expanding renewable energy use to achieve our 2030 target. By 2030, we intend to switch the purchased power at all sites of our Group, including overseas sites and branch offices in Japan, to 100% renewable energy.

News Release: Kyowa Kirin signs up to “Aqua Premium” in a first for pharmaceutical manufacturing industry (in Japanese only)

Kyowa Kirin Group has been replacing its commercial vehicles from conventional low-emission certified vehicles to hybrid vehicles in phases since 2009. As of the end of fiscal 2019, the hybrid car introduction rate of company-owned vehicles has reached 100%, and all commercial vehicles have been switched to hybrid vehicles, allowing us to save on fuel consumption for sales activities, while also achieving reduced CO₂ emissions. We will consider the relationship between information provision activities and the environmental impact, and proceed with efforts toward the realization of a low-carbon corporate group.

At Kyowa Kirin Group, as part of its ISO 14001-based environmental activities across all back office divisions, the head office, plants, research laboratories, and sales offices promote the Green Office Plan (GOP) in cooperation with the labor union, administrative and procurement divisions, and others. Our green purchasing ratio in fiscal 2020 was 89%. We have introduced a mechanism for actively purchasing eco-friendly products by changing our purchasing system. Due in part to the impact of COVID-19, we undertook a review in fiscal 2020 of our work styles and actively encouraged telework. These steps proved quite effective, with the amount of electricity used per employee falling by 0.5% from the previous year and the copy paper use per employee declining by 15% from the average figure for the past three years. Going forward, we will promote work style reform and continue to implement suitable measures.

Reduce per-unit electricity consumption by 1% a year
Secure green purchasing rate of at least 90%
Reduce per-unit copier paper consumption by 1% a year (vis-à-vis average consumption in past three years)

We supports laws, regulations and policies pertaining to climate change and reduced energy consumption at all our business locations inside and outside Japan (e.g., the Act on Promotion of Global Warming Countermeasures (“Global Warming Act”) and the Act on the Rationalization etc. of Energy Use (“Energy Saving Act”) in Japan) and takes appropriate measures to comply with them.
In addition, we are a Specified Business Operator under the Energy Saving Act, and we are thus obliged to try for an average reduction in unit energy consumption of 1% per year. We have achieved reductions in unit energy consumption by setting unit energy consumption reduction targets for individual sites and implementing various energy-saving measures. We have maintained an S-class evaluation (target achieved) under the Energy Saving Act’s business operator classification system (SABC evaluation system) for three years running.

We are a member of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Associations of Japan (FPMAJ) and its affiliate the Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (JPMA). Both the FPMAJ and the JPMA are taking part in the "Carbon Neutrality Action Plan” (formerly “Commitment to a Low Carbon Society”) developed by the Japan Business Federation. We support the Carbon Neutrality Action Plan and we have been participating in Carbon Neutrality Action Plan (Phase I)^* with a target year of 2020 and Carbon Neutrality Action Plan (Phase II)^* with a target year of 2030.
We are also participating as a member in the activities of the Carbon Neutrality Action Plan Working Group (formerly the Low Carbon Society Action Plan Working Group) established by the FPMAJ. We are indirectly lobbying the government by reflecting our views in industry groups’ policy recommendations on climate change issues such as formulating CO₂ emission reduction targets.
To ensure consistency with the stances of industry groups on climate change strategies, we are participating and gathering information in seminars on climate change hosted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and other government organizations as well as in seminars sponsored by industry groups. We are also taking part as members in a variety of relevant groups to discuss climate change issues and share the content of these discussions internally. We check that this content is in line with our own positions and approaches, and any discrepancies are taken up with the in-house organizations responsible for environmental management and then coordinated via the Group CSR Committee chaired by the Representative Director and Executive Vice President. Through this process, we are aligning our climate change strategies with industry group activities.

Kirin Holdings joined RE100^* in 2020 and thereby committed to switching to 100% renewable energy use by 2040. Our Group's climate change measures are consistent with those of Kirin Holdings, and our Group will also be working to introduce renewable energy in order to fulfill this commitment. Kirin Holdings has obtained certification of its SBT 1.5°C target, and our Group’s 2030 target has been set to conform to this target.