Good quality water is essential for our business activities, especially for research and manufacturing activities. In addition, it is important to manage risks generated from our business that could have an adverse impact on the global environment. Therefore, we are engaging in achieving a sustainable and water recycling society.
As for water risks, the Environmental Management Committee and the Water Recycling subcommittee established under it, lead and conduct surveys on the risks, and identify, analyze, and evaluates the risks that are considered to have an impact on our business.
In addition, in FY2022, we considered how issues of water-related risks vary by the catchment area of each business site, re-considered our risks, and changed to a risk-based approach. Assessments have been updated in reference to the guidelines issued by the CEO Water Mandate, "Setting Site Water Targets Informed by Catchment Context: A Guide For Companies", and new medium- to long-term targets responding to risks are set.
Water stress | Sites |
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Low to medium risk | Yamaguchi Plant, Joto Pharmaceutical Product Development Center, Minase Research Institute |
Medium to high risk | Fujiyama Plant, Tsukuba Research Institute |
High or extremely high risk | Not applicable |
For the assessment and action status of flood risks due to typhoon, etc., see our website on Information Disclosure Based on the TCFD Recommendation. In addition, for the business continuity plan (BCP) when a natural disaster occurs, see here.
We have posted details such as the water-related risks and opportunities, water intake and wastewater volumes at CDP Water Security (Japanese only). They can be confirmed at the CDP website (A CDP ID is required).
Towards “Realization of a water recycling society,” medium- to long-term targets that we have promoted since FY2019 were updated to new medium- to long-term targets in FY2022 in consideration of risk assessment results.
Water scarcity risk |
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Water Pollution risk |
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Supply chain risk |
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The water intake amount in FY2022 was 196.4 thousand m3, a 23.0 thousand m3 reduction (reduction rate: 10.5%) compared to FY2021. In addition, water intake amount was reduced by 128.7 thousand m3 (reduction rate: 39.6%) compared to the standard year, FY2017.
Specific initiatives to reduce water consumption include the following: visualization of water consumption amount by installing ultrasonic flowmeters, installation of highly airtight doors and stopping the use of running water traps as insect repellent, reduction of cooling water by adjusting the preset temperature of the heat drain tank, optimizing the sterilization of pharmaceutical water tank in the manufacturing plant, updating boilers, stopping the spraying of water or changing the preset temperature of the spraying water on air-cooling chillers and total heat exchangers, reduction of coolant water by collecting heat from hot drainage, and regular water leakage checks in the research institutes. We also installed water-saving sanitary equipment when a site is expanded, reconstructed, or renewed.
Water intake (water resource consumption)
Wastewater
Site name |
River in the area |
Wastewater drainage destination*1 |
FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Water intake volume |
Waste- water volume |
Water intake volume |
Waste- water volume |
Water intake volume |
Waste- water volume |
Water intake volume |
Waste- water volume |
Water intake volume |
Waste- water volume |
Water intake volume |
Waste- water volume |
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Fujiyama Plant*2 | Fuji River | River | 205.6 | 148.6 | 240.2 | 178.4 | 185.0 | 145.1 | 157.8 | 125.0 | 138.7 | 110.2 | 122.9 | 100.1 |
Yamaguch Plant | Fushino River | River | - | - | 8.2 | 8.2 | 18.1 | 18.1 | 18.6 | 17.7 | 21.6 | 20.0 | 22.8 | 20.9 |
Joto Pharmaceutical Deveopment Center | Todo River | Sewer | 5.5 | 5.5 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
Minase Research Institute | Yodo River | Sewer | 51.3 | 51.3 | 41.2 | 41.2 | 39.1 | 39.1 | 33.7 | 33.7 | 31.5 | 31.5 | 32.2 | 32.2 |
Fukui Research Institute*3 | Kuzuryu River | Sewer | 38.7 | 5.2 | 31.3 | 5.0 | 27.3 | 5.7 | 13.7 | 2.6 | 6.6 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 0.2 |
Tsukuba Research Institute | Lake Kasumigaura | Sewer | 8.1 | 8.1 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 7.1 | 7.1 | 7.2 | 7.2 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
Head Office and other sites in Japan (including tenant locations) | Rivers/lake in the areas where major business sites are located*4 | Sewer | 15.9 | 15.9 | 15.1 | 15.1 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 9.5 | 9.5 |
total | 325.1 | 234.6 | 348.0 | 259.9 | 296.7 | 235.2 | 245.6 | 200.8 | 219.4 | 184.5 | 196.4 | 171.2 |
At the 4th meeting of the International Conference for Chemicals Management (ICCM), pharmaceuticals in the environment are listed as an "Emerging Issue," and EFPIA, which is a pharmaceutical industry group in Europe, published the Eco-Pharmaco Stewardship program, and other actions were implemented.
We introduced whole effluent toxicity testing (WET testing) at Fujiyama Plant, which is our major production center, as part of activities for water pollution risks.
In addition, we assessed the impact of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) under development on aquatic life using Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) and promoted listing information in the safety data sheet (SDS).
Item | Scope | Unit | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of breaches of legal obligation/regulatory violations | All operation sites | Cases | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Amount of breach-/violation-related fines | All operation sites | Million yen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Environmental liabilities as of fiscal year-end | All operation sites | Million yen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
In the Water Security survey conducted by CDP, a U.K.-based nonprofit organization, we received “B” in FY2018, “A-” in FY2019 and FY2020, and “A”, the highest rating, in FY2021 and FY2022.