Contributing to Global Environmental Protection
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
The Paris Agreement and the UN’s 2030 Agenda have helped push climate change to the forefront of international attention. We aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions in our business activities as part of our effort to achieve sustained business growth.
Cleaner, more efficient plants
One way of cutting greenhouse gas emissions is to use less energy. Our plants are working to improve production efficiency and are switching to more energy-efficient equipment. Another method is to use cleaner fuel. For boiler fuel, some plants have switched from fuel oil to liquefied petroleum gas. For refrigeration and freezing, some plants have started using a natural coolant rather than ozone-harming CFCs. To give some examples, the Ibaraki plant, a ham and bacon plant that launched in 2019, uses an energy-efficient hot-water system and solar panels.
Similarly, the Kagoshima plant, scheduled to be completed by the end of 2022, will use liquefied natural gas as boiler fuel and natural coolant, instead of fluorinated gases, for refrigeration and freezing. The plant will also use solar energy to power its operations.
A more far-sighted approach to setting goals and tracking performance
Until now, we have used emissions per ton of output as a metric to track our progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from plants. We have met our targets on this metric. However, in reality, we have not yet made a significant reduction; because our output has risen year by year, total emissions have stayed largely at the same level.
Another issue concerns pig farming. We plan to expand our pig farming supply chains in Japan, but this expansion will increase methane emissions from enteric fermentation, leaving a greater carbon footprint. Accordingly, when measuring our environmental performance, we will need to consider scope 3 emissions— emissions throughout the supply chain (including procurement, distribution, and consumption). To that end, we are now discussing new goals and the scope we should manage.
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Environmental Initiatives
Relationships with Local Communities and Society
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