Pollution Prevention
Governance and Management Framework
Based on the concept of Responsible Care, JSR Group has established an advancement structure to address pollution prevention. The Environment, Safety and Quality Committee, which plays a central role in this initiative, is chaired by the officer in charge of environment, safety and quality, and the decisions of this committee are also reported to the Sustainability Promotion Committee, chaired by the CEO and President.
Furthermore, the decisions made by this committee are disseminated to each business site, and specific RC advancement activities are implemented. The status of activities is periodically confirmed by the headquarters environment and safety division, which is the secretariat of this committee, using the Environment and Safety General Conference and the headquarters environmental and safety audits.
Policy and Basic Approach
JSR Corporation and its domestic Group companies endeavor to protect the environment by complying with laws such as the Air Pollution Control Act in Japan, Water Pollution Prevention Act in Japan, and Soil Contamination Countermeasures Act in Japan and thereby avoid polluting the air, water or soil (including groundwater).
Metrics and Targets
1. VOC*1 Reduction
JSR Corporation has set a voluntary target even higher than that of the government and industry groups to reduce VOC*1 emissions by 75% compared to the FY2000 level. Under that aim, we are making large-scale capital investments and taking other actions to reduce emissions. We achieved the target in FY2014 and maintained these levels ever since.
From FY2022, we revised the target to “maintain the current emission level” for JSR Corporation and its domestic Group companies.
VOC emissions of JSR Corporation and its domestic group companies in FY2024 totaled 35 tons.
Going forward, we will continue to implement various emission control measures and management activities to maintain the current level of emissions.
- *1VOCs: Volatile Organic Compounds.
| Target | VOC emissions : Maintain the current emission level |
|---|
| Result | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metrics | Boundary | Unit | FY2020*2 | FY2021*2 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 |
| VOC emissions | JSR Corporation and Domestic Group Companies |
tons | 483 | 607 | 39 | 49 | 35 |
*2 Numerical figures up to FY2021 include the Elastomers Business.
2. Protection of the Atmospheric Environment
JSR Corporation and its domestic Group companies keep SOx and NOx emissions below regulatory values by implementing various measures, including the use of low-nitrogen fuels (LNG, city gas, etc.) and the introduction of low-NOx burners.
| Result | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metrics | Boundary | Unit | FY2020*3 | FY2021*3 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 |
| SOX emissions | JSR Group | tons | 11 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| NOX emissions | tons | 287 | 290 | 32 | 33 | 32 | |
*3 Numerical figures up to FY2021 include the Elastomers Business.
3. Protection of Water Quality and Environments
JSR Corporation and its domestic Group companies comply with total emission controls in terms of water quality for COD, total nitrogen and total phosphorus in wastewater. We have strived to maintain and improve water quality through rigorous wastewater management at all of our plants.
We will continue to strictly monitor water quality. At the same time, we will work to reduce the burden caused by the wastewater discharged from our plants into enclosed coastal seas.
| Result | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metrics | Boundary | Unit | FY2020*4 | FY2021*4 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 |
| COD emissions | JSR Corporation and Domestic Group Companies |
tons | 401 | 486 | 53 | 47 | 49 |
| Total nitrogen emissions | 112 | 148 | 9 | 11 | 9 | ||
| Total phosphorous emissions | 1 | 1 | < 1 | < 1 | < 1 | ||
*4 Numerical figures up to FY2021 include the Elastomers Business.
4. Protection of Soil Environments
JSR Corporation regularly conducts fixed-point surveys of soil and groundwater (observation wells) at its plants. As in previous years, no problems in the soil environment at our plants were found in FY2024.
Additionally, whenever we plan construction that involves changing the soil’s form and nature over an area exceeding 900 m2, we voluntarily conduct a soil survey beforehand.
Initiatives
1. Measures Targeting Substances Subject to PRTR*5 System
Based on the Act on the Assessment of Releases of Specified Chemical Substances in the Environment and the Promotion of Management Improvement (Chemicals Management Act) in Japan, JSR Corporation and its Group companies in Japan aggregates for each business site the amount of designated chemical substances emitted into the environment (Air, water and soil), transferred by manufacturing, or used in the previous year, and notifies the government of Japan of the results.
Together with this, we have systematically implemented a range of measures primarily for substances that are highly hazardous or are emitted in significant amounts and that have a great impact on the environment. Such measures include enhancing the airtightness of substance release sources, rendering substances harmless (scrubbers, activated carbon absorption, and RTO, etc.), and improving manufacturing processes.
As a result of our initiatives, atmospheric emissions of designated chemical substances were reduced from 44 tons in FY2023 to 32 tons in FY2024, achieving a reduction of approximately 27%.
We will continue to maintain atmospheric emissions at the current level through full implementation of the above-mentioned measures.
*5 PRTR: Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers. This is one of the systems stipulated by the Chemicals Management Act.
Past results are available in the ESG Data Book.
2. Management of Fluorocarbons
JSR Corporation and its Group companies in Japan work to control fluorocarbon leaks when using Class-1 Specified Equipment, including industrial air conditioners, refrigerators, and freezers, based on the Act on Rational Use and Proper Management of Fluorocarbons in Japan.
In addition to introducing a system for batch electronic management of forms and other documents at each JSR Corporation site, we are expanding the system to other Group companies.
Our fluorocarbon leaks in FY2024 amounted to 129 t-CO2 after CO2 conversion (reporting to the government is mandatory for leaks of 1,000 t-CO2 or more).
We will continue to appropriately manage fluorocarbon leaks and link our efforts to control leaks.
Past results are available in the ESG Data Book.
3. Asbestos Measures
JSR Corporation and its domestic Group companies conducted a survey of locations sprayed with materials containing asbestos. For those places that were identified as a result, we undertook removal and enclosure work in accordance with the Ordinance on Prevention of Health Impairment due to Asbestos. This work was completed in FY2006.
In addition, whenever we demolish structures, we take suitable measures based on the Air Pollution Control Act in Japan and Ordinance on Prevention of Health Impairment due to Asbestos to ensure that no workers or others nearby suffer health problems due to exposure to asbestos.
4. Improving the Local Environment
JSR Corporation values the opinions of people living near its business sites, and considers high transparency of plant operations to be the key to improving the local environment. With this in mind, we strive to improve the local environment based on the opinions we receive through monitoring and tours of environmental equipment at regular intervals.
The number of environmental complaints filed for JSR Corporation and its domestic Group companies in FY2024 was 0.
We will continue striving to maintain our basic policy of improving the local environment.
Past results are available in the ESG Data Book.