Reducing Water-related Risks

SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group has identified realizing society with abundant access to clean water as one of its goals to realize an earth with maintained biodiversity, a major target of its SEKISUI Environment Sustainability Vision 2050.
The Group has outlined the following two-tier vision in its efforts to realize this goal.

SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group has set specific measures and milestones by backcasting from the goal of realizing societies with abundant access to clean water, and is moving forward with initiatives.

SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group assesses the impact that water resource issues have on companies as well as the scale of impact that companies have on water resources, determines the importance of risks, and sets priorities to be addresses. For risks and opportunities related to specific water resource issues, the scale, scope of impact, and other items are identified through scenario analyses based on the TCFD Guide.

As far as water-related risks that may pose a risk to management are concerned, steps are taken to ascertain the magnitude of each risk and to consider as well as implement appropriate countermeasures under the supervision of the Board of Directors. In similar fashion to other environmental issues, our supervisory and executive systems for reducing the Group’s impact on water resources and water-related risks and expanding its contribution to the resolution of issues are based on the Environmental Management Promotion System. (For details see here).
The Board of Directors has made the following final decisions on water-related risk issues.

In fiscal 2020, the first year of the roadmap for 2050, we conducted assessments on the likely impact on business from water-related risks at all SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group production sites and research institutes.
Seven years have passed since the Group first conducted a water-related risk survey in 2013. Over this period, certain business sites have been newly established and others closed. Accordingly, steps were taken to again conduct a survey.
The purpose of the survey conducted in fiscal 2020 was to identify water-related issues in the areas in which each business site is located (assessment of external factors) as well as business sites that are heavily affected by water-related risks and those that have a major impact on the environment.
In identifying local water-related issues, we utilized assessment results drawn from Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas 3.0, a tool for assessing water-related risks in each region of the world, created by the World Resources Institute (WRI), an International Environmental NGO, as well as data on water use obtained through surveys of individual business sites. Based on this information, we undertook quantitative assessments of the business impact of water-related risks as well as the environmental impact of our business activities.
In undertaking assessments, we followed the standards recommended in the Guidelines for Setting Water Targets for Companies^* issued by the CEO Water Mandate.
In fiscal 2023, we identified initiatives to minimize the impact on business in accordance with the specified water-related risks, set specific quantitative targets, and implemented initiatives at the five domestic and overseas sites that were evaluated as having a major impact on business.

Aim: Preservation of water resources

The following two broad categories of suppliers that consume large quantities of fresh water during their manufacturing processes supply raw materials to SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group:

SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group is engaged in water infrastructure-related businesses, including water supply, storage, and drainage. Specifically, we provide technologies and products that help improve the quality of water drainage, such as water treatment systems and sewage pipes. We also contribute to society by building resilient and disaster-resistant water infrastructure.
For example, one of our products, Cross Wave^*, is being marketed in Japan, India, China, Taiwan, and other ASEAN regions, to reduce water-related risks by helping to prevent chronic water shortages, promoting the greening of urban areas and recycling rainwater as a disaster prevention measure, and minimizing the damage caused by floods.
With the goal of not only reducing damage from the ever-increasing number of disasters brought on by climate change, but also promoting disaster mitigation in support of recovery efforts after a disaster, we are expanding the peace of mind we can offer to our housing customers by recommending, for example, the installation of a drinking water storage system that uses water infrastructure piping.

SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group draws the water that it needs for its business from public water systems, industrial water systems, underground reservoirs, and surrounding rivers.
Recognizing that water is a valuable resource shared by the community, we are working to reuse and reduce the amount of water consumed through various means, including the recycling of cooling water.
In the past, we set targets for reducing water intake and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of discharged water at all of our production sites, and undertook reduction activities. In the future, we will promote reduction activities targeting sites where the impact on business is especially large based on the state of water use at business sites and local water-related risk conditions.

In FY2023, water intake volume at production sites which use large quantities of water subject to reduction decreased 8.5% compared with the base FY2016 year. This reflects the installation of equipment that control the volume of direct water intake from rivers at production sites in Japan that consume large volumes of water and the effects of reduction endeavors.
The COD impact of river discharge water at production sites with large COD emission volumes decreased 2.7% compared with the base FY2016 year.

At SEKISUI NANO COAT TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., highly concentrated COD wastewater is discharged from the degluing and refining processes of textile products. High-concentration COD wastewater is treated at our own wastewater treatment facilities before being discharged into the sea. In recent years, the volume of wastewater has declined due to changes in the business domain.
Owing to changes in the composition of the glue used in raw materials, the COD of wastewater is becoming difficult to eliminate. In response, we have made modifications to optimize the capacity of our wastewater treatment facilities.
Treatment capacity has improved by making the treatment process more compact according to the amount of decrease in wastewater and installing a process in which microorganisms suitable for the treatment of persistently decomposed COD particles are optimized.
In FY2023, the COD volume of water discharged decreased by 72% compared with FY2016.

In order to reduce the amount of water it draws from water sources, SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group is promoting the reuse of water in its production processes. Each production plant of the UIEP and HPP companies recycles large volumes of cooling water for reuse in the production process. In FY2023, approximately 64 million m³ of recycled water was used at production sites in Japan and overseas.
In Hasuda City, where the Musashi Plant is located, wastewater purified in accordance with environmental standards is used as the main source of water for Lake Kurohama*, which is designated as a nature conservation area by Saitama Prefecture.