Sustainability | Environment

Reduce of CO₂ Emissions from Production Activities

Background of Goals
Fiscal 2018 Goals and Achievements
Future Activities
Concrete Activities

Background of Goals

The human-caused emission of greenhouse gases, which is thought to be one of the causes of global warming, continues to increase. As shown, for example, by the Paris Agreement, which was adopted at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21) in December 2015, there is a growing sense of crisis concerning climate change. In particular, carbon dioxide (CO2) accounts for 76% of greenhouse gases and is a main source of emissions.* Therefore, it is necessary to implement a steady reduction of emissions in industrial activities.
In the TDK Environmental Vision 2035, TDK addresses the issue of reducing the environmental load from the perspective of the entire lifecycle, from the use of raw materials to the use and discarding of products. Within this process, we realize that energy origin CO2 emissions at production sites are a principal cause of environmental load, and we are taking steps to reduce them.

*From the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Fiscal 2018 Goals and Achievements

Goal

Improve energy origin CO2 emissions basic-unit by 1.7% compared with the previous FY

Achievement

Improved by 6.7% compared with the previous FY

Main activities and measures

implement energy saving activity worth 2.0 % of the previous FY CO₂ emissions at each manufacturing site
Set up the self-motivated target of CO₂ emissions
Determine renewable energy resources

CO₂ emissions at production sites in fiscal 2018 amounted to 1.670 million tons, up 1.4% from the previous FY. In addition, CO₂ emissions per unit of consolidated sales improved by 6.7% compared with the previous FY. Thus, our goal was achieved.

Trends in CO₂ emissions from production activities (global)^*1

*1 Measurement and calculation methods and fiscal 2018 results have been verified by third parties.

※Scope:：
An international category for measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
Scope 1 is defined as direct emissions from facilities that are owned or controlled by the organization, and Scope 2 as emissions from the generation of energy consumed by facilities that are owned or controlled by the organization.
※ TDK's standards for CO₂ emissions conversion
- Figures for the energy used by each facility are calculated by multiplying the volume of purchased electricity and fuel (such as gas and oil) by a CO₂ conversion factor.
- The CO₂ conversion factor for fuel is as stipulated in the Law Concerning the Promotion of Measures to Cope with Global Warming.
The CO₂ conversion factor for purchased electricity is the latest factor published at the outset of the term when establishing the plan. (For Japan: Emission coefficient by electric power company based on the Act Concerning the Promotion of Measures to Cope with Global Warming; Overseas: coefficient used by GHG protocol for each country, eGRID coefficient for USA; coefficient from the Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan for Taiwan)

Future Activities

TDK will promote activities more closely associated with production activities through manufacturing reform tied to the Industry 4.0 and TDK’s own pursue zero-defect product quality.

Concrete Activities

Rationalization of production energy by specialized energy-saving teams

Energy-saving measures have mainly been implemented on the plant level in the past, but an energy-saving team comprising energy managers responsible for multiple factories and a headquarter energy manager was established and has been implementing energy-saving measures to undertake companywide initiatives.
In fiscal 2018, the energy-saving team conducted an energy audit of the Honjo Plant West Site, a plant with high energy consumption levels, investigated measures, and made proposals for energy-saving measures that can reduce energy consumption by the factory as a whole by more than 2%.
Similar teams will be established at overseas factories and global measures will be taken.