• Management and Information Disclosure in Regard to Safety and the Environment
• Initiatives to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Initiatives to Reduce Atmospheric and Water Pollution
• Initiatives for Biodiversity
• Initiatives for Safety Management Regarding Chemicals
• Participation in International Standards and Public Policy Planning

Management and Information Disclosure in Regard to Safety and the Environment

The MCHC Group has established the Group Synergy Office and reinforced the foundations in a Group-wide and cross-sectional manner. The aim of these moves is to combine Group expertise in areas such as environmental protection, disaster prevention, occupational safety and health, production technologies (manufacturing), in order to enhance Group strategy through unified functioning. Taking things a step further, general managers in charge of the environment, safety, and production technologies (manufacturing) from the four core Group companies, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Mitsubishi Plastics Inc. and Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd., attend Four-Company Cooperation Council meetings which are held periodically. At these meetings, the attendees work closely to exchange information and opinions regarding the courses of action, activities and issues at each company. MCHC leverages its leadership abilities to draw out information such as the state of management in these areas in order to assess and confirm the details of management at each company and work to prevent trouble from occurring.

Each MCHC Group company has undertaken initiatives related to the Environmental Management System (EMS) and Quality Management System (QMS). 98%*1 of all the sites of our production bases worldwide have obtained ISO 9001 certification, and 97%*2 have obtained ISO 14001 certification. We effectively engage in environmental management by periodically conducting internal and external audits of these bases.

*1: In terms of sales; however, the Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma group is excluded, because it is managed under GMP.
*2: In terms of sales

Regarding specific measures related to safety and the environment, regular meetings are held by each operating company’s safety and health committee, whose members include the labor union. Meeting participants identify issues in the field and discuss measures to resolve them. The committee brings up company-wide issues and solutions in its educational activities and discussions, and takes steps to reduce costs, improve occupational safety and health, reduce problems, etc.

Detailed information on the safety and environmental activities being undertaken at each operating company can also be found on each company’s website.

In disclosing information related to safety and the environment, it is important to examine and report business activities from a global perspective. Therefore, at the MCHC Group, we aim to apply more reliable disclosure criteria that meet international standards and improve the content of our reports, in order to conform to GRI Guidelines (G3). Over the next three years we also plan to expand the scope of our reports to include our major overseas bases.

Initiatives to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

MCHC Group GHG emissions in Japan

We recognize that climate change is the most serious of all the issues related to the global environment, and as a company in the chemical industry, we need to give the highest priority to tackling this issue. At the MCHC Group, we launched KAITEKI Project in 2008, and since then have been making a group-wide effort to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For APTSIS 15, we have established two management indexes, the amount of GHG emissions at each office or plant and the provision of products and components with low GHG emissions. We have since been taking steps to cut GHG emissions under the KAITEKI Project.

Reducing the MCHC Group’s GHG emissions [MOS Index: S-1-1]

In the APTSIS 15 mid-term management plan announced in December 2010, the MCHC Group set a 2015 target for reducing GHG emissions. Among the MOS Indexes related to reducing emissions, we announced a target of cutting greenhouse gases in Japan by 17% in 2015 from 2005 levels.
Emissions in 2011 were down significantly, 22% from 2005 and 6% from the previous year (2010). This was mainly due to the shutdown of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation's Kashima Plant after the Great East Japan Earthquake. It was also attributed to the slowdown in demand for certain chemical products in response to the economic deterioration. Meanwhile, each operating company has been engaged in activities to reduce energy consumption, in line with the voluntary target set by the Japan Business Federation. These activities have also been steadily helping to reduce the amount of our GHG emissions.

In addition to these improvements in the production process, we have also been undertaking initiatives to reduce the environmental burden from transport in our distribution and sales activities. Mitsubishi Chemical Logistics Corporation has been working to improve the energy consumption rate of transport through such measures as improving the fuel efficiency of ships, as well as considering a change in the type of transport. Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation has taken steps such as replacing approximately 50% of its business-use vehicles with electric and hybrid vehicles.

We will continue to make a group-wide effort to reduce GHG emissions.

Initiatives for reducing power consumption in response to the power shortage following the Great East Japan Earthquake

In response to the mandatory power-saving order issued by the government, every MCHC Group office and plant took steps to reduce its power consumption. At MCHC’s head office building, which was designated as a large-volume user, we took measures such as keeping lights off on certain floors during certain hours by introducing a rotating work schedule, installing appropriate air-conditioning, replacing some light bulbs with energy-saving ones (LED), using the sleep mode for PCs, and keeping lights off during lunch breaks. As a result, we succeeded in reducing power consumption during the July–September quarter by 25% year on year.

The head office of Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd. introduced daylight saving time, which reduced power consumption during the July–September quarter by 36% year on year. The system did more than just reduce power consumption. Because employees started and finished work earlier than usual, they had more free time after work. This gave them a good opportunity to review the way they had worked before and to reconsider their work/life balance.

We will maintain our position and measures regarding the appropriate use of electric power, which have spread across MCHC and operating companies.

Initiatives to Reduce Atmospheric and Water Pollution

Pollution of the atmosphere and water from chemical emissions is not as serious as it was in the past, partly due to the effect of tighter government regulations. We recognize, however, that chemical emissions directly affect the environment of people who live in the neighborhood of our plants, and we need to make whatever improvements we can. Accordingly, we have established the amount of emissions to be reduced at each plant as a management index, which will be integrated into the GHG emissions index mentioned in the previous section. We aim to reduce this integrated index by 30% from 2005 levels.* We have been holding periodic discussions with people in the neighborhood of our plants to get feedback from them. By taking into consideration of these feedbacks, we will proceed with measures for further improvements.
Some emissions data will be kept in a database. More detailed data will be posted on the website of each operating company or each plant.

*For the integration, we use LIME2, a weighting method for assessing environmental impact that was developed in the second-term National LCA Project in Japan. For details, please refer to the website of the Life Cycle Assessment Society of Japan.

Initiatives for Biodiversity

In 2010, the MCHC Group joined the Declaration of Biodiversity by Nippon Keidanren*1 as a corporate group, and began ongoing voluntary activities to reduce the impact of its business activities on biodiversity.

The MCHC Group first discussed to understand the impact of our business activities on the ecosystem. We also decided to reassess the existing environmental protection measures taken within our offices and plants by adding the impact on biodiversity as a criterion, based on the Guidelines for Private Sector Engagement in Biodiversity produced by the Ministry of the Environment. As a model study for this purpose, at the Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation's Yokkaichi Plant, we reconfirmed the status of our compliance with laws and regulations related to biodiversity and activities to help maintain biodiversity (such as cleaning up areas around plants, beaches, and rivers). We also checked our water use, including industrial water, and chemical emissions. As a result, we confirmed that there was no major environmental burden that would affect biodiversity. We will undertake the same study at other plants in the MCHC Group. Going forward, we will continue to bear in mind the effects of our business activities on biodiversity throughout lifecycles, and take steps to build a sustainable business.

Initiatives for Safety Management Regarding Chemicals

While Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation (MCHC) seeks the realization of KAITEKI with chemicals as its key technology, in providing the diverse chemicals that support our lives it recognizes the primary importance of ensuring that its customers can use these products with peace of mind.
Therefore, concerning the chemicals manufactured directly by MCHC, in 2009 we started Global Product Strategy (GPS) activities, which are voluntary industry initiatives focusing “risk-based chemicals management throughout the supply chain” and “the disclosure of risk management information on chemicals and products.” We will assess the risks of the chemicals manufactured by our Group companies, conduct chemical risk management based on the results of this assessment, and publish the contents in the GPS Safety Summaries.
At MCHC, we have set a target of conducting GPS assessments on all the chemicals the MCHC Group deals with by 2018. We intend to manage the achievement rate of these risk assessments under GPS activities by introducing this figure as an MOS Index item (C-3).
Information about the chemicals contained in products used around the world is important when using and disposing of each product. Accordingly, information about the chemicals involved in the entire supply chain is required, especially for electrical appliances, among others. At MCHC, we intend to obtain information on the chemicals in all the products we purchase from suppliers. Therefore we will include the rate at which we obtain this information in the MOS Indexes (S-3).

To ensure that our products can be used with peace of mind by all of society, we will continue striving to disclose and utilize information through the above initiatives.

Participation in International Standards and Public Policy Planning

As a member of the Japan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA), MCHC is involved in researching and planning measures on issues related to safety and the environment. Through our activities for JCIA, we also participate in the operation of the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), and are working to solve issues common to chemical companies worldwide, such as chemical management and global warming.
We are also directly involved in creating an international framework for managing, disclosing, and communicating information about chemicals, which is promoted by the Joint Article Management Promotion-consortium (JAMP).