Water resource conservation initiatives
Dealing with Water-Related Risk
Water resources are essential in cleaning processes for parts produced in-house, such as various semiconductor sensors that are indispensable for our businesses, and they are also important for employees since drinking water is supplied at offices. In addition, water is an important resource for our business partners throughout our entire supply chain because we procure a variety of types of semiconductors that are important components in our products, and their manufacturing process requires a large amount of water. Our business is also deeply involved in water resources because the azbil Group has a water meter business. Likewise, water is an indispensable resource for the azbil Group’s customer companies in the building, factory, and plant markets. All of our stakeholders are involved in water resources.
Helping to preserve the Earth’s environment is part of the azbil Group’s corporate philosophy. The azbil Group Basic Environmental Policy and the azbil Group Rules for Environmental Preservation have been established as rules of top-level importance, and environmental initiatives are understood to be an important aspect of the azbil Group. Because the importance of water resources is recognized by the Group, the azbil Group Rules for Environmental Preservation state that compliance with environmental laws and regulations is necessary to prevent water pollution on a global scale, and that the amount of water resources used should be understood and reduced.
The azbil Group strives to understand and reduce the amount of water used by our facilities and to improve the quality management of our wastewater. We use WRI Aqueduct*1 to evaluate water risks at each location from a business continuity standpoint. Based on the results of the risk assessment, we recognize that we have water risks at our China (Dalian) and Thailand bases, which account for about 20% of our total water usage.
*1.Comprehensive maps provided by the World Resources Institute (WRI) about the state of water risks in all regions of the world.
Water-related risk management system
Azbil Corporation has set the goal of reducing water use every year compared to the previous year. Progress on this goal is reported to the executive officer for azbil Group Environmental Load Innovation on a monthly basis in the environmental management supervisory meeting or in the subordinate environmental manager meeting. The azbil Group’s companies have set related goals under their environmental management systems, and progress is reported to the executive officer for azbil Group Environmental Load Innovation in the azbil Group Environmental Committee, which meets three times a year.
The executive officer for azbil Group Environmental Load Innovation reports these results to the CSR Promotion Committee or the Management Meeting, depending on the importance of the results, and reports may also be sent to the Board of Directors, depending on their importance.
Sites with high water risk and amount of water used
The azbil Group uses WRI Aqueduct to assess various water risks at sites. We regard a facility with an overall water risk of “High” or higher as defined by WRI Aqueduct as having high water risk.
In addition, we regard production facilities with a baseline water stress of 80 % or more or baseline water depletion of 50 % or more as being in water stress areas. These facilities are as follows.
- High water risk: Azbil Production (Thailand) Co., Ltd., and Azbil Control Instruments (Dalian) Co., Ltd.
- Located in water stress area: Azbil Production (Thailand) Co., Ltd., and Azbil Control Instruments (Dalian) Co., Ltd.
At the beginning of the fiscal year, we create a monthly plan for water usage, manage the progress of monthly water usage, and report to the aG Environment Committee, which meets three times a year.
Amount of water used in azbil Group sites with high water risk(total water intake)
(Unit: 1000 m³)
| Water stress area | Water usage (Total water withdrawals) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | ||
| Azbil Production (Thailand) Co., Ltd. | Applicable | 8.34 | 8.45 | 9.50 | 10.64 |
| Azbil Control Instruments (Dalian) Co., Ltd. | Applicable | 10.77 | 13.37 | 13.98 | 14.59 |
External evaluations
The azbil Group’s measures to mitigate water risk and reduce the amount of water used were rated A- by CDP Water 2023.*1
*1.A disclosure program about corporate water risks, created by the international nonprofit organization CDP. It investigates the status of water-related initiatives of participating corporations every year and officially publishes the aggregated results. It also gives each corporation an individual rating for the status of its initiatives in an eight-step evaluation with A as the highest grade.
Answers to CDP Water 2023 Questionnaire
Answers to CDP Water 2022 Questionnaire
Answers to CDP Water 2021 Questionnaire
Initiatives to reduce water usage
To reduce the water usage of the azbil Group as a whole, we are implementing various measures such as the use of automatic faucets and water-saving valves. Although we aim to reduce the amount of water used each year below the level of the previous year, in 2023 water usage decreased by 4% (2022 results: 129.370 ㎥). This was due to efficient water use through improvements to production processes and regular progress checks on water usage by environmental decision-making bodies, resulting in reduced water usage. Rainwater usage in FY 2023 was 3,240 ㎥.
Overall azbil Group water usage status (total water intake and total wastewater)
(Unit: 1000 m³)
| FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water usage (Total water withdrawals) |
104.39 (106.54) |
107.55 (110.02) |
129.37 (132.16) |
124.24 (127.48) |
| Total water discharges | 106.38 | 109.90 | 132.16 | 127.48 |
Scope: Azbil Corp., consolidated subsidiaries in Japan, and main manufacturing bases overseas(Azbil Production (Thailand) Co., Ltd. Azbil Control Instruments (Dalian) Co., Ltd., and Azbil Telstar, S.L.U. (added in 2022))
(equivalent to 88 % of the entire azbil Group, based on CO2 emissions in FY 2021)
Verification Statement
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Management of water quality
At sites where facilities are subject to the Water Pollution Control Act, etc., we analyze and measure major factors for water quality management and control them so that they do not exceed standard values.
Items controlled for water quality
| Office or Factory | Primary | secondary | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fujisawa Technology Center | Non-industrial wastewater | BOD | 57mg/l | 110mg/l | 170mg/l | 63mg/l |
| SS | 160mg/l | 120mg/l | 340mg/l | 150mg/l | ||
| n-Hex (animal/vegetable oils) | 3mg/l | 6mg/l | 2mg/l | 12mg/l | ||
| Industrial wastewater | pH | 7.7 | 6.0 | 8.3 | 8.2 | |
| BOD | 7mg/l | 10mg/l | 6mg/l | 7mg/l | ||
| COD | 2mg/l | 3mg/l | 3mg/l | 3mg/l | ||
| SS | 1mg/l | 4mg/l | 2mg/l | 4mg/l | ||
| n-Hex(medicinal oils) | Less than 1mg/l | Less than 1mg/l | Less than 1mg/l | Less than 1mg/l | ||
| Shonan Factory | Non-industrial wastewater | BOD | 3.6mg/l | 140mg/l | 260mg/l | 220mg/l |
| SS | 40mg/l | 110mg/l | 330mg/l | 160mg/l | ||
| n-Hex (animal/vegetable oils) | 3.2mg/l | 20mg/l | 3.6mg/l | 1.5mg/l | ||
| Hadano Office | Non-industrial wastewater | pH | 7.5 | 8.0 | 8.4 | 7.7 |
| BOD | 13mg/l | 20mg/l | 92mg/l | 25mg/l | ||
| SS | 28mg/l | 27mg/l | 60mg/l | 28mg/l | ||
| n-Hex (animal/vegetable oils) | Less than 1mg/l | Less than 1mg/l | 5mg/l | 2mg/l | ||
| n-Hex(medicinal oils) | Less than 1mg/l | Less than 1mg/l | Less than 1mg/l | Less than 1mg/l | ||
| Azbil Kyoto Co., Ltd. | Amalgamation septic tank | pH | 6.8 | 7.0 | 6.8 | 6.9 |
| BOD | 3.1mg/l | 3.3mg/l | 5.5mg/l | 3.0mg/l | ||
| COD | 8.9mg/l | 14.0mg/l | 15.0mg/l | 12.0mg/l | ||
| SS | 0.8mg/l | 3.0mg/l | 3.0mg/l | ND(Below detection limit) |
- Overall of Environmental Initiatives
- Contributing to the environment through our core businesses
- Reducing the environmental impact of our own business activities