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Environmental Management

To fulfill its responsibility for the environmental impact of its business activities, the Company engages in activities to reduce its environmental impact based on medium- to long-term plans.

Basic Environmental Philosophy

Based on the corporate philosophy of “Contribute toward the improvement of people's health and progress in society through the development of innovative products,” ASKA Pharmaceutical Holdings, as a company that contributes to society and earns its trust, takes its commitment to environmental issues for granted and strives to protect the environment and continuously reduce environmental impact in all of its business activities.

Environmental Policies

  1. We will establish an environmental management structure.
  2. We will comply with environmental laws and regulations and other requirements.
  3. We will strive to continuously reduce the environmental impact from research, development, production, sales and other business activities.
  4. We will conduct environmentally friendly facility planning and technology and product development.
  5. We will strive to improve environmental communication as a corporate citizen.
  6. We will strive to educate employees and raise their awareness about the environment.

Environmental Management Structure

To effectively practice environmental management, ASKA Pharmaceutical also regularly holds the Company-wide Environmental Management Meeting.

(ASKA Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., as of July 1, 2023)

Board of Directors' Supervision of Climate Change

In March 2023, the Board of Directors declared a medium-term target of reducing CO2 emissions by 46% in FY2030 compared to FY2013, based on the vision of “working towards carbon neutrality by 2050 and contributing to the realization of a decarbonized society” as an initiative to decarbonize. In terms of the environmental-related material issues “Environmental protection and continuous reduction of environmental impact”, we have set out a company-wide action plan and seven KPIs for “Environmental protection, continuous reduction of environmental impact, and promotion of environmental management.” The ESG Committee makes decisions on ESG strategies, and the ESG Promotion Council regularly (at least twice a year) briefs/reports to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors supervises the content of the answers and reports on a semi-annual basis. In April 2023, the members of the Board of Directors' responsibilities were changed, and the Representative Director and Senior Managing Director was appointed as the Board Member in charge of sustainability.

Medium-term Environmental Plan

To effectively practice environmental management, ASKA Pharmaceutical, the core subsidary of the Group, formulated the Medium-term Environmental Plan and regularly holds the Company-wide Environmental Management Meeting. Discussion at FY2023 meeting covered the FY2022 results under the medium-term environmental plan and the goals for FY2023. We believe that information sharing and exchange of opinions among the attendees help to promote environmental measures throughout the Company.

Environmental Management System

Environmental Audit

ASKA Pharmaceutical Iwaki Factory, which is responsible for the production functions of our group, has obtained ISO 14001 certification, an international standard for environmental management systems. We maintain and renew our certification by undergoing regular external audits. In addition to external audits, we also conduct regular internal audits to ensure that our environmental management system is being properly implemented.

Acquisition status of ISO 14001 certification

  FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 FY2023
ISO14001
Number of certified facilities
1 1 1 1 1
ISO14001
Certification rate (%)
100 100 100 100 100

Support for our business partners' environmental initiatives

The Group strives to take into account the environment, including climate change, in all its business activities. We aim to contribute to the conservation of the global environment and the realization of a sustainable society, and we seek to ensure that our business partners understand our environmental management and environmental philosophy.
We also support our business partners' environmental initiatives through green procurement.

  • For details, please see the page “Supply Chain”.

Supply Chain

In-house Education and Penetration

ASKA Pharmaceutical Holdings Group strives to foster a corporate culture in which each employee takes the initiative in ESG activities to solve social issues through business activities with a sense of commitment.

In-house education

  • Semiannually video distribution for basic knowledge related to ESG
  • Educational lectures by external speakers

In-house penetration

  • Feedback on the content of the Committee of Managers for ESG Promotion quarterly held
  • Involvement of younger members in the Committee of Managers for ESG Promotion, which used to consist of department managers and above
  • Distribution of sustainability news covering internal progress and topics
  • Opened the web page promoting sustainability on intra-net
  • Review of materiality and KPIs to make them easier to understand
  • Decarbonization workshops held by external consultants

Environmental Communication

The Group promotes environmental communication and is working to encourage local communities to reduce their environmental impact.

About the Iwaki Carbon Neutral Human Resources Development Consortium

ASKA Pharmaceutical is a member of the Iwaki Carbon Neutral Human Resource Development Consortium, which is working to develop human resources to support decarbonization in Iwaki-shi, Fukushima Prefecture, and is supporting its activities. The consortium has been selected by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for its joint course support project at higher education institutions, and is holding the “Iwaki Carbon Neutral Society Collaborative Joint Course for 2023”. At the Iwaki factory, ASKA Pharmaceutical is also working to make carbon neutrality as accessible as possible, not only for the company but also for the local community.

Environmental Impact Overview (FY2023)

The overall environmental impact of our group is described in terms of inputs (energy and water consumption) and outputs (emissions into the atmosphere and water, and waste generation).