Measures to Fight Climate Change

Japan

The Paris Agreement, issued in 2016, pledges to keep the rise in global temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The Kyocera Group also recognizes measures to fight climate change to be a priority issue. We set 2°C level of long-term environmental targets in 2018. We renewed our long-term environmental target to 1.5°C level target and are implementing various measures to prevent global warming, including energy saving measures.

Long-term Environmental Targets

In 2016, the Paris Agreement came into effect, and nations and companies are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyocera Group also considers climate change measures to be an important issue. In 2018, we set a long-term environmental target (2°C level: 30% reduction in GHG emissions in FY2031 compared to FY2014) and received SBT certification in 2019. Subsequently, we consider updating the target based on social demands. We updated the target in 2020 to 1.5°C level (46% reduction in FY2031 compared to FY2020, equivalent to 56% reduction in FY2031 compared to FY2014).

Kyocera Group Long-term Environmental Targets

Scope* 1, 2 GHG emissions: Reduce 46% by FY2031 compared to FY2020 levels
Scope* 1, 2, 3 GHG emissions: Reduce 46% by FY2031 compared to FY2020 levels
Renewable energy adoption: Increase 20x by FY2031 from FY2014 levels
Carbon neutral by FY2051

Scope 1: Direct emission associated with fuel consumption and production processes

Scope 2: Indirect emission associated with consumption of power or heat purchased from outside

Scope 3: Indirect emission other than Scope 1 or 2 (Including procurement of raw materials, transport, use and disposal of products, as well as employee commuting and business trips)

Measures to Fight Climate Change

We have proactively adopted energy-saving policies and renewable energy at our sites in order to achieve our long-term environmental targets.In terms of energy conservation measures, we are promoting the conversion of liquefied petroleum gas to cleaner natural gas at the Kagoshima Sendai Plant. Construction is scheduled for completion in 2023. We are also upgrading HFC refrigerant equipment and introducing LED lighting throughout the company. Furthermore, we introduced a new photovoltaic power generation system for renewable energy at the Tochigi Moka Plant in Japan, as well as at KYOCERA Vietnam Company Limited (Vietnam), KYOCERA Display Thailand Co. Ltd (Thailand), and other countries. As of FY2021, the total generation capacity was approximately 21 MW. As a result of these activities, we reduced greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 14.9% compared to FY2020.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Scope 1+2)

Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Scope 1+2+3)

Graph: Greenhouse Gas Emission (Scope 1+2+3)

Greenhouse Gas Emissions, CO₂Emissions and Energy Associated with Freight Transport (ESG Data Sheets)

Third Party Verification of Environmental and Social Data

Efforts to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Installation of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC)

The SOFC is a very energy-efficient power generating unit that produces electricity through a chemical reaction between a fuel (hydrogen) and oxygen. It can also provide heat as an energy source by retrieving waste heat from this chemical reaction. Kyocera has installed a total of 17 SOFCs at our Shiga Gamo, Shiga Yohkaichi, Shiga Yasu, and Kagoshima Kokubu plants. The retrieved waste heat is used to heat the cafeteria hot water supply, to provide supplemental hot water for the boilers, and to heat water for absorption chillers that produce air conditioning. A storage battery and solar power generation system were installed with the SOFC at the Kagoshima Kokubu Plant. Going forward, we will carry out three battery control demonstration tests and further actions to counter climate change while reducing energy costs.

Renewable Energy “Self-wheeling” Demonstration Test Utilizing Storage Batteries

When a site cannot be secured for a solar power generating system, renewable energy can be used by the “self-wheeling” of electric power from solar power generating systems located elsewhere. In July 2020, Kyocera Corporation launched demonstration tests of Japan’s first renewable energy self-wheeling system using a storage battery in Yasu, Shiga Prefecture. A Kyocera-manufactured 150 kW solar power generating system was constructed on a roughly 2,000 m² site owned by the city of Yasu. The renewable energy generated by the system is supplied to our Shiga Yasu Plant, approximately two kilometers away, via Kansai Transmission and Distribution, Inc’s electrical power grid. Via this demonstration test, we aim to establish a business model for “Self-wheeling,” for which we expect to see a growing demand in the near future.

RE100 Initiative

Kyocera and Digital Grid Corporation are carrying out a demonstration test of renewable peer-to-peer (P2P)^*1 electric power transactions at our Yokohama Nakayama Office. In this demonstration test, surplus power from former FIT solar panels installed at the homes of Kyocera employees and power from Kyocera's newly-built non-FIT solar power plant in Asahi, Chiba Prefecture, is adjusted by a Digital Grid Platform and supplied to our Yokohama Nakayama Office. This office also utilizes power from its existing on-site non-FIT solar power plant. If the combined electrical power is insufficient to meet demand, any shortfall will be supplied by power purchased from the Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX) with non-fossil-fuel energy certificates and tracking information from Kyocera's existing FIT photovoltaic power plant. This demonstration test means that all of the electricity consumed by the Yokohama Nakayama Office will come from solar energy.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) electric power transactions make use of advanced technologies that utilize AI, for example, to predict power generation output, collect power from sources such as residential homes and/or business facilities that own solar installations and storage batteries, and then supply that power to homes and other points of variable electric power demand.

Conceptual Diagram of the Demonstration Test

Energy-saving Policy: Installation of Waste Heat Recovery Chillers

A waste heat recovery chiller utilizes heat pump technology to retrieve and use low-temperature heat. At our Yamagata Higashine and Kagoshima Sendai plants, we had previously heated water for air conditioning via boiler steam heat exchange, but we installed waste heat recovery chillers that retrieve waste heat generated by the turbo refrigerator’s coolant system and use it to heat the water, thereby reducing the amount of boiler fuel used.

Reduced CO₂ Emissions

324 (t-CO₂/year)

Waste Heat Recovery Chiller (Yamagata Higashine Plant)

Update to LED

The Kyocera Group has promoted the replacement of fluorescent lamps with LEDs, mainly in areas where energy-saving effects are greater than FY2013. By FY2021, approximately 55% of fluorescent lamps had been replaced with LEDs. We will also replace all remaining external lights and downlights by FY2024 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs.

CO₂emissions reduction (estimated): 2,200 (t-CO₂/year）

Fuel conversion

At the Kyocera Kagoshima Sendai Plant, construction work started to reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions by switching from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is used for production, to natural gas (LNG). Completion is scheduled for 2023, and plans are also underway for horizontal expansion at the Hokkaido Kitami and Toyama Nyuzen Plants.

CO₂emissions reduction (estimated)：4,573（t-CO₂/year）

Breakdown: {Kagoshima Sendai Plant: 3,100 t-CO₂/year), Toyama Nyuzen Plant: 1,424 t-CO₂/year), Hokkaido Kitami Plant: 49 t-CO₂/year)}

Replacement with alternative CFC refrigerator equipment

Production and import of specified CFCs (HCFC) are regulated to protect the ozone layer, and the production of specified CFCs (HCFC) stopped in developed countries in 2020. As a result, we are replacing our air conditioning systems with alternative CFC refrigerants (HFC). For packaged air conditioners and chillers, 15-year-old equipment will be replaced by FY2025, and other equipment, including dryers and small chillers, will be replaced by FY2028.

CO₂emissions reduction (estimated): 12,300 (t-CO₂/year)

Introduction of Solar Power Generation Systems

We are installing solar power generation systems at our premises in Japan and overseas.

● Introduction of Solar Power Generation Systems

	Site	Generating capacity (kW)	Installation/Additional year (FY)
Japan	Hokkaido Kitami Plant	759	FY2011 (Final extension: FY2019)
	Yamagata Higashine Plant	563	FY2020(Final extension: FY2021)
	Fukushima Koriyama Plant	2,401	FY2014 (Final extension: FY2021)
	Niigata Shibata Plant	411	FY2020
	Toyama Nyuzen Plant	360	FY2020
	Nagano Okaya Plant	327	FY2011 (Final extension: FY2021)
	Kawasaki Plant	47	FY2020
	Shiga Gamo Plant	571	FY2011 (Final extension: FY2016)
	Shiga Yohkaichi Plant	2,484	FY2006 (Final extension: FY2021)
	Shiga Yasu Plant	1,178	FY2011 (Final extension: FY2021)
	Kyoto Ayabe Plant	2,406	FY2014 (Final extension: FY2021)
	Kagoshima Sendai Plant	1,419	FY2011 (Final extension: FY2020)
	Kagoshima Kokubu Plant	1,795	FY2006 (Final extension: FY2021)
	Kagoshima Hayato Plant	189	FY2006 (Final extension: FY2021)
	Keihanna Research Center	472	FY2019 (Final extension: FY2021)
	Tochigi Moka Office	172	FY2021
	Chiba Sakura Office	493	FY1985 (Final extension: FY2014)
	Yokohama Office	58	FY2012
	Yokohama Nakayama Office	239	FY2012 (Final extension: FY2020)
	Headquarters	214	FY1999
	Osaka Daito Office	31	FY2004
	Headquarters of Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.	12	FY2008
	Kyocera Document Solutions Inc. Tamaki Plant	922	FY2011 (Final extension: FY2021)
	Kyocera Document Solutions Inc. Hirakata Plant	60	FY2006
	Chiba old factory site	688	FY2016
Overseas	Kyocera International, Inc. (USA)	279	FY2006
	KYOCERA Mexicana, S.A. de C.V. (Mexico)	100	FY2011
	KYOCERA Document Solutions Espana S.A. (Spain)	36	FY2008
	KYOCERA Document Solutions Belgium N.V. (Belgique)	9	FY2010
	KYOCERA Document Solutions Deutschland GmbH. (Germany)	16	FY2008
	KYOCERA Vietnam Company Limited. (Vietnam)	961	FY2021
	KYOCERA Display Thailand Co. Ltd. (Thailand)	1,166	FY2021
	KYOCERA (TIANJIN) SOLAR ENERGY CO., LTD. (China)	93	FY2011
	SHANGHAI KYOCERA ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. (China)	155	FY2010 (extended in FY2013)
Total		21,086

Green curtain initiatives

As part of its energy conservation activities during the summer, the Kyocera Group has been promoting the use of "Green Curtains" since fiscal 2007. Plants such as bitter gourds and morning glories are grown in the windows and outer walls of buildings to block sunlight and reduce our reliance on air conditioning.