Response to Climate Change 
Mid-term target
Reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in production intensity to 45% of the 1990 level by
2025.
Results and evaluation in FY2019
The achievement was 54.1% at the Shin-Etsu
Group and 49.5% at Shin-Etsu Chemical.
FY2019
Target：Reduce energy consumption in production intensity at an annualized rate of 1%
Results：The annualized reduction rate from FY2016 to FY2019 was 0.3% for Shin-Etsu Chemical
and 1.1% for the Shin-Etsu Group.
Evaluation：Shin-Etsu Chemical achieved the target.
FY2020
Target：Reduce energy consumption in production intensity at an annualized rate of 1%
Results
In order to take concrete measures against global climate change, the ESG Promotion Committee, chaired by the President, works with each department to tackle these important issues.
Starting from FY2010, the Group has implemented energy savings and installation of a cogeneration system in addition to introducing innovative technologies, in order to achieve the mid-term goal which is "Reduce the greenhouse gas emission per production unit to 50% of the 1990 level by 2015". Furthermore, in FY2016, we set a new mid-term target of "Reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in production intensity to 45% of the 1990 level by 2025", and we have been working towards that goal. In FY2019 we started reducing power consumption by deploying cogeneration systems with gas turbines as well as improving electrolytic cells with high-performance ion-exchange membranes, among other initiatives.
Regarding the greenhouse gas emissions intensity for FY2019, the Group and the Company achieved 54.1% and 49.5% of the 1990 level respectively.
Also in May 2019, The Shin-Etsu Group announced our support for the recommendations from the TCFD1. We also participated in the TCFD Consortium of Japan2. We will continue to disclose information regarding climate change in line with the TCFD recommendations.
Related Information
Shin-Etsu Group and Climate Change
Changes in Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Production Intensity Relative to FY1990 Level
Energy Consumption (crude oil equivalent)
Greenhouse Gas Emission Volume Trends
Greenhouse Gas Emission Volume Trends(sales intensity)
- ＊ Sales Intensity=emission(CO2-tons) / Consolidated or non-consolidated sales(million yen)
- ＊ Scope of aggregation of greenhouse gas emissions Shin-Etsu Group: Group companies include nonconsolidation Five chemical companies(expect Shin-Etsu Group): 3 consolidated, 1 major group companies, 1 non-consolidated
- 1 TCFD
TCFD (The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures) It is a special team focusing on climate change disclosure, and was established by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) in September 2015. In July 2017, the TCFD has published a set of recommendations in which it calls for corporations to disclose the impacts of climate change ,which was forecasted for mid to long-term, to their financial reports. - 2 TCFD Consortium of Japan
It is a group established by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Financial Services Agency, and the Ministry of Environment in May 2019.Companies and financial institutions who agree with the recommendations from TCFD aim to promote the effective disclosure of information by companies and the efforts to link the disclosed information to appropriate investment decisions by financial institutions or any other investors.
Thermal energy recycling initiatives
Each plant in Shin-Etsu Chemical is working on the recycling of thermal energy.
Flow of steam and electricity at the plant
■ Intruducing Cogeneration
Steam and electricity are produced in a plant using a cogeneration system1. Electricity made with the cogeneration system is supporting the operation of manufacturing. In addition, steam is being used for heating and thermal insulation for manufacturing equipment. Steam used for heating will not be emitted but will be reused for manufacturing equipment in which steam with lower temperature can be used. The steam is finally changed into water to be collected and recycled.
■ Waste heat recovery
Heat is recovered from the production process and is used as thermal energy in another process. Furthermore, the remaining waste heat is mainly collected as steam to make cold water in the absorption refrigerator. This chilled water is used for cooling the manufacturing equipment, etc.
- 1 Cogeneration system (heat and power combined)
This system generates power with engines, turbines and fuel cells using natural gas, petroleum, liquefied petroleum gas, etc. and simultaneously collects heat which would be generated.
Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The Group's Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions for FY2019 were 17,315 thousand tons of CO2, amounting to 76% in the supply chain1.
- 1 Supply chain
All stages of a product from raw material production until it reaches the final customer.
Related Information
Scope 3 Emissions by Category in FY2019 (unit: thousand of tons CO2e)
- ＊ Greenhouse Gas Emission Calculation Range
SCOPE 1: Direct emissions from facilities it owns or governs (example: emissions during combustion of materials such as heavy oil and natural gas).
SCOPE 2: Emissions during production of purchased energy (example: emissions during power generation of purchased power).
SCOPE 3: Emissions from the supply chain.
Shin-Etsu Chemical's products that contribute to actions to combat climate change
The Group's products are contributing to actions to combat climate change, as they are used for a wide range of final products worldwide. This helps achieve Goal 7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), "Affordable and clean energy," and Goal 13 of the SDGs, "Climate action." Sales in FY2019 of products that contributed to these two goals were 186 billion yen.
Related Information
Shin-Etsu Group Key ESG Issues
- The foundation of all activitieslegal compliance, fair corporate activities
- Employees and contractor health and safety
- Energy-saving, resource-saving and the reduction of the environmental impact
- Product quality improvements and product safety control
- Promoting CSR procurement and the diversification of supply sources
- Respect for human rights, the development of human resources and the promotion of diversity
- Respect for and protection of intellectual property
- Contribution to industry and social initiatives
- Accurate and timely information disclosure
and communication with stakeholders