The Group works on energy savings, waste reduction, and chemical substance management as important issues. We create the "Shin-Etsu Group Environmental Safety Management Plan" every year in accordance with the Responsible Care Codes^*1 and set numerical goals.

The company and the plants of our Group companies set goals annually according to this plan and work to achieve them.

Annual activity results are reported to the corporate officer in charge of the environment control at the Group Environmental Protection Conference.

In order to increase the quality of activities, each plant and the Group companies perform several internal audits a year to check if they have set appropriate goals and the progress that they have achieved. In addition, we also check their activities and achievements through periodical environmental control and safety audits. The audit results are reported to the top management.

In 1996, Shin-Etsu Chemical Gunma Complex obtained the ISO 14001 certification, becoming the first facility of a major chemical company in Japan to achieve such a certification. The Group has continued to obtain the ISO 14001 certification, the international standard for environmental management systems.

The following shows our targets and results for environmental protection and chemical substance management for FY2023 and our targets for FY2024.

The Group constantly works to promote the reduction of environmental impact in the manufacturing stage. Furthermore, we are considering ways to reduce the environmental impact at the product usage stage and to contribute to energy and resource conservation. The Research, Manufacturing, and Sales Departments work together to develop products that are used in various fields, including the manufacturing industry, our daily lives, and the renewable energy industry.

In FY2023, the company referred to the "Environmental Accounting Guidelines 2005" prepared by the Ministry of the Environment in Japan to calculate the investments and expenditures necessary to reduce the environmental impacts of air pollution, water pollution, environmental release of chemical substances, etc.; energy-saving measures to conserve the global environment; and reducing waste and recycling to reuse resources. The economic impact for FY2023 decreased due to a significant decrease in production volume.