Sustainability

Environmental Impact Reduction Throughout the Supply Chain

In recent years, there has been near-global consensus on the need for a circular economy—a business model in which resources are used in a circular manner. Aiming to establish a manufacturing model that generates zero environmental load throughout the life cycles of its products, in June 2024 Fuji Electric updated the message of its Environmental Vision 2050. We also established a new Fiscal 2030 Goal of transitioning to environmentally friendly products that meet the EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation.

Previously, during production we focused on reducing the proportion of waste sent to landfill, and on controlling water intake; going forward, however, in addition to these activities, we intend to apply ourselves to limiting the total amount of waste we generate. For this reason, we plan to review the designs of the products we manufacture, and transition to the manufacture of environmentally friendly products. More specifically, we have formulated evaluation criteria for environmentally friendly products based on the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, and we will gradually phase out products that do not meet these criteria. We also intend to work together with our suppliers to promote activities aimed at calculating and reducing our carbon footprints. Our ultimate goal is to eliminate environmental load throughout the life cycles of our products, and thereby contribute to the realization of a recycling-oriented society that coexists harmoniously with nature.

Effective Use of Resources and Conservation of Raw materials

At Fuji Electric, we are engaged in efforts to ensure the efficient use of resources and reduce our use of raw materials. In line with ISO 14001, we are working to improve our environmental management systems in the most effective manner, according to the individual characteristics of each of our factories. The effectiveness of these efforts is verified through assessments by external organizations based on ISO 14001.

Specifically, we have tasked the following two Subcommittees to improve our environmental management systems; design divisions and manufacturing divisions set and work to achieve goals independent of each other.

For design divisions, the Product Assessment Subcommittee seeks to make products more compact, lighter, and longer lasting; it also aims to minimize use of difficult-to-recycle plastics and eliminate the use of hazardous chemical substances.

For manufacturing divisions, the Manufacturing Subcommittee seeks to ensure raw materials are used efficiently, prevent defective products, and to increase recycling rates by reusing packing materials and strengthening waste sorting processes.
Fuji Electric will continue to promote improvement activities at its factories, and leverage these improvements to transition toward the manufacture of environmentally friendly products.

Supply chain-wide activities to reduce environmental impacts

As we outlined in our Environmental Vision 2050, at Fuji Electric we are working to achieve a recycling-oriented society. To this end, we are aiming to eliminate environmental load throughout the life cycles of our products, and transition to the manufacture of environmentally friendly products. As a first step in this process, we have commenced efforts to visualize the environmental load of each of our products across its entire life cycle. Going forward, we will work together with our suppliers and other constituents of our supply chain and, by calculating our carbon footprints and by visualizing the environmental load of each of our products, work to reduce the impact we have on the environment.

Examples of activities

At Fuji Electric’s Chiba Factory, which is our main factory for power electronics energy related products, we are promoting recycling activities throughout the entire supply chain. As part of this effort, we are utilizing the concrete blocks left over after demolishing concrete structures owned by our customers in order to renovate the quay on the factory’s premises. The concrete blocks we receive from customers are pulverized, packed into weather-resistant nets, and placed on the factory’s quay, which has a total length of 423 m. This initiative has enabled us to reuse the concrete debris as “wave blocking stones” to protect the factory site embankment by reducing the force of high waves that occur during storms.