Furukawa Electric Group has established the Furukawa Electric Group Environmental Committee to deliberate, decide, promote, evaluate, and provide instructions for improvement on matters related to environmental conservation activities. The committee is chaired by the General Manager of the Risk Management Division and its members consist of the general managers of each business division and each corporate division, who are members of the management. The progress is reported quarterly to the Board of Directors.

Furthermore, in order to facilitate smooth decision-making on environmental conservation activities, we have established the Subcommittee of Environmental Managers, consisting of the environmental managers of each business division and corporate division, to discuss environmental issues cross-departmentally and specifically.

The Group has been working on activities to achieve environmental targets while establishing an environmental management system at each site. And, domestic and overseas production sites have acquired the international standard ISO14001 certification.

We have established the Environmental Vision 2050 and the Environmental Targets 2030 and are committed to contributing to a carbon-free society, a recycling-based society for water & resources and a society in harmony with nature.

Furukawa Electric Group conducts regular inspections of facilities and equipment that handle specific toxic substances to prevent the pollution of soil and groundwater in the neighborhood. We reduce the risk of pollution through measures to prevent leaks of specific toxic substances and underground seepage, as well as through ongoing efforts to switch to substitute substances.

Act on Rational Use and Appropriate Management of Fluorocarbons （Fluorocarbon Emissions Control Act） has been in force since April 2015. Furukawa Electric makes efforts to protect the ozone layer and prevent global warming by properly managing equipment subject to control at each of our business sites in accordance with the law. The amount of leaked fluorocarbons in Furukawa Electric in FY2023 was under the amount that must be reported to the authorities concerned.

Furukawa Electric Group properly stores and manages PCB waste held at each of its business sites and those of its group companies, and disposes of PCB waste before it expires in consideration of storage-related risks, in accordance with laws and regulations. We also proceed with the appropriate disposal of PCB equipment currently in use before it expires according to the update schedule.

Furukawa Electric Group regularly confirms environmental laws and other regulations to determine items requiring compliance. We ensure compliance in a number of ways, such as by conducting on-site patrols to check the state of compliance. We follow official journals and other sources of information to stay updated on revisions to environmental legislation and ensure that our response is thorough.

We maintain voluntary control limits and manage operations appropriately to ensure compliance with the Air Pollution Control Law and the Water Pollution Control Law.

We also conduct annual checks for conceivable, clear environmental impact to prevent environmental accidents or prevent widespread impact in the event of an accident. We also conduct drills to simulate the response to accidents. For accidents and anomaly information within the Group, we share the information, summarize lessons and measures against them, and double check the site.

We regularly monitor compliance with laws and regulations, and in FY2023 there were no reports of serious violations of laws and regulations (air, water quality, etc.) that would have a social impact.

We conduct environmental education for all Furukawa Electric Group employees, from new employees to executive officers, based on the belief that it is necessary to raise employees’ awareness and promote their understanding. We aim to achieve “Furukawa Electric Group Environmental Vision 2050” and “Environmental Targets 2030” by understanding the Environmental Basic Philosophy and enhancing activities in line with the Action Guidelines.

In FY2010, the Group started the Environmental Activity Awards with the aim of motivational improvement of employees and organizations working on environmental activities. The award was renamed to the ESG Commendations "Environmental Contribution Award" from FY2018, for the purpose of expanding the scope of the award which was focused on global warming prevention measures to all environmental activities, and aimed to raise awareness of the environment and to improve the level of environmental activities.
In FY2023, 2 Outstanding Performance Awards, 2 Excellent Performance Awards, and 3 Honorable Mentions were selected. The Outstanding Performance Award was given to a case in which an energy-saving device was installed in air conditioning piping, thereby contributing to the reduction of air conditioning energy use and GHG emissions, and to a case in which material waste in the first part of the extrusion process was collected and reused as raw materials, thereby reducing the amount of new resource input and making a significant contribution to resource recycling.

The Group has presented “CSR Procurement Guidelines” and “Green Procurement Guidelines” to its partners*, requesting them to give due consideration to the environment in their procurement activities and to work together to realize the Environmental Vision 2050.
Please refer to the link “Supply Chain” for information on activities to reduce environmental impact through collaboration with partners.