Environment Initiatives

We are committed to protecting life and the natural world in all its glory

Astellas has embraced the sustainable enhancement of enterprise value as its corporate mission. To fulfill this mission, Astellas seeks to be a chosen and trusted enterprise by all stakeholders, including patients, shareholders, employees, and the global community. The Astellas Charter of Corporate Conduct contains the following principles on Environment, Health and Safety (EHS): “We shall respect our employees’ human rights, individuality, and differences, promote diversity in the workplace, and provide a safe and rewarding work environment,” and “Recognizing that harmony between the global environment and our business activities is a prerequisite to our corporate existence, we shall take proactive measures to conserve the global environment.” These principles require employees to conduct themselves based on high ethical standards in EHS fields, among other areas. In the environment and occupational health and safety pages, Astellas will disclose information on its measures to sustainably enhance enterprise value through EHS.

Message

Astellas contributes to the development of society’s sustainability through its business activities and related initiatives. Since the strengthening of efforts to improve sustainability was one of Astellas' strategic goals newly established in Corporate Strategic Plan 2021 (CSP2021), each department has begun a cycle of thinking about and implementing environmental themes in cooperation with other departments.

Since fiscal 2021 for some products in Japan, Astellas has been using blister sheets, which are a tablet packaging container made of biomass plastic made from plant-derived raw materials. This was the first use of biomass plastic in blister sheets in the world, and in February 2023, Astellas received the Minister of Environment Award of the 5th Japan Open Innovation Prize (sponsored by the Cabinet Office) in recognition of the open innovation that led to its realization.

Regarding progress of efforts on climate change measures, Astellas reviewed greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets set under the Environmental Action Plan and in January 2023 underwent a validity assessment by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).  Target reviews are required every five years, but Astellas conducted the review one year ahead of schedule and changed the reduction targets that were set based on the 2℃ target (Paris Climate Agreement). The new targets are science-based targets and have been approved towards achieving the targets of 1.5 ℃ (Scope 1 and 2) and well-below the 2℃ targets (Scope 3) of the Paris Agreement. In February 2023, Astellas also announced its commitment to achieve Net Zero GHG emissions in business activities by 2050. 

As a responsible member of society, Astellas will continue to improve environmental sustainability and disclose information transparently, as well as act to reduce GHG emissions to realize a sustainable society.

・Astellas Environment, Health & Safety Policy

Interaction between Astellas and the Environment (Results for Fiscal 2022)

As detailed below, the business activities of Astellas impinge on the environment throughout all the fields in which it operates, including research, manufacturing, sales, and product distribution.
 

INPUT		OUTPUT
Energy *1		GHGs *1
Electricity	227,486 MWh (Renewable sourced 95,008 MWh)	Scope 1 *4	61,171 tons (Sales fleets 12,378 tons)
City gas	19,331 thousand m3	Scope 2	56,473 tons
LPG	1,002 tons	Pollutants (atmosphere)
LNG	748 tons	NOx *5	18 tons
Kerosene	22 kiloliters	VOC *5	23 tons
Diesel oil	1,561 kiloliters	Pollutants (water body) *5
Gasoline	3,776 kiloliters	BOD	9 tons
Purchased heat (hot/cold water)	4,330 GJ	COD	19 tons
Purchased heat (steam)	21,802 GJ	Water discharge *2
Other renewable energy	45,447 GJ	Water discharge	6,498 thousand m3
Resources		Waste material
Water *2	6,868 thousand m3	Volume of waste generated *2	13,566 tons
Raw materials and consumables (by weight) *3	4,169 tons	Landfill volume *3	55 tons
Raw materials and consumables (by volume) *3	354,100 kiloliters

*1 All Astellas business facilities
*2 All Japanese facilities, and all production facilities and R&D sites outside of Japan. Volume of water discharge from non-Japanese sites was equivalent to that of withdrawal. 
*3 All Japanese business facilities
*4 Non-energy related GHG emissions are not included. The CO2 equivalent of fluorinated gases from production sites (global) and R&D sites (Japan) was 2,304 tons.
*5 All production facilities and R&D sites in Japan

Indirect GHGs (Scope3) 

*1 Part of Astellas facilities are leased to another company.
Scope 3 Category 2 data was re-calculated because the former calculation method had been applied partially. Please find Scope 3 emissions (past 3 years) for the detail.

GHG Emissions Throughout the Value Chain

GHG emissions associated with Astellas’ business activities amounted to 563 kilotons globally.  Astellas is monitoring the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the use of almost all its facilities and sales fleets.

Scope 3 Category 2 data was re-calculated because the former calculation method had been applied partially. Please find Scope 3 emissions (past 3 years) for the detail.

In addition to Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, Astellas continues working to monitor Scope 3 emissions. In fiscal 2022 Astellas began disclosing GHG emissions from purchased goods and services (Category 1), including those from overseas production facilities, and GHG emissions from the transportation of products and other goods for which Astellas is the consignor (Category 4) from bases sites outside Japan.