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.

Astellas contributes to the development of society’s sustainability through its business activities and related initiatives. Strengthening efforts to improve sustainability is one of Astellas' strategic goals in the newly established Corporate Strategic Plan 2021 (CSP2021). The environment is one of Astellas' priority themes within sustainability. To achieve this strategic goal, Astellas will improve environmental sustainability by meeting its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and disclose information more transparently.

The adoption of press through packaging (PTP) using biomass plastic is a topical initiative to raise from fiscal 2021. This PTP packaging is biomass plastic, environmentally friendly packaging using as a raw material 50% polyethylene derived from sugarcane. We have started adopting it for use in products for the Japanese domestic market. Using outstanding packaging materials from the standpoint of sustainability will continue to be considered going forward.

Astellas gave an update on the progress of efforts on climate change measures during the Sustainability Meeting held on February 2022. In addition to outlining progress toward achieving GHG emission targets set under the Environmental Action Plan, we announced that we are considering a declaration of Net Zero by 2050.  We have also started to disclose information based on the proposals of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)*1 We have analyzed the risks and opportunities brought about by climate change and disclosed the results on the corporate website. As initiatives for the future, we recognize as priority issues the need to include further introduction of electricity derived from renewable energy sources, mainly for domestic production sites, and to further improve the ratio of hybrid and electric vehicles in the Company’s sales fleet. We will continue our efforts to improve environmental sustainability.

・Astellas Environment, Health & Safety Policy

Interaction between Astellas and the Environment (Results for Fiscal 2021)

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	225,744 MWh (Renewable sourced 97,531 MWh)	Scope 1 *4	63,691 tons (Sales fleets 12,697 tons)
City gas	19,860 thousand m3	Scope 2	54,988 tons
LPG	1,046 tons	Pollutants (atmosphere)
LNG	991 tons	NOx *5	17 tons
Kerosene	1 kiloliter	VOC *6	21 tons
Diesel oil	1,775 kiloliters	Pollutants (water body) *6
Gasoline	3,797 kiloliters	BOD	9 tons
Purchased heat (hot/cold water)	7,487 GJ	COD	24 tons
Purchased heat (steam)	23,234 GJ	Water discharge *2
Other renewable energy	41,365 GJ	Water discharge	7,009 thousand m3
Resources		Waste material
Water *2	7,398 thousand m3	Volume of waste generated *2	13,919 tons
Raw materials and consumables (by weight) *3	4,316 tons	Landfill volume *5	95 tons
Raw materials and consumables (by volume) *3	387,868 kiloliters

*1 all Astellas business facilities
*2 all Japanese facilities excluding sales offices, 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 1,316 tons.
*5 all Japanese facilities excluding sales offices
*6 all production facilities and R&D sites in Japan

Indirect GHGs (Scope3) 

In addition to the above Category 4 data, CO2 emissions from transportation of products (including active pharmaceutical ingredients, intermediates, etc.) outside of Japan in fiscal 2021 were 17,529 tons.

GHG Emissions Throughout the Value Chain

GHG emissions associated with Astellas’ business activities amounted to 319 kilotons  globally.  Astellas is monitoring the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the use of almost all its facilities and sales fleets.

In addition to Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions,  Astellas continues working to monitor Scope 3 emissions. In fiscal 2021 Astellas began consolidating GHG emissions from transport for products, and other items for which it was the shipper.  GHG emissions from air, ground, and sea freight were 16,782^*1, 652^*1, and 95^*1 t-CO2, respectively, which is complementary to Category 4 Transportation and Distribution (upstream). Going forward, Astellas is preparing to disclose this information for Scope 3 GHG emissions.

*1 The data is out of scope for the independent assurance.