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 has adopted “Turning innovative science into VALUE for patients” as its VISION. In order to continuously achieve sustainable growth, Astellas will need to sensitively grasp changes in the environment and continuously evolve in step with those changes. We will need to address changes in the environment, such as energy trends and climate change, the effective use of resources, and the prevention of pollution. We will also need to implement appropriate management of occupational health and safety in step with changes in modalities, which we will need to handle in many more different ways due to Astellas’ Focus Area approach. In the EHS field, we will be constantly called upon to address changes. Here, Astellas will advance EHS activities based on high ethical standards, in accordance with the Astellas EHS Policy and Guidelines.
Our support of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations was one of our topical initiatives for fiscal 2020. Growing numbers of companies are supporting the TCFD amid increasing demands, mainly from institutional investors, for information disclosure on initiatives addressing environmental issues. Astellas announced its support in December 2020 and began disclosing information in response to TCFD from 2021. Moreover, under the Corporate Strategic Plan (CSP2021) announced in May, we added strategic targets to new initiatives to improve sustainability. The main elements of these strategic targets are the achievement of a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction commitment approved under the Science-Based Targets (SBT) initiative and improved transparency related to disclosure of information about climate change mitigation measures. Reduction of GHG emissions is moving forward as the Environmental Action Plan progresses. In addition to using power derived from renewable energy sources, external factors such as measures to counter the spread of COVID-19 have produced results exceeding targets for 2030. We will continue working toward the 2030 targets this year.
Moreover, it is essential for management to ensure the safety of employees as they engage in corporate business activities. In order to remove hazards that could lead to work-related accidents at an early stage, it is crucial to continuously undertake broad-based risk assessments and develop a sharp eye for assessing hazards. We will continuously implement training and risk mitigation activities in order to prevent work-related accidents in all business areas, including research, production and sales.
Chief Administrative Officer & Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer
Fumiaki Sakurai
・Astellas Environment, Health & Safety Policy
Modality: Material classifications and methods such as small-molecule compounds, peptides (middle molecules) and other protein medicines; nucleic acid medicines; therapeutic antibodies; and cell medicines
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD): A task force the Financial Stability Board (FSB) set up to disclose information on climate-related financial affairs.
SBT initiative: A group jointly established in 2015 by CDP, United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), World Resources Institute (WRI), and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). An international initiative that encourages countries and companies to set GHG reduction target to achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement—to limit global warming to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
Interaction between Astellas and the Environment (Results for Fiscal 2020
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 | GHGs
|
||
| Electricity |
226,105 MWh |
Scope 1*2 |
63,276 tons |
| City gas |
19,620 thousand m3 |
Scope 2 |
59,320 tons |
| LPG | 1,114 tons | Pollutants (atmosphere) | |
| LNG | 958 tons | NOx | 22 tons |
| Kerosene | 1 kiloliters | VOC*3
|
22 tons |
| Diesel oil | 1,498 kiloliters | Pollutants (water body) | |
| Gasoline | 4,108 kiloliters |
BOD |
9 tons |
| Purchased heat (hot/cold water) |
4,687 GJ |
COD | 21 tons |
| Purchased heat (steam) | 20,838 GJ | Water discharge*4
|
|
| Other renewble energy | 48,963 GJ | Water discharge (Surface) |
7,233 thousand m3 |
| Resources | Waste material
|
||
| Water | 7,570 thousand m3 | Volume of waste generated | 14,352 tons |
| Raw materials and consumables (by weight)*1 |
4,348 tons | Landfill volume*5 | 98 tons |
| Raw materials and consumables (by volume)*1 |
311,093 kiloliters | ||
*1 all Japanese business premises
*2 Non-energy related GHG emissions are not included.
*3 all production facilities and R&D sites in Japan
*4 volume of water discharge from non-Japanese production facilities was equivalent to withdrawal amount
*5 all Japanese facilities excluding sales branches
Indirect GHGs (Scope3)
| Upstream Scope3 emissions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | GHG emissions | |
| 1 | Purchased goods and services | 55,959 tons |
| 2 | Capital goods | 95,377 tons |
| 3 | Fuel and energy related activities (not included in Scope1 and Scope2) | 30,481 tons |
| 4 | Transportation and distribution | 2,579 tons |
| Truck transportation of raw materials | (163 tons) | |
| Plant → warehouse | (109 tons) | |
| Warehouse | (720 tons) | |
| Warehouse → wholesalers | (1,588 tons) | |
| 5 | Waste generated in operation | 2,605 tons |
| 6 | Business travel (by airplane) | 5,008 tons |
| 7 | Employee commuting | 1,862 tons |
| 8 | Leased assets | Not relevant |
| Downstream Scope3 emissions | ||
| Category | GHG emissions | |
| 9 | Transportation and distribution | Not relevant |
| 10 | Processing of sold products | Not relevant |
| 11 | Use of sold products | Not applicable |
| 12 | End-of-life treatment of sold products | 544 tons |
| 13 | Leased assets | Not relevant |
| 14 | Franchises | Not relevant |
| 15 | Investments | Not relevant |
GHG Emissions Throughout the Value Chain
GHG emissions associated with Astellas’ business activities amounted to 317 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.
