Current Status of Environmental Impact and Environmental Targets and Outcomes
Current Status of Environmental Impact
Kioxia Group is expanding our production capacity in order to meet the growing demand for flash memory, an essential component of society’s information infrastructure. At the same time, we are continuing with various initiatives to minimize our environmental impact.
The figures in the table below show the environmental impact in terms of material balance during production activities at Kioxia Corporation, including the Yokohama Technology Campus and Yokkaichi Plant, Kioxia Iwate Corporation, and the Solid State Storage Technology Corporation (SSSTC).
Input
*Table can be scrolled horizontally.
| FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chemicals1 (t) | 63,539 | 63,241 | 53,927 |
| - VOC2 (t) | 18,330 |
18,318 | 15,333 |
| - PRTR3 (t) | 7,539 | 6,669 | 6,545 |
| City water4 (thousand ㎥) | 71 | 122 | 64 |
| Industrial water4 (thousand ㎥) | 24,417 |
25,153 | 24,673 |
Output
*Table can be scrolled horizontally.
| FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenhouse gas (Scope 1+2) (thousand t-CO₂) | 2,542 | 2,580 | 2,281 |
| - Scope 1 | 694 | 681 | 410 |
| - Scope 2 | 1,848 | 1,899 | 1,870 |
| Chemicals1 (t) | 625 | 535 | 424 |
| - VOC2 (t) | 583 | 495 | 378 |
| - PRTR3 (t) | 2 | 2 | 13 |
| Waste (t) | 105,737 | 101,604 | 85,765 |
| - Recycled volume (t) | 75,025 | 72,932 | 64,331 |
| - Plastic products recycled volume (t) | 2,545 | 2,430 | 2,027 |
| Waste water (thousand ㎥) | 18,445 | 18,923 | 18,381 |
| NOx (t) | 26.6 | 32.5 | 35.8 |
| SOx (t) | ０ | ０ | ０ |
- 1 Chemicals targeted for reduction
- 2 Volatile organic compounds: causative agents that generate photochemical smog, such as IPA, butyl acetate and cyclohexanone.
- 3 Pollutant release and transfer register: a system to ascertain, compile and disclose data on hazardous chemical substances (such as water-soluble zinc compounds, 2-aminoethanol, silver and its water-soluble compounds, etc.) discharged into the environment from any source or transported from work sites in waste. The figures shown refer only to our manufacturing and business sites in Japan.
- 4 All fresh water
For details of the environmental impact of each manufacturing site and their efforts to reduce this, please refer to each site’s environmental reports.
Targets and Outcomes
Kioxia Group has established its own environmental goals and undertakes business activities that contribute to the realization of a sustainable society. The following table summarizes our environmental targets for FY2023 and their achievement status. We again achieved all our environmental targets in FY2023 thanks to the energy-saving activities we promoted across the organization and our efforts to reduce the amounts of used and discarded chemical substances at our flash memory manufacturing plants. Our employees also actively participated in a variety of social contribution and biodiversity conservation initiatives, primarily at our manufacturing plants.
We have set correlation numerical targets on a product capacity basis in respect of the environmental impact of our product manufacturing activities using FY2017 as a base year; we have also made strenuous efforts to reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions. We will continue to pursue cross-organizational initiatives aimed at minimizing the environmental impact of our business activities.
The figures in the table below cover emissions from Kioxia Corporation, including the company’s Head Office, Yokohama Technology Campus and Yokkaichi Plant and Kioxia Iwate Corporation.
*Table can be scrolled horizontally.
| Environmental targets and objectives | FY2023 Targets |
FY2023 Results |
FY2023 Achievement Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Development of products the manufacture of which has a reduced environmental impact | Reducing the environmental impact of production processes through the miniaturization of devices | 7 or more measures per year |
7 measures | ✔ |
| Mitigation of global warming | CO₂ emissions from energy sources (Percentage change from FY2017 levels) |
≤ 54.1% | 49.9% | ✔ |
PFCs5 emissions (Percentage change from FY2017 levels) |
≤ 65.9% | 48.7% | ✔ | |
| Promoting efficient use of resources | Total amount of waste generated minus amount of valuable waste (Percentage change from FY2017 levels) |
≤ 47.3% | 43.0% | ✔ |
Total waste generated (Percentage change from FY2017 levels) |
≤ 52.1% | 45.0% | ✔ | |
Water intake (Percentage change from FY2017 levels) |
≤ 54.0% | 51.3% | ✔ | |
| Reduction of environmental risks | Emissions of chemical substances to air and water (Total amounts, percentage change from FY2017 levels) |
≤ 25.3% | 21.5% | ✔ |
| Biodiversity conservation | Biodiversity conservation | Periodic monitoring of indicator species | Periodic monitoring of indicator species | ✔ |
| Promotion of environmental communication | Social communication | Charity eco bazaars, collection of recyclable waste, donations, etc. | Held charity eco bazaars, collected recyclable garbage, made donations, etc. | ✔ |
| Community communication | Local communication at manufacturing sites | Communicated with local residents (e.g., meetings with local residents' associations) | ✔ | |
| Raising environmental awareness | Raising environmental awareness | Awareness-raising activities | Held awareness-raising programs (e.g., monthly environmental events) | ✔ |
(✓: Achieved, ×: Not achieved)
- 5 CFC alternatives used in the manufacture of semiconductors. PFCs gases have high global warming potential. The substances used by our group are CF4, C4F8, CHF3, SF6, NF3, CH2F2, CH3F, CH4, and N2O.
Removing VOCs
Kioxia Group is committed to reducing emissions of chemical substances. In order to control the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), we have installed abatement equipment in 100% of the targeted manufacturing facilities constructed since 2011.
We are also working to improve the efficiency of detoxification equipment. At Kioxia Group's newest manufacturing building, Yokkaichi Plant’s Fab7, the reuse of waste heat generated during combustion detoxification has reduced the consumption of city gas used in the combustion process and enhanced the effectiveness of the detoxification process.
Effective Use of Resources
We are striving to promote the effective use of resources throughout our entire supply chain with the aim of reducing our environmental footprint. By collecting and recycling waste generated during manufacturing and improving manufacturing processes, we are proactively reducing our consumption of chemicals and gas.
Since 2022, we have also been running a cross-organizational project aimed at ensuring the effective use of resources and the reduction of waste.
For performance data related to our environmental initiatives, please see below.
