Water Risk Management

Amid worldwide concern over water shortages, KIOXIA Group has established the conservation of water resources and stable operations as business priorities. The balance between supply and demand, the amount of water that can be withdrawn, and the quality of water vary greatly between regions. Accordingly, KIOXIA Group has identified water-related risks for each region from all aspects and conducts environmental impact assessments to ensure appropriate water management focusing on the medium- to long-term. It is necessary to consider the impact of external environmental factors, such as drought and flooding, on our business operations, as well as the impact of our operations on local water levels. KIOXIA Group has accordingly established voluntary standards that are more rigorous than the corresponding legal requirements. We continually strive to reduce the environmental impact of the wastewater produced during our manufacturing processes and we recycle the water we use as best we can to conserve precious water resources and ensure business continuity.

At KIOXIA Group, we position initiatives and indices related to water as important management issues. Sustainability strategies and policies, including those related to water, are formulated at Sustainability Strategy Meetings, chaired by the President and CEO, with the degree of target achievement confirmed in each case, before a final review by the Board of Directors.
KPIs are discussed and determined by a Sustainability Committee chaired by the executive officer in charge of sustainability, based on sustainability strategies and policies formulated in Sustainability Strategy Meetings, including those related to water.

At Environmental Management Review Meetings, which involve discussions primarily between the officers responsible for environmental protection, it has evaluated the impact on our business, and compliance with relevant laws and regulations with reference to social and legislative trends, and our medium-term environmental plan, considering the risks and opportunities related to our usage of water.

Issues deliberated at Sustainability Strategy Meetings include the installation of equipment to reduce water consumption during the construction of new plants, and the management of risk through business continuity plan (BCP) activities. Assessments of water hazards such as overflowing rivers, large-scale typhoons and drought are also conducted as part of our BCP policy, to reinforce our overall business risk management and enable swift business continuity in the wake of any disaster. Furthermore, specialists investigate and monitor domestic and international regulations and trends to reduce the risks posed to constantly changing water environments.

The balance between supply and demand, the amount of water that can be withdrawn, and the quality of water vary greatly between regions. KIOXIA Group has commissioned external experts to evaluate water-related risks from the perspective of current and future water supply and demand risks; these are assessed using tools such as the World Resources Institute's WRI Aqueduct and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Water Risk Filter. We are using these assessments to analyze risks such as water stress levels and seasonal variations in water supplies through the year 2040 in order to understand the potential impact on our business activities.

The outcome of the assessment of our manufacturing operations was confirmation that they are not exposed to any water risk likely to have practical financial or strategic impact prior to the year 2040. This assessment was based on investigations into such areas as water supply and demand risk (driven by seasonal changes, the frequency of droughts, water storage capacity and water source protection), the risk of water-related disasters such as flooding or landslides, and regional vulnerability to water pollution that might endanger public health or ecosystems.

Using FY2013 levels as the baseline, KIOXIA Group has set targets for the reduction of our water intake per storage capacity output, and we manage these using a PDCA cycle.
For FY2021, we set the target of consuming 24.6% or less of FY2013 levels, and achieved this with an actual result of 23.2%.
Going forward, we will continue to promote activities aimed at achieving water intake reduction targets by both reducing water consumption and by promoting recycling.

In each of our domestic manufacturing operations, KIOXIA Group in Japan monitors wastewater using voluntary standards that are more stringent than the prevailing legal requirements, in order to minimize the impact of our business operations on the atmosphere and on rivers.

Around-the-clock, automated monitoring is conducted in respect of legally regulated factors, including chemical oxygen demand (COD), suspended solids (SS), fluorine (F), and power of hydrogen (pH) levels. We also voluntarily control items not subject to legal restrictions through sampling conducted at the Analysis Centers located within our manufacturing plants. The Yokkaichi Plant tests waste water qualities around 29,000 samples per year, with KIOXIA Iwate Corporation testing around 10,000.

In FY2021, KIOXIA Group was not subject to any government fines or penalties related to wastewater.

Daily control is implemented based on voluntary guidelines that are more stringent than corresponding laws, regulations or agreements.

In order to promote more effective use of resources, KIOXIA Group in Japan is devising initiatives aimed at controlling the amount of water we intake and discharge at our manufacturing plants. One example of this is the collection and reuse of water used in manufacturing processes inside plants.

Water recycling at domestic manufacturing plants in FY2021 resulted in the collection and reuse of approximately 30 million cubic meters of water (equivalent to about 55% of our total intake), which has helped ensure the effective use of water resources and reduced the environmental impact of public water utilities’ operations.