The vision aims to support the Paris Agreement and contribute toward creating a carbon-free society with zero greenhouse gas emissions.
The Brother Group will aim to achieve carbon neutrality* in all business operations and minimize CO2 emissions from the entire value chain by 2050 so as to contribute toward creating a carbon-free society.
- Achieve overall zero CO2 emissions from the Brother Group
Main efforts: Introduction of solar power generation, renewal of air conditioning facilities, renewal and adoption of energy-saving for production facilities, etc.
Progress Towards CO2 Emission Reduction Targets
In the Brother Group Environmental Vision 2050, the medium-term target for FY2030 is set as achieving 65% reduction from the FY2015 level for Scopes 1 and 2, and 30% reduction from the FY2015 level for categories 1, 11, and 12 of Scope 3. In FY2021, we achieved 38.2% reduction from the FY2015 level for Scopes 1 and 2, and 11.0% reduction for categories 1, 11, and 12 of Scope 3.
Medium-term target for FY2030*
Scope
- The medium-term target for FY2030 has been recognized as a target based on scientific evidence by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), an international initiative established to help achieve greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
Scopes 1, 2, and 3 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions
In FY2021, revising the target upward, we are taking on the challenge of achieving 65% reduction from the FY2015 level. At the same time, the 2°C target certified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), an international initiative established to help achieve greenhouse gas emission reduction targets was revised upward, and the 1.5 target was certified. Regarding Scope 3, we continue to work on improving the energy-saving performance of products, and achieved a significant reduction of 11% for categories 1, 11, and 12 compared to FY2015. We will continue to take on challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions with procurement, development, manufacturing, logistics, sales, and service working as one.
Scope 1, 2, and 3
These are components making up greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the supply chain. Dividing into three categories minimizes overlapping calculations and allows specific emissions to be identified.
Scope 1: Direct GHG emissions by business operators
Scope 2: Indirect GHG emissions resulting from use of electricity, heat, and steam supplied by other entities
Scope 3: Indirect GHG emissions other than Scope 1 and 2 (emissions by other entities related to the activities of business operators)
Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions according to ISO 14064 from FY2017 through FY2021
| Category | CO2 emissions in t-CO2 equivalent | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | |||
| Scope 1: Direct emissions | 67,068 | 21,622 | 17,363 | 18,356 | 18,724 | ||
| Scope 2: Indirect emissions from energy use | Location-based | 122,220 | 120,199 | 107,833 | 98,508 | 105,317 | |
| Market-based | 118,524 | 122,599 | 107,285 | 98,685 | 105,099 | ||
| Scope 3: Other indirect emissions | 3,522,096 | 3,293,722 | 2,809,046 | 2,752,567 | 2,942,352 | ||
| C1 | Purchased goods and services | 1,613,936 | 1,559,654 | 1,351,272 | 1,302,661 | 1,404,939 | |
| C2 | Capital goods | 68,872 | 57,780 | 56,658 | 75,897 | 86,955 | |
| C3 | Fuel- and energy-related activities | 11,334 | 12,247 | 10,955 | 10,987 | 11,838 | |
| C4 | Upstream transportation and distribution | 70,416 | 83,395 | 80,691 | 103,148 | 138,978 | |
| C5 | Waste generated in operations | 3,452 | 2,960 | 3,680 | 4,138 | 2,849 | |
| C6 | Business travel | 4,528 | 4,414 | 3,663 | 1,558 | 1,887 | |
| C7 | Employee commuting | 15,689 | 15,557 | 14,247 | 14,698 | 14,819 | |
| C8 | Upstream leased assets | 7,211 | 6,288 | 5,176 | 4,642 | 4,101 | |
| C9 | Downstream transportation and distribution | 16,017 | 16,534 | 15,312 | 14,671 | 15,366 | |
| C10 | Processing of sold products | - | - | - | - | - | |
| C11 | Use of sold products | 1,426,816 | 1,240,830 | 998,441 | 968,174 | 995,115 | |
| C12 | End of life treatment of sold products | 282,000 | 292,281 | 267,207 | 250,107 | 263,618 | |
| C13 | Downstream leased assets | 1,729 | 1,742 | 1,742 | 1,886 | 1,886 | |
| C14 | Franchises | 97 | 39 | - | - | - | |
| C15 | Investments | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Total of Scopes 1, 2, and 3 | Location-based | 3,711,384 | 3,435,543 | 2,934,242 | 2,869,431 | 3,066,393 | |
| Market-based | 3,707,688 | 3,437,943 | 2,933,694 | 2,869,608 | 3,066,176 | ||
The sources of emission factors for the location-based method are as follows:
- IEA - EMISSION FACTORS 2020
- GHG Protocol - Calculation tools
- DEFRA
Scope
External Assurance
LR Independent Assurance Statement 2021 [PDF/141KB]
Efforts to Reduce CO2 Emissions in Offices
Amid rising international interest in achieving a society that balances economic development and environmental conservation, the Brother Group aims to contribute toward a sustainable society by creating and promoting a virtuous cycle of business growth and environmental harmony.
In FY2021, BROTHER INDUSTRIES (U.K.) LTD. (BIUK) was certified as a carbon neutral company based on the British Standards Institution's PAS 2060* standard. This is the first manufacturing facility of the Brother Group to be certified as a carbon neutral company. Furthermore, BROTHER INDUSTRIES (SLOVAKIA) s.r.o. (BISK) has also been certified as a carbon neutral company in 2022 based on the PAS 2060 standard by DNV Business Assurance Italy S.r.l. (DNV), a third-party certification organization.
To improve environmental performance while balancing the reduction of CO2 emissions and utility costs, BISK actively uses natural energy. Since December 2020, BISK has been operating an energy system that combines an air conditioning system using heat from groundwater and a solar power generation system. The air conditioning system that uses groundwater heat utilized a well that was originally within BISK's premises.
The energy system at BISK was certified as a project applicable for subsidy from EU's green energy initiative.
In Slovakia, there is a significant difference between temperatures in winter and summer, and a lot of gas energy has been consumed for heating and cooling in the past. With the introduction of this system, the driving force for air conditioning has been switched from gas to natural energy, allowing a large reduction in CO2 emitted during the consumption of gas and significantly contributing toward reducing environmental impact.
The pump for drawing groundwater used in this system is operated using energy generated from solar power, contributing toward reducing CO2 emissions throughout the year. Excess energy from solar power generation is used at the factory.
The great improvement in air conditioning system allows an even more comfortable workplace environment to be provided to employees. It also contributes to the SDG initiatives being advanced by BISK aimed at becoming the company with the highest work satisfaction in the region.
Fundamentally revising the energy procurement and usage method, which relied on external sources in the past, has allowed energy to be stably generated and used within the factory. This has allowed the geopolitical risk from international trends in politics and economics to be met using resilience in the energy system.
Solar power generation system which makes use of the roof
Heat exchange unit that converts geothermal energy to use for heating/cooling
Heating and cooling unit for the factory and office
- PAS 2060 (Publicly Available Specification 2060): International standard that certifies the achievement of carbon neutrality
Efforts to Reduce CO2 Emissions in Products
The Brother Group contributes to the reduction of CO2 emissions through a combination of accumulated small ingenuities and technological innovations at each stage of the product lifecycle.
High-capacity cartridges for inkjet printers (e.g. LC-3135, etc.)
We have achieved a higher ink capacity compared to previous cartridges by reconstructing the functions of previous cartridges into a simpler structure, thereby reducing the number of parts and improving the volume efficiency of the ink storage. By reducing the frequency of cartridge replacement, the cartridge disposal and the use of packaging materials are reduced, which also contributes to the reduction of CO2 emissions.
Consumable inks for industrial printers (GTX Pro series)
In the GTX Pro garment printer series, we have been working to reduce the amount of plastic and packaging materials included with consumable ink. By switching from the previous cartridge replacement system to a pouch replacement system and bottle supply system for consumable ink, we have been able to reduce the amount of plastic and packaging materials used for consumables, contributing to a reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the previous system.
|
GT3 (previous cartridge system) (2012) Ink refill by cartridge replacement |
GTXpro (2017) Reduced cartridge waste by using replaceable ink pouches |
GTXpro B (2020) Adopted bottle ink system to reduce waste generated from ink replacement |
|---|---|---|
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Realization of bottled ink by installing a white ink agitator
CO2 emissions from cartridge disposal (excluding ink) and packaging material use have been reduced by 92%* for the pouch replacement system and 95%* for the bottle supply system compared to the previous system.
Additionally, the amount of resource used for cartridges and the amount of packaging materials used were also reduced by 82%* for the pouch replacement system and 95%* for the bottle supply system compared to the previous system, leading to a reduction in resource consumption.
- Reduction amount with white ink consumption when printing the test data on 2,500 T-shirts.
Thinking about the environment from the perspective of electrical energy—toward a future with widespread use of hydrogen
Toward the development of fuel cell systems, Brother has undertaken many years of fuel cell research while pursuing the potential of hydrogen.
There are still many issues in further widening the use of hydrogen. However, the development of this technology was a steady step into the future for Brother.
Contribution to the Reduction of CO2 in Products
In order to curb climate change (global warming) and achieve a decarbonized society, it is also necessary to work to reduce CO2 emissions in society as a whole. The Brother Group has been working to reduce CO2 emissions in all processes in manufacturing, including development, procurement, production, sales, and logistics, as an activity that is directly linked to our business. For example, reducing the amount of electricity consumed by our customers (electricity consumption) throughout the product life cycle through the improvement of energy-saving performance of Brother products and services will reduce CO2 emissions when customers use our products, which will lead to a reduction of CO2 in society. In addition, saving resources by increasing the capacity of consumables will lead to a reduction in CO2 when procuring raw materials and disposing of consumables. To measure and increase our contribution, we define and visualize avoided CO2 emissions as the CO2 reduced in society as a whole.
We will continue to promote the reduction of CO2 emissions from the Brother Group by providing Brother products and services that lead to a reduction of CO2 from customers which will contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions in society.
Performance of Avoided CO2 Emissions
The Brother Group is working to contribute to the reduction of CO2 by improving the energy-saving performance of all Group-wide products, including printing products, home sewing machines, industrial sewing machines, machine tools, and new business products. As an example of calculation, a graph of avoided CO2 emissions for machine tools is shown below.
![Avoided CO2 emissions for machine tools [Total from 2017 to 2021] (graph)](/-/media/global/sustainability/img/eco/co2/co2-mt-en.ashx)
Method of Calculation of Avoided CO2 Emissions (based on internal research)
Compared Brother's product (SPEEDIO No. 30 spindle machine) to competitor's products (No. 30 and No. 40 spindle machines), calculated the contribution to avoided CO2 emissions in the product use stage that could be achieved through improving energy-saving performance and other means.
- Calculation formula (competitor product CO2 emissions – Brother product CO2 emissions) x number of products sold (estimated 10 years of product use)
- CO2 emissions from competitor products are calculated based on data obtained by running general No. 30 and No. 40 spindle machines based on Brother's scenarios with a processing program developed by Brother (No. 30 and No. 40 spindle machines refers to the size of the tool attachment area and are machine tool industry terms that represent product categories)
- Avoided emissions are based on Brother's original scenarios and differs from the actual reduction.
- Calculation results including those disclosed in previous years have been updated in FY2022 by reviewing the CO2 conversion factor in the calculation formula from uniform to each fiscal year.
- Calculation details are supervised by a third-party expert based on the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's "Guidelines for Quantifying GHG emission reductions of goods or services through Global Value Chain" (March 2018).
In addition, the avoided CO2 emissions in FY2021 was about 14,000 tons, which was achieved by increasing the capacity of consumables to reduce the number used and packaging materials for the aforementioned inkjet printers and garment printers.
CDP Climate Change 2022 Report
CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) is an international non-profit environmental organization founded in 2000, whose disclosure system sets the global standard for environmental reporting in the global economy.
CDP's environmental data is used by financial markets, policy initiatives, and various other stakeholders.
Brother Industries, Ltd. (BIL) has been participating in CDP Climate Change since 2011 and in CDP Water Security since 2015, and has been responding to the questionnaires.
