Environmental Management

We consider global environmental issues to be an important management issue, and have established the Environmental Action Guidelines with the approval of the upper-level committee including management to promote efforts to reduce the environmental impact of our business activities by all executives and employees. (Business activities covered by the Environmental Action Guidelines include all facilities and equipment, as well as business expansion and entry into new businesses through M&A and the establishment of JVs.

Environmental action guidelines

SoftBank Corp. is actively engaged in maintaining and conserving the global environment through our businesses to contribute to the continuous development of a sustainable society.Specifically, SoftBank will:

  • Comply with environmental laws, ordinances and other regulations and requirements.
  • In order to resolve issues such as climate change and resource depletion through an environmental management system, we have set environmental targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, energy conservation, resource conservation, waste reduction, and water usage reduction, etc. and strive to make continuous improvements.
  • Promote environmental-friendly green procurement in our purchase of office equipment and supplies.
  • SoftBank strives to provide telecommunications services, etc. which help reduce the environmental load and contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions across society as a whole.
  • We take into account the business impact on ecosystems and promote initiatives to conserve biodiversity.
  • We strive to provide environmental education to employees while also announcing the details of these guidelines and our environmental information both internally and externally to reduce the environmental load together with stakeholders including group companies, business partners, and suppliers.

Environmental
management system

SoftBank has formulated environmental action guidelines and established an environmental management system and administrative framework to promote environmentally-conscious business activities and actively engage in environmental conservation activities. We are aiming to improve the environmental friendliness of our business activities by focusing on the prevention of global warming which is particularly important for its impact on the environment, promotion of mobile phone recycling, conservation of resources, restriction of the usage and inclusion as well as the emission of specified toxic substances defined in the RoHS Directive*.

Moreover, as the public awareness of environmental issues grows, corporations are facing more diverse demands to provide environmentally-friendly products and services and implement smarter business practices through regulations governing environmental conservation, energy conservation, and resource saving.
As public awareness of environmental issues grows, corporations are facing more diverse demands to provide environmentally friendly products and services, to adhere to regulations governing environmental protection, and to achieve energy conservation and resource saving through smart business practices. To respond swiftly to these trends and demands, SoftBank has incorporated a PDCA (plan, execution, confirmation, improvement) cycle to guide our environmental management system and improvements are made on a continuous basis.

In order to promote our environmental management system, we conduct external audits on a regular basis in order to enhance its effectiveness. We have obtained ISO 14001 certification for 57% of our offices (based on employee coverage) with large greenhouse gas emissions, including our head office and network center, and have conducted internal audits based on our own standards at all offices.

[Note]
  1. *
    EU regulations which prohibit the inclusion of toxic substances in electrical and electronic devices.
  • Environmental management system

Environmental
management structure

To promote group-wide environmental conservation activities, SoftBank has established the Environment Committee covering environmental matters under the supervision of the director in charge of SDG promotion, which complies with ISO14001 international standard.

  • Environmental management structure

Compliance
with environmental laws
and regulations

SoftBank strives to comply with environmental laws and regulations based on an environmental management system framework. There were no violations of environmental laws and regulations in fiscal 2020.

We conduct regular internal audits to verify that the environmental management system conforms to the requirements of ISO14001 and is being effectively implemented based on environmental targets. In addition, based on those results, we identify issues, implement corrective measures, and revise the environmental management system for continuous improvement. During fiscal 2020, we verified that each office is in conformance with the requirements of ISO14001.

Support for the TCFD
recommendations

In April 2020, SoftBank announced its support for the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures)* recommendations. Based on the TCFD recommendations, we are enhancing governance and striving for active and complete information disclosure.

[Note]
  1. *
    Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures: an international initiative established by the Financial Stability Board in 2015 which recommends that companies disclose information about the financial impact of climate-related risks and opportunities on businesses.

Governance

The SDGs Promotion Committee was established in March 2020 as an advisory body to the Board of Directors. The President and Representative Director serves as the highest ranking person in charge of the SDGs and is responsible for all sustainability activities such as strategy with respect to climate change.

Strategy

Scenario analysis was conducted to consider strategies for adapting to projected future events due to climate change. Risks that are expected to occur by 2050, which have a particularly large financial impact on the business, including upstream and downstream of the value chain, were identified and two scenarios were considered. The external scenarios referred to are IEA 2DS, IEA B2DS, RCP2.6, and RCP8.5.

4℃ scenario We assumed that the physical effects of climate change, such as intensification of extreme weather events, would occur while the risks of transition in technology, markets, reputation and other areas, as well as the strengthening of policies and regulations, such as climate change countermeasures, would not become apparent. For example, in the case of a disaster of the magnitude of the July 2020 torrential rains, we invested approximately 330 million yen in restoration costs. SoftBank operates approximately 230,000 cell phone base stations nationwide. Based on an analysis of the financial impacts such as restoration costs for disaster damageI, we secure a budget for disaster and are prepared to respond quickly.
1.5 to 2℃ scenario While there will be no acute or chronic physical risk due to climate change at a level that affects business, we estimated that if a carbon tax of about 6,000-14,000 yen per ton of CO2 equivalent were imposed from 2025, assuming that climate change policies and regulations are strengthened, there would be a cumulative impact of 17.5-40.7 billion yen until 2035.

In order to consider strategies for adapting to phenomena which are predicted to occur in the future due to climate change, we performed scenario analysis, identified scenarios where the financial impact on the business has a particularly high risk, and examined initiatives to deal with those risks.

Scenario in which the average temperature rises by 4℃:
anticipate a future in which typhoons and other natural disasters increase and become more severe
Scenario Identified risks Examined initiatives Period until the risks occur
Increased frequency and severity of natural disasters Increase in recovery costs due to greater and more severe facility damage Strengthen initiatives to prevent and reduce disasters
  • Promote redundancy in the core network
  • Securing communications in times of disaster using a moored balloon radio relay system
  • Promote initiatives for practical use of HAPS
 Long-term
Increase in extremely hot days Increase in air conditioning power costs Strengthen energy conservation initiatives
  • Conversion to energy-saving equipment
  • Improving the efficiency of electricity use through the use of AI and IoT
 Long-term
[Note]
  1. *
    Reference: IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Fifth Assessment Report
Scenario in which the average temperature rises by 1.5～2℃:
assuming a world where a decarbonized society will be realized rapidly
Scenario Identified risks Examined initiatives Period until the risks occur
Strengthen decarbonization regulations Strengthen decarbonization regulations
  • Renewable energy for base station
  • Achieve carbon neutrality (by FY2030)
 Medium-term
Increase in extremely hot days Increase in power costs due to shift to renewable energy Strengthen energy conservation initiatives
  • Conversion to energy-saving equipment
  • vices
  • Improving the efficiency of electricity use through the use of AI and IoT
 Short-term
Increase in environmental awareness Customer loss due to reputational risk if environmental initiatives are insufficient Initiative to reduce CO² and information dissemination
  • Renewable energy for base station
  • Achieve carbon neutrality
  • Provide natural electricity
  • Contribution to the reduction of CO² emissions in society
 Short-term
[Note]
  1. *
    Reference: IEA (International Energy Agency) Energy Technology Perspectives 2017 Beyond 2℃ Scenario (B2DS)

Risk management

Regarding the risks and opportunities involved in climate change, selections are made in the Environment Committee for regular evaluation and analysis by the officer in charge. Furthermore, issues with a high degree of importance are discussed by the Board of Directors after consulting with the SDGs Promotion Committee.

Based on the results of the scenario analysis, we are implementing the following initiatives to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The initiatives for climate change mitigation and adaptation are to be implemented across all of our businesses, including new businesses.

Climate change mitigation Renewable energy for base station SoftBankʼs primary business is in mobile communications, and about 60% of the electricity it consumes is used to power its 230,000 base stations.
FY2020, approximately 30% of base station electricity was renewable energy. We will gradually raise this rate to 50% in FY2021 and 70% in FY2022 while simultaneously striving to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
Initiatives to Achieve Carbon Neutrality We will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our business activities to virtually zero by fiscal 2030.
Initiatives at Base Stations and Network Centers At network centers in Toda City, Saitama Prefecture and elsewhere, we installed solar panels with a power generation capacity of approximately 10,000 kWh per year.
Additionally, we have established radio base stations equipped with solar panels (“Eco base stations”) and, under good weather conditions, are capable of producing all the energy needed to operate these stations through solar power generation.
Data Center Initiatives IDC Frontier Inc., a SoftBank Corp. group company, is striving to improve the energy efficiency of its data centers.
Adaptation to climate change Responding to Larger Natural Disasters SoftBank endeavors to fulfill its infrastructural responsibilities as a telecom service operator in response to natural disasters that have grown in scale in recent years. To this end, we have identified the construction of a high-quality network for society as a material issue and are regularly implementing measures focused on maintaining our telecommunications infrastructure during times of disaster.

Our risk management includes regulatory risk, reputation risk, market risk, technology risk, and physical risk.

Numerical values and targets

We establish targets as a company in order to promote corporate activities which run the environmental management system in a manner which is appropriate to the maintenance and improvement of the global environment.

Environmental targets in offices

SoftBank Corp. has established environmental management systems, and its Head Office and Sapporo Office have been certified in the ISO 14000 environment management standard. We are presently carrying out environmental protection activities at our Head Office and at our offices throughout Japan.
At the headquarters building in Shiodome, an automatic lights-out management system introduced in 2015 automatically turns off the lights in the offices at 10 PM and at 6:30 PM on Wednesdays when the “leave work on time” policy is implemented. We are implementing initiatives to reduce the environmental load which are linked to work style reforms which have reduced the amount of electricity used by an estimated 400 kWh per year.

Type of activity Location (scope)
of activity		 FY2020
Focus of activity Objective of activity
Clean energy Stable operation of on-site fuel cells to generate electricity Head Office Electricity consumption 25% reduction compared with FY2010 levels
Lights-out management system Implemented at Head Office Continued light-out management system
In-company education Training on environmental matters Company wide Knowledge about environmental matters Increase staff knowledge of the laws governing treatment of industrial waste and handling Freon gas
Increase staff knowledge about how to handle used mobile phones

Environmental targets
at network centers

We pro-actively undertake environmental preservation activities with the maintenance and management of our network infrastructure facilities. To minimize the environmental impact from SoftBank's business activities, network centers across Japan are ISO14001 certified.

Type of activity FY2020
Focus of activity Objective of activity
Energy-saving Efficient use of electrical energy Electrical energy use (consumption) A 1% reduction in a year
Waste materials Proper handling of industrial waste Industrial waste Proper handling
Proper handling of waste CFCs Waste CFCs Proper handling

Energy consumption

Data about emissions and resource usage is provided for SoftBank Corp. SoftBank aims to reduce the burden its activities place upon the environment.

Resource usage

Item
(Unit)		 Fiscal year
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Electricity
(kWh (000's))		 1,338,019 1,418,791 1,355,703 1,644,234 1,680,530
Included renewable energy
(kWh (000's))		 36 44 44 32,516 324,766
City gas
(m³ (000's))		 4,835 4,731 4,554 4,508 4,914
Bunker A fuel oil
(kl)		 65 144 190 160 198

Greenhouse gas emissions

Item
(Unit)		 Fiscal year
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Scope 1, 2
(t-CO²)		 733,515 722,514 693,953 776,104 620,929

Industrial waste

Item
(Unit)		 Fiscal year
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Volume generated (t) 1,286 1,159 1,092 5,226 6,313
Final disposal volume (t) 38.6 34.8 32.8 153 832
[Notes]
  1. *
    The boundaries are as follows.
    • Up to FY2018: SoftBank Corp. (non-consolidated)
    • FY2019 and beyond: all SoftBank Corp. (non-consolidated) business offices and major affiliated companies (Yahoo Japan Corporation, ASKUL Corporation)
  2. *
    The increase in FY2019 is due to the boundary change.
  3. *
    Revised calculation method for final disposal volume from FY2020.
  4. *
    Third-party verification was obtained for the FY2020 greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1, 2) and energy consumption. (Limited certification level based on ISO14064-3)
  5. *
    To ensure we continue to manage appropriately, at SoftBank we do not emit specially controlled industrial waste or hazardous industrial waste.
Independent Verification Report (PDF: 796KB/1 page)