Biodiversity Conservation
Biodiversity policy
Corporate activities receive the benefits of ecosystem services provided by biodiversity and natural capital, so preserving biodiversity is essential from the viewpoint of sustainable corporate management.
Our company supports the achievement of “Nature Positive” pursued by the international community and promotes efforts to reduce the impact on biodiversity and address any deforestation associated with business activities, including the value chain, in order to contribute to its realization.
Furthermore, we endorse the principles of the TNFD (Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures) and actively promote information disclosure based on the disclosure framework.
Recognizing that the stable provision of telecommunication services is the responsibility of a business operator, we have constructed and are operating approximately 300,000 base stations nationwide to provide telecommunication services.
On the other hand, we recognize that Japan has a wide range of habitats and environment with diverse organisms, and that there are important areas for biodiversity conservation that are the basis of ecosystem services. Based on this recognition, we conduct risk assessments regarding the impact of our operations on biodiversity.
Both globally and domestically, we prioritize avoiding land development, such as base station construction, in areas of significant biodiversity. If such development is unavoidable, we take utmost care in considering the impacts on ecosystems and make efforts to minimize and restore significant impacts on important ecosystems.
Furthermore, we set efforts to mitigate the impact on biodiversity from land development as a KPI (target) within our material issues. We implement initiatives towards achieving No Net Loss, which includes offset activities contributing to forest conservation and other relevant efforts.
In order to ensure a sustainable planet with functioning ecosystems for future generations, we promote initiatives based on this policy within our business operations, and ask all of our suppliers (tier-1 and non tier-1) and business partners to cooperate with our biodiversity initiatives as well. We also engage with stakeholders to promote biodiversity conservation initiatives through business activities and social contribution activities.
Governance
We consider contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the United Nations as an important management issue. We have identified the material issues and set “Contributing to the Global Environment with the Power of Technology” as one of the material issues.
To promote actions related to these material issues, we established the ESG Committee as an advisory body to the Board of Directors in March 2020.
The President and CEO serves as the Chief ESG Officer and bears the ultimate responsibility for the overall sustainability activities under the supervision of the Board of Directors.
The ESG Committee, chaired by the President and CEO who also serves as the Chief ESG Officer, convenes four times a year with members designated by the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Committee, and submits significant matters to the Board of Directors for deliberation.
In fiscal year 2023, the ESG Committee endorsed a policy on biodiversity and set a materiality KPI regarding the mitigation of biodiversity impact associated with land development.
Furthermore, for the internal promotion of risk management and initiatives, we have established an Environment Committee under the supervision of the director in charge of ESG promotion. The Environment Committee, chaired by the head of the CSR Division, consists of environmental representatives from each of our business divisions and major Group companies to promote specific measures aimed at achieving Nature Positive.
Strategy
We conduct evaluations of our company's and its business units' dependency, impact, and business risks related to the global environment, including biodiversity and climate change, in the adjacent areas of our operations and upstream and downstream in our supply chain.
We select and review those dependencies, impacts and business risks at least once a year under the supervision of the ESG Promotion Officer, the Environment Committee, chaired by the head of the CSR Division and composed of environment committee members from each of our business units and major Group companies, selects and reviews at least once a year.
The identified dependencies, impacts, and business risks are analyzed by the dedicated environmental unit of the CSR Division, taking into account various external factors, etc., and evaluated by the ESG Promotion Officer.
| Category | Dependency | Impact | Business Risk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Physical Risk | Social Risk | |||
| Water | Large volume use in semiconductor manufacturing for use in radio equipment, etc. | The causes of water scarcity, land subsidence, and water pollution resulting from excessive water extraction | Impact of supply chain water shortages on product sourcing |
|
| Server Cooling Water | Impact of water shortage on business promotion | |||
| Forest (Land utilization) |
Supply of rare metals, etc. for use in radio equipment | Deforestation and soil contamination associated with mining development | The impact on product sourcing due to the strengthening of supply chain regulations | |
| Disaster prevention function of base stations mainly in mountainous areas | Deforestation, weed control, and other changes to forest ecosystems due to land modification associated with construction | The impact on business promotion due to strengthening of regulations | ||
| Land for construction of large facilities | ||||
| Supply of paper used for products and sales | Deforestation due to pulp and paper production | |||
| Others | Soil contamination and other issues caused by improper disposal of waste and e-waste associated with business operations. | |||
| Marine outflow or leakage due to improper handling of plastics used in products, promotional materials, etc. | ||||
| The introduction of invasive species due to the importation of products, etc. | ||||
Taking into consideration the above results and our company's specific circumstances, we have conducted a risk assessment to evaluate the impact on biodiversity caused by land use related with the installation of base stations.
Our core service is the domestic telecommunications business, and we operate approximately 300,000 base stations nationwide. Telecommunication networks are essential lifelines for society and we believe that it is the responsibility of telecommunication carriers to construct the latest and highest quality networks and provide stable and highly reliable telecommunication services.
The risk of sediment disasters occurring as a result of forest depletion and degradation caused by the loss of biodiversity has been increasing year by year. The stable operation of our base stations located in mountainous areas relies on biodiversity. However, we also recognize the risk of land development associated with the construction of new base stations, which can impact ecologically significant areas.
National parks and similar areas restrict development activities to preserve outstanding natural landscapes. However, they also undertake the establishment of facilities to promote visitor use. In order to fulfill our responsibility of providing stable communication services as a social infrastructure, there are cases where it is unavoidable to install network facilities in nature conservation areas.
As an example, we have installed base stations in natural conservation areas designated by national and international treaties, such as Yakushima and the Ogasawara Islands. However, we have analyzed all the base stations we install to assess any potential risks that may pose. As a result of conducting proximity surveys between the installation locations and areas of significant biodiversity, we have confirmed that there is no urgent need for measures in terms of the significance and integrity of biodiversity for the relevant stations.
We will continue to prioritize avoiding infrastructure construction in areas of significant biodiversity and carry out further risk assessments, in addition to fulfilling the necessary procedures during construction.
The risk assessment of biodiversity is conducted by utilizing the LEAP approach, as demonstrated in the beta version of the TNFD framework. After assessing the extent of our business activities' dependencies on and impacts on biodiversity using the online tool “ENCORE,” developed jointly by the Natural Capital Finance Alliance and UNEP-WCMC, we focus on activities where the dependencies and impacts are considered high (particularly base station construction in the telecommunications sector) where the dependence and impacts are considered high and we assess the risks based on the proximity to areas of significant biodiversity and also examine comprehensive water risks for each site.
The risk assessment for each site, we utilize data on nature conservation areas such as national parks from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the Ministry of the Environment. We also use geospatial data on Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) and the Aqueduct tool developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) for water risk assessment.
Regarding opportunities, we will strive to enhance corporate value by promoting initiatives related to the conservation of biodiversity and natural capital using cutting-edge technologies such as AI, IoT, and Big Data, which are our strengths, as well as by disclosing information based on the TNFD framework and actively disseminating information on activities that lead to the realization of nature positive.
Risk and Impact Management
In order to identify and prevent the materialization of company-wide risks, we have established a management structure to analyze them from various perspectives within the company.
Each department conducts considerations, including risk assessments, when formulating various measures at the operational level. Additionally, the Risk Management Office periodically identifies comprehensive company-wide risks and assesses the status of countermeasures and reports to the Risk Management Committee (consisting of the President, Vice President, CFO, etc. as members, with participation by corporate auditors and the heads of related departments).
The Risk Management Committee determines the significance of risks and the person responsible for dealing with them (risk owner), gives instructions on countermeasures and reports the status to the Board of Directors.
The Internal Audit Office confirms these overall risk management structures and conditions from an independent standpoint.
Global environmental risks, such as biodiversity and climate change, managed by the Environment Committee, are integrated with company-wide risk management processes, and through regular risk management processes, we are working to reduce and prevent risks.
Indicators and Goals
In order to fulfill our responsibility of providing stable communication services as a social infrastructure, there are cases where it is unavoidable to install network facilities in nature conservation areas designated by national and international treaties.
The total area of telecommunication facilities and other equipment installed in nature conservation areas defined by national or international treaties in FY2022 is 492 ㎡.
We have been contributing to forest conservation to date, and in FY2023, our goal is to make a greater contribution to forest conservation compared to the area developed in the previous fiscal year (FY2022), including nature conservation areas, and we plan to continue these efforts consistently in the future.
Major initiatives
Protecting the marine
environment
through activities
to conserve coral
As part of our environmental conservation efforts which include measures to combat global warming and ecosystem maintenance, we launched the “Future and Coral Project” in July 2019 together with Onna Village in Okinawa Prefecture and many companies and organizations to plant coral and actively conserve the environment.
In order to protect the corals and maintain the future ecosystem of the planet, this project collects donations and purchases coral seedlings with such funds, arranges volunteer tours to plant those seedlings and activities to clean up nearby beaches, and disseminates information about coral growth, cooperating companies, and the activities of the organization.
The Sunshine Aquarium, which has been involved in coral conservation and research, has provided academic support since the project's inception, and we will continue to deepen our relationship.
Promotion of cell phone recycling
The mainstay of our business, cell phone bodies, batteries, and chargers, contain many valuable resources such as rare metals (palladium, cobalt, etc.), gold, silver, and copper, which are rarely produced in large quantities.
Rare metals are not only important raw materials, but are also difficult to substitute for, and new mining will affect biodiversity in the areas where they are produced due to mine development and other factors.
Rare metals can be collected more efficiently by recycling than by mining, which is why we promote the collection and recycling of used cell phones. By promoting recycling, we contribute to the prevention of environmental destruction such as deforestation caused by new mining.
Initiatives to prevent
the deforestation
In addition to complying with applicable laws and regulations regarding the prevention of deforestation, we support global efforts to minimize the impact of our business activities on forest resources by participating in initiatives, promoting paperless operations, and actively using certified paper. We also conduct an annual sustainability procurement survey of our suppliers to continuously monitor the direct and indirect impacts of our business activities on the ecosystem, including the impact on forests.
Declaration of Zero Paper for Internal Operations
As part of our efforts to promote paperless operations, we have been actively working to reduce the amount of paper used for internal and external procedures, reports, meetings, etc., and have succeeded in significantly reducing printing by 90% compared to fiscal 2011, under our “Declaration of Zero Paper for Internal Operations,” which was launched in April 2012. In April 2021, we will further promote paperless operations and reduce our impact on deforestation through a project to computerize stamping for the purpose of improving operational efficiency.
Afforestation activities by employees
With the cooperation of the NPO CCC Furano Nature School led by Satoshi Kuramoto, we have been holding an original program called “Summer Holiday Nature School for Parents and Children” for our employees under the themes of “building a healthy relationship between parents and children” and “thinking about the environment and nature.
Since its start in 2007, a total of more than 250 parents and children have participated in the program, which includes planting trees on a former golf course site and returning the forest to its original state for the future.
Use of certified paper
All of the paper bags with our logo that our employees use for sales and other activities are made of recyclable materials. In addition to the elimination of plastic on the surface of the bags, plastic is also not used for the handles. The joints between the bags are also tied together without using any adhesives or fasteners. The paper is recyclable and certified by the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®), an international non-profit organization established to promote responsible forest management worldwide. For logo printing, we now use vegetable ink, which is biodegradable compared to petroleum-based solvents and contributes to a reduction in environmental impact with almost no emissions of volatile organic compounds.
Participation in initiatives
Joining the TNFD Forum.
We have endorsed the principles of the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures(TNFD), and have joined the TNFD Forum in May 2022. We will actively promote information disclosure based on the disclosure framework.
Participated in the Ministry of
the Environment's
30by30 Alliance for Biodiversity
Participated in the 30by30 Alliance for Biodiversity, a group of companies, local governments, NPOs, and others working to achieve the 30by30 goal of conserving 30% of land and sea by 2030.
Join the Japan Business Initiative
for Biodiversity (JBIB)
We are a network member of the Japan Business Initiative for Biodiversity (JBIB), a group of companies that are actively working to conserve biodiversity.
We will continue to engage in biodiversity conservation activities and promote activities that are consistent with global trends.
Endorsement of the
“Initiative based on the Declaration of
Biodiversity by Keidanren”
In addition to participating in the Keidanren Council on Nature Conservation, we endorse the aims of the “Declaration of Biodiversity by Keidanren” formulated by Keidanren, and have endorsed the “Initiative based on the Declaration of Biodiversity by Keidanren”.