Environmental Management

Environmental Management Environmental Management

SoftBank considers global environmental problems to be important management issues and has established environmental action guidelines and built an environmental management system and management structure to promote efforts by all executives and employees to reduce our environmental impact.

Environmental action guidelines

SoftBank has established these guidelines under the oversight of our Board of Directors to ensure that all of our directors and employees work together to reduce our environmental impact and contribute to the continuous development of a sustainable society by proactively working to maintain and preserve the global environment through our business activities.
Business activities covered by these guidelines include all facilities and equipment, distribution and logistics in general, business expansion through M&A and the establishment of JVs, and entry into new businesses.

  • Comply with environmental laws, ordinances and other regulations and requirements.
  • Establish an Environment Committee under the oversight of the Executive Officer in Charge of ESG to establish an environmental management system, set environmental targets for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, energy saving, resource saving, waste reduction, and water use reduction, and to continue to improve our environmental performance to solve issues such as climate change countermeasures and resource depletion.
  • Promote environmental-friendly green procurement in our purchase of office equipment and supplies.
  • Strive 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.
  • Take into account the business impact on ecosystems and promote initiatives to conserve biodiversity.
  • 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 have obtained ISO 14001 certification, the international standard for environmental management systems, for our 19 business sites, including our head office building, network center, and data center, which are designated as Type 1 or Type 2 energy management designated factories, etc.

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

For more information on environmental management system certification organizations and our status of acquisition, see here.

Environmental management structure

To promote group-wide environmental conservation activities, SoftBank has established the Environment Committee covering environmental matters under the supervision of the Executive Officer in Charge of ESG, 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, including those related to air pollution, water contamination and soil contamination prevention in fiscal 2022.

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. As a result of external audits we continued to receive ISO 14001 certification in fiscal 2022.

Environmental targets and results

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.

FY2024

Category Objectives Main measures
Climate Change Measures Ratio of renewable energy for base stations: 90% or more (FY2024)
  • Procurement of Environmental Value Certificates
  • New procurement from renewable energy generation
  • Implementation of various energy conservation measures

Office etc.

  • Implementation of measures in cooperation with building owners

Network Center and Data Center etc.

  • Reduce electricity consumption (basic unit) by 1% in one year

Ratio of renewable energy to electricity used by the company: 50% or more (FY2030)

[Note]
  1. *
    Target for SoftBank Corp. and Wireless City Planning, Inc.
  • Net-zero emissions (Scope 1, 2, 3) (FY2050)
  • Carbon neutrality (Scope 1, 2) (FY2030)

Contribution to the reduction of CO2 emissions in society as a whole:

  • Spread and expand household energy saving services through electricity management apps, etc.
  • Create and expand climate change-related businesses
Realize a prosperous society through the spread of renewable energy Promotion of renewable energy provision by offering renewable energy power plans, etc.
  • Provision of renewable energy based on “Shizen Denki” for individual / corporate customers.
Promoting a recycling-oriented society Mobile phones collected for reuse or recycling: 12 million (FY2020-2025)
  • Establishment of a system
  • Dissemination of information
  • Ensure recycling
Percentage of decommissioned base stations recycled: 99% or more

The recycling rate of industrial waste: improve by 1% annually

[Note]
  1. *
    Target for SoftBank Corp. alone (non-consolidated)
Preservation of Biodiversity

Achieving Nature Positive by 2030:

  • Promotion of forest conservation by more than doubling the area of land development in Key Biodiversity Area
  • Promotion of initiatives such as tree planting to contribute to water source replenishment equivalent to 1% of water usage for newly developed data centers
  • Promote initiatives to reduce the impact of business on biodiversity
  • Forest conservation activities
  • Coral Preservation Activities in Onna Village
Promotion of initiatives related to conserving biodiversity / natural capital
Compliance with environmental laws and regulations Proper handling of industrial waste The thorough compliance with laws and regulations
Proper handling of waste CFCs
Proper management of plastics
Proper disposal of PCBs

FY2023

Category Objectives Result
Climate Change Measures Ratio of renewable energy for base stations: 80% or more (FY2023) 81.6%
Ratio of renewable energy to electricity used by the company: 50% or more (FY2030) Currently developing a renewable energy power plant at a power generation company
  • Net-zero emissions (Scope 1, 2, 3) (FY2050)
  • Carbon neutrality (Scope 1, 2) (FY2030)
  • Promotion of transitioning to renewable energy
  • Consideration of energy-saving measures utilizing technology / consideration of introduction of renewable energy with additionality
  • Establishment of internal system for promoting Scope 3 reduction
Promoting a recycling-oriented society Mobile phones collected for reuse or recycling: 12 million (FY2020-2025) 9.87 million (FY2020-FY2023)
Percentage of decommissioned base stations going to landfill: 1% or less 0.03%
Preservation of Biodiversity
  • Promotion of initiatives related to conserving biodiversity / natural capital
  • Reducing the impact of land development on biodiversity
  • Number of coral seedlings planted by the “Future and Coral Project”: 60
  • Contribution to forest conservation equivalent to the development area of natural conservation areas in FY2022 (500m² or more)
Compliance with environmental laws and regulations Proper handling of industrial waste Implementation of appropriate actions in accordance with laws and regulations
Proper handling of waste CFCs
Proper management of plastics

Major initiatives

Environmental education

We conduct environmental education for our employees via e-learning to acquire and raise awareness of foundational knowledge about environmental concerns. The content covers our environmental management practices, including energy consumption reduction, waste reduction, and water efficiency, aiming for each employee to learn broadly about these topics.

These e-learning courses are accessible on iPhones and iPads, enabling effective time management. In FY2023, the participation rate for environmental education among employees was 68.9%.

In the contribution assessment that evaluates the performance and contributions to the organization, factors such as “contribution to overall CO2 reduction in society,” which are material issues KPIs related to climate change, and the results are taken into consideration in determining employee bonuses.