Environmental Management

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• UACJ Group Basic Environmental Policies
• UACJ Environmental Management Activity Policy
• Implementation framework
• Status of Compliance with Product Safety Laws and Regulations
• Environmental Investment
• Environmental Education

UACJ Group Basic Environmental Policies

Corporate Philosophy

The UACJ Group is thankful for the earth and the abundance of life it supports, and work to conserve it, with recognition that the fate of all living things hangs on the condition of the earth’s environment. We will also voluntarily and actively take action to evaluate the environmental impact of our current and future business activities throughout the supply chain, set specific targets based on the assessment, and minimize environmental load and maximize environmental contribution.

Guidelines

1. We comply with environment-related laws, regulations, and agreements, and establish voluntary standards to properly manage wastewater, exhaust gas, and chemical substances.
2. We promote sales of products and development of technology that contribute to environmental improvement.
3. In order to contribute to the achievement of the goals of the Paris Agreement, we will strive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve energy, and promote measures against climate change. (The details shall be based on the "Concept of Climate Change Countermeasures")
4. We promote the recycling of aluminum materials and other raw materials and secondary materials, and promote the creation of a sustainable recycling economy.
5. We endeavor to conserve water resources essential to our business activities.
6. We endeavor to conserve biodiversity by giving consideration to the benefits of ecosystems.
7. We raise environmental awareness through educational and public relations activities.
8. We strive to contribute to and coordinate the environmental conservation activities of our stakeholders.

UACJ Environmental Management Activity Policy

Slogan
We are grateful for the lush blue earth, and we will pursue aluminum to contribute to the formation of a sustainable society.

Environmental management system

In fiscal 2023, we reorganized our materiality issues and reviewed each of our committees involved in sustainability. As a result, the Environmental Committee, which was responsible for the “defensive” aspects of corporate social responsibility, such as reducing emissions of GHGs and waste, and the Climate Change Countermeasures Steering Committee, which was responsible for the “offensive” aspects, in terms of actively contributing to a decarbonized and recycling-based society, were merged.

In fiscal 2024, we newly established the Environmental Committee, a Group-wide organization that promotes environmental activities and raises environmental awareness among employees.

The Environmental Committee, attended by executive officers, presidents of core operating companies, and general managers of business divisions, meets three times a year to review the implementation status of environmental activities, including measures for the circular economy, climate change, and “Nature Positive,” develop policies regarding environmental activities for the next fiscal year, and deliberate on targets. Under the Environmental Committee are nine working groups (WGs), each of which is involved in multiple materiality issues, and the Environmental Committee oversees these WGs from a cross-sectoral perspective.

Environmental activities organization chart

• Note See below for the meanings of the acronyms used in this diagram.
• ・CFP: Carbon Footprint of Product
• ・GHG: Greenhouse Gas
• ・PIR: Post-Industrial Recycled: Scrap generated during the processing of materials in the manufacturing industry
• ・PCR: Post-Consumer Recycled: Scrap derived from used products
• ・TNFD: Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures

Environmental Manager Meetings

Environmental managers from UACJ’s three manufacturing bases (located in Nagoya, Fukui and Fukuya), three works (two located in Nagoya and Oyama as well as the Foundry & Forging Works), the extrusion & metal components business, and foil business participate in Environmental Manager Meetings to confirm the Group’s progress toward its environmental targets and to exchange information on revisions to laws and regulations.

Environmental Management System

Environmental management systems are in place at each of the UACJ Group’s business locations, and nearly all of our plants have obtained the ISO14001 certification. Some of our smaller business locations have obtained the Eco-Action 21 certification by following the guidelines formulated by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment.

Following the September 2015 issuance of the updated ISO14001 standard, each business location worked to achieve compliance with the new standard. All locations successfully updated their certifications by the July 2018 deadline for doing so.

ISO14001:2015 Certifications (as of June 30, 2024)

Note Companies and sites as of September 30, 2024.

Eco-Action 21 (as of June 30, 2024)

Note Companies and sites as of September 30, 2024.

On-site Inspections

On-site inspections are conducted by officers at Group business sites in Japan to prevent environmental troubles, formulate and promote execution of measures to reduce and eliminate risks, and to ensure full compliance with environmental laws and regulations.

Inspection teams consisting of environmental officers and members of the Safety & Environment Department visit the business sites and utilize a site’s environmental reports and on-site verification to inspect the status of compliance with laws and regulations and the progress of improvement measures. The Safety & Environment Department provides guidance and support for issues that need to be addressed. The inspections are part of our efforts to raise the Group’s level of environmental management.

In fiscal 2023, the Company conducted on-site inspections at five business sites in Japan and two overseas.

Status of Compliance with Environmental Laws and Regulations

In fiscal 2023, we recorded 1 incident of wastewater discharge exceeding environmental regulatory standards.

On the evening of October 25, 2023, coolant^*1 from a hot rolling mill at UACJ Fukaya Works leaked from the on-site drainage channel into a river. On that day, an employee inspection confirmed that the water in the drain was cloudy. When the final outlet sluice gate was closed, the concentration of oil in the wastewater measured slightly higher than the effluent standard of 5 mg/L. We contacted the Environmental Management Office next morning and reported that a worn o-ring in a coolant heating device allowed coolant to leak into the drain water from the steam heating. We also reported our finding that the leak volume was very small and no effects were observed downstream in the river. To prevent recurrence, we revised the method for recovering the drain water from the condensed coolant steam and initiated daily checks for cloudiness in the wastewater.

*1 The coolant is a liquid consisting of water with 2-5% rolling lubricant. The coolant contains no harmful substances to humans.

Environmental Investment

UACJ Group invested approximately 1.2 billion in environmental activities in fiscal 2023 for new electrical rolling machines (UACJ Foil Isesaki Works), new of air conditioning systems (each business site), fuel conversion of heating furnaces (Fukaya Works), new PCB-containing electrical equipment (each business site), and installation of LED ceiling lights (each business site).

Environmental Education

We conduct environmental education for all employees as another measure for fulfilling our social responsibility to protect the global environment.

The Safety & Environment Department and the environment units of individual business locations lead environmental education initiatives. The Safety & Environment Department conducts fundamental environmental education activities, the purposes of which are to enlighten and raise awareness of environmental protection, and promote understanding of the UACJ Group’s Basic Environmental Policies. Meanwhile, the environment units of individual business locations carry out environmental education initiatives to foster the skills and numbers of internal auditors needed to ensure that each business location conducts its daily activities with sensitivity toward the environment.

We encourage employees to obtain public qualifications in environmental fields and are developing a workforce that is capable of appropriately responding to trends in environmental regulation. Individual business locations conduct general environmental education programs and special education programs for employees engaged in work that could have significant environmental impacts.

Note Data is for all UACJ and Group companies in Japan.

Environmental Awards from Outside Organizations

In fiscal 2023, the UACJ Group received the following environmental awards.