In recent years, natural disasters, such as droughts and floods, are frequently occurring as a result of climate change. There are regions with increasing risks of water resource shortages as the world population increases. We believe that water resources are essential to our Group's business activities, and it is important to promote business activities that effectively assess water stress* and utilize water resources. Our Group is working to reduce the use of water resources by recycling cooling water for equipment and reducing raw materials waste, including water used for preparations.
We will identify regions facing high water stress and consider possible actions by conducting water withdrawal surveys and evaluating our domestic and overseas production facilities for water stress using the World Resources Institute's Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas with the aim of effectively using water resources.
*Domestic figures reflect Group consolidated figures. Overseas figures reflect figures at production sites. The domestic Group consolidated figure for FY2021/3 and later is third-party assured by LRQA Limited.
*Scope: Four factories of Morinaga & Co., Ltd. (Yokohama, Kanagawa; Oyama, Tochigi; Mishima, Shizuoka; Anjo, Aichi), four affiliated production companies (Takasaki, Gunma; Yamato, Kanagawa; Tosu, Saga; Amagasaki, Hyogo), and three overseas production sites (North Carolina, USA; Taipei, Taiwan; Zhejiang, China.)
Morinaga Group works to optimize the air conditioning functional capacity required for production, and to reduce water consumption by introducing air-cooled AC and consolidating cooling towers.
Air-cooled AC are the air conditioners that use outside air to diffuse heat, thus reducing the use of cooling water.
By introducing energy-efficient air-cooled AC, we have reduced the number of cooling towers with electric fans, electric pumps for water circulation, and cooling water used in water-cooled AC, thereby saving energy and reducing water consumption.
As an example of our efforts, at the Chukyo Factory, we are expecting to reduce water consumption by approximately 25,000 m3 per year by reviewing the air conditioning system at a plant of the Chukyo Factory which resulted in introducing air-cooled AC and consolidating the cooling towers used for the water-cooled AC.
Cooling tower for water-cooled AC at the Chukyo Factory (after consolidation)