Climate
Our Approach to Climate Change
Approach to the impacts of climate change, including CO2/GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions
CHANGE Group ("our Group" or simply "we") 's business strategy is closely linked to the environment. In our Mid-term Business Plan, we aim to "tackle significant and urgent issues in regions whose sustainability is at risk," and one of our strategies is "to solve social issues faced by regions and make them sustainable."
In particular, the impacts of climate change, including CO2/GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions, directly affect people, society, and the economy in the regions, and there are many solutions to mitigate the impacts of climate change in our services. We consider that sincerely addressing these issues is one of our Group's important social responsibilities and also creates new business opportunities.
Furthermore, our Group supports the Japanese government's carbon-neutral declaration (2020) and the 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target statement (2021), and we will continue to work on mitigating climate change through collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, including governments, companies, and industry associations, to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement (2015), which set international frameworks for reducing CO2/GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions and realizing a low-carbon society.
Approach to the reduction or control of CO2/GHG (greenhouse gas) or efficiency improvement
Our Group considers that actively working on the reduction of CO2/GHG (greenhouse gas) and improving energy efficiency in corporate and business activities as climate change measures is one of our important social responsibilities.
As part of our efforts to reduce CO2/GHG (greenhouse gas), our Group will not only strive to reduce electricity usage but also work on reducing emissions throughout the entire value chain. Our Group believes that the role of management is crucial in embedding these efforts throughout the entire Group.
Therefore, we will continue to communicate our Group's commitment to reducing CO2/GHG (greenhouse gas) both internally and externally, and we will regularly review our efforts and effects and rotate an appropriate PDCA cycle.
Risks and Opportunities of Climate Change
Business Risks and Opportunities Associated with Climate Change
Our Group considers climate change to be both a risk and a new business opportunity, and we have identified the business risks and opportunities associated with climate change as follows:
(1) Risks
| a) Transition Risk | Short to Medium Term | [Reputation Risk] | Stakeholders' interest in climate change rises more than expected, leading to negative evaluations against us. |
| [Policy and Legal Risk] | If the scope of reporting obligations related to climate change expands, our additional costs to respond to them may increase, depending on the degree of obligations. | ||
| [Market Risk] | If carbon taxes or carbon pricing systems are introduced, the cost of our energy use will increase. | ||
| b) Physical Risk | Medium to Long Term | [Acute Risk] | As a result of frequent large-scale natural disasters, revenue decreases due to the loss of opportunities for making proposals and sales caused by supply chain disruptions. |
| [Chronic Risk] | As average temperatures rise, costs increase due to increased use of air conditioning. As average temperatures rise, facilities are flooded due to frequent floods and rising sea levels. |
(2) Opportunities
| Medium to Long Term | [Sales and Proposal Opportunities] | As momentum for carbon neutrality increases, inquiries for carbon credit businesses will increase. As demand for DX technology to strengthen infrastructure in response to natural disasters increases, there will be more inquiries for proposals to build sustainable social infrastructure using DX technology. |
Efforts to Reduce GHG (Greenhouse Gas)
Long-term (over 5 years) Goals
Our Group aims to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement (2015) which set international frameworks for reducing CO2/GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions and will reduce CO2/GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions per sales in business activities (Scope 1 + Scope 2) by 40% by 2030 and substantially achieve zero by 2050 setting the fiscal year 2021 as the base year.
To achieve this, we will consider and implement various measures such as daily energy-saving activities and the use of electricity derived from renewable energy.
(1) Activities in the Office
We consider the teleworking system, which allows employees to work without commuting to the office, as an environmentally friendly way of working that does not involve human movement. Based on this understanding, we have expanded the telework system, which was initially only for some employees, to all employees in 2020, and it has been applied to date. In the future, we will continue to actively utilize the telework system to improve employee productivity and reduce CO2/GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions during commuting and business trips.
Additionally, our Group is working to reduce the environmental impact of energy consumption from air conditioning equipment in office spaces, and we aim to achieve 100% use of electricity from renewable energy sources at each of our business locations by 2050.
(2) Activities in Network Services
Generally, one of the top sources of CO2/GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions in IT sector companies is the operation of their own data centers. However, our Group does not own data centers as assets and instead procures and selects data centers with low environmental impact from a wide range of alliance companies according to their use.
Currently, one of the data centers mainly used by our Group utilizes cool outside air for air conditioning to reduce power consumption and improve energy efficiency, and actively introduces power supply from renewable energy sources such as solar power generation.
As a result, the PUE*(power usage effectiveness) value at this data center is 1.2 or lower. Our Group will continue to work on reducing emissions throughout the entire value chain.
*PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) is one of the indicators representing the energy efficiency of a data center. The closer the value is to 1.0, the more efficient it is. Generally, a value below 2.0 is considered efficient.
Data "GHG (Greenhouse Gas) Emissions (Scope 1, 2)"
The CO2/GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions of our Group are as follows.
| Scope | Item | 2021(base year) (Oct.2020 -Sep.2021) |
2022 (Jan.2022 -Dec.2022) |
2023 (Jan.2023 -Dec.2023) |
2024 (Jan.2024 -Dec.2024) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scope1 | gas | 5.6 | 3.1 | 30.5 | 124.0 |
| Scope2 | electricity | 89.1 | 109.1 | 646.7 | 801.9 |
| Scope1+2 | 94.7 | 112.2 | 677.1 | 925.9 |
*Scope 1: Direct greenhouse gas emissions from the use of fuel by the company
*Scope 2: Indirect greenhouse gas emissions from the use of electricity and heat purchased by the company
Involvement with External Organizations Related to Climate Change
Support for Statements of Support for Policies and Regulations
Our Group supports the Japanese government's carbon-neutral declaration (2020) and the 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target statement (2021).
Although the Company is not currently subject to these laws and regulations, we support various laws and regulations established by the Japanese government regarding climate change, such as the "Act on Promotion of Global Warming Countermeasures," which is Japan's first legal system aimed at preventing global warming, clarifying the roles of all entities including the national government, local governments, businesses, and citizens, and defining their responsibilities, and the "Act on the Rational Use of Energy" (Energy Conservation Act), which comprehensively promotes measures for the rational use of energy in factories, transportation, buildings, and machinery to ensure the effective use of fuel resources.