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Water Resource Initiatives

Dealing with Water-Related Risk

Water resources are essential in cleaning processes for parts produced in-house, such as various semiconductor sensors that are indispensable for our businesses, and they are also important for employees since drinking water is supplied at offices. In addition, water is an important resource for our business partners throughout our entire supply chain because we procure a variety of types of semiconductors that are important components in our products, and their manufacturing process requires a large amount of water. Our business is also deeply involved in water resources because the azbil Group has a water meter business. Moreover, water is an indispensable resource for the azbil Group’s customer companies in the building, factory, and plant markets. All of our stakeholders, including local communities, are involved in water resources.

Helping to preserve the Earth’s environment is part of the azbil Group’s corporate philosophy. The azbil Group Basic Environmental Policy and the azbil Group Rules for Environmental Preservation have been established as rules of top-level importance, and environmental initiatives are understood to be an important aspect of the azbil Group. The importance of water resources is also recognized, and the azbil Group Rules for Environmental Preservation include compliance with environmental laws and regulations to prevent water pollution globally, as well as the monitoring and reduction of water resource usage. For the azbil Group, understanding and reducing water resources is a crucial initiative, and these efforts contribute to water sanitation for all stakeholders, including local communities. Additionally, as stated in the azbil Group Basic Policy on Environmental Management, we collaborate with various stakeholders to expand our activities more broadly and address water-related issues. This collaboration involves not only our group and supply chain but also external organizations such as industry associations and initiatives.^*1

The azbil Group strives to understand and reduce the amount of water used by our facilities and to improve the quality management of our wastewater. We use WRI Aqueduct^*2 to evaluate water risks at each location from a business continuity standpoint. Based on the results of the risk assessment, we recognize that we have water stress areas at our China (Dalian) and Thailand bases, which account for about 20% of our total water usage.

*1. See below for examples of collaboration.
・Collaboration with the Institute of Water Supply Standard Platform specification
The Institute of Water Supply Standard Platform specification has developed standard specifications for using data platforms.
Azbil participated in this study group as a vendor.
https://www.azbil.com/jp/news/231109.html (in Japanese only)
・Collaboration on the smart meter demonstration project in Saitama
Azbil Kimmon Co., Ltd., the Saitama City Water Bureau, and the Saitama Water Service Public Corporation, which operate in the same region, have signed a basic agreement on the Saitama version of the smart meter demonstration project.
Saitama City will conduct a demonstration experiment to improve services using smart meters that combine electronic meters with wireless devices to provide information such as water usage via communication lines, and to verify the effects of a full-scale introduction of smart water meters.
Through smart meter readings, they aim to visualize water usage and, as a further service, manage target values (support functions for reducing and conserving water usage).
https://ak.azbil.com/asset/document/news/news_20230830.pdf (in Japanese only)
*2.Comprehensive maps provided by the World Resources Institute (WRI) about the state of water risks in all regions of the world.

Water-related risk management system

Azbil Corporation has set the goal of reducing water use every year compared to the previous year. Progress on this goal is reported to the azbil Group's executive officer in charge of environmental management on a monthly basis in the environmental management supervisory meeting or in the subordinate environmental manager meeting. The azbil Group’s companies have set related goals under their environmental management systems, and progress is reported to the azbil Group's executive officer in charge of environmental management in the azbil Group Environmental Committee, which meets three times a year.

The azbil Group's executive officer in charge of environmental management reports these results to the CSR Promotion Committee or the Management Meeting, depending on the importance of the results, and reports may also be sent to the Board of Directors, depending on their importance.

Water stress areas and water consumption

The azbil Group uses WRI Aqueduct to assess various water risks at our business sites. We regard the areas with a baseline water stress of 40% or more or with baseline water depletion of 50% or more as being in water stress areas. These facilities are as follows.

• Facilities located in water stress areas: Azbil Production (Thailand) Co., Ltd. and Azbil Control Instruments (Dalian) Co., Ltd.

At the beginning of the fiscal year, we create a monthly plan for water usage, manage the progress of monthly water usage, and report to the azbil Group Environment Committee, which meets three times a year.

The azbil Group status of water usage in water stress areas (total water intake)

(Unit: 1000 m³)

External evaluations

The azbil Group’s measures to mitigate water risk and reduce the amount of water used were rated A- by CDP 2024.^*1

Answers to CDP 2024 Questionnaire
Answers to CDP Water 2023 Questionnaire
Answers to CDP Water 2022 Questionnaire

*1.A disclosure program about corporate water risks, created by the international nonprofit organization CDP. It investigates the status of water-related initiatives of participating corporations every year and officially publishes the aggregated results. It also gives each corporation an individual rating for the status of its initiatives in an eight-step evaluation with A as the highest grade.

Initiatives to reduce water usage

The azbil Group has developed water management plans at 12 sites, including 10 in Japan and 2 overseas, to reduce and optimize water usage.
To reduce the usage of water across the azbil Group, we are implementing various water-saving measures, such as using automatic faucets and water-saving valves, and reusing water when calibrating flow rate.^* Although we aim to reduce the amount of water used each year below the level of the previous year, in 2024 water usage decreased by 5% (2023 results: 124.240 ㎥). This was due to efficient water use through improvements to production processes and regular progress checks on water usage by environmental decision-making bodies, resulting in reduced water usage. Rainwater usage in FY 2024 was 3,430 ㎥.

*At Azbil Kyoto Co., Ltd., a large amount of water is used in the actual flow calibration process of flow meters, but to effectively utilize water resources, the water used for calibration is circulated and reused (recycled).

The azbil Group overall status of water usage (total water intake, total wastewater discharge)

(Unit: 1000 m³)

Included: Azbil Corporation, domestic consolidated subsidiaries, major overseas production sites [Azbil Production (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Azbil Control Instruments (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Azbil Telstar, S.L.U. (added to this in FY2022, until October 31, 2024)]
(equivalent to 88 % of the entire azbil Group, based on CO2 emissions in FY 2021)

Management of water quality

At sites where facilities are subject to the Water Pollution Control Act, etc., we analyze and measure major factors for water quality management and control them so that they do not exceed standard values.

Items controlled for water quality