Caring for the earth

Achieving carbon neutrality

Record-breaking heat waves, torrential rains, and droughts have occurred on a global scale in recent years. Natural disasters caused by climate change have also posed a greater threat to Japan. For this reason, people around the world are more keenly aware of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are said to be a cause of climate change. The Calbee Group is strengthening its engagement with suppliers to specifically address Category 1 of Scope 3 emissions.
In an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% (compared with the year ending March 31, 2019) by 2030, the Calbee Group is implementing the following initiatives.

Main initiatives

Energy-savings through a smart energy project in the Kiyohara Industrial Park

In FY2019, Calbee factories in the Utsunomiya area participated in an inter-factory energy conservation project through the Kiyohara Smart Energy Center in collaboration with other nearby companies.
The shared usage scheme for the power and heat generated at the center of this project resulted in energy savings of approximately 20% or 10,400 Kl per year, which is difficult for one company to achieve alone, and a CO₂ emissions reduction of approximately 20% or 21,000 tons per year^*1.
Following the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award at the FY2021 Energy Conservation Awards, the project won the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award at the Grand Prize for the Global Environment Awards in March 2022. The award was given in recognition of the efforts, made under a public-private partnership, by several business partners in different industries. These partners worked closely together to pursue energy optimization throughout the region and to successfully achieve energy savings, as well as making continued efforts to deliver results after the facility became operational in 2020.

*1 Reduction rates of the use of power and heat supplied by the Energy Center, which primarily uses cogeneration (compared with FY2015; actual measurements for 2020).

Kiyohara Smart Energy Center

Use of steam generated from waste heat

At the Calbee Shin-Utsunomiya Factory, we formerly produced steam that would be in direct contact with food products in boilers fueled by municipal gas. In FY2022, we introduced reboilers at the Kiyohara Smart Energy Center as part of the Smart Energy Project. The reboilers use steam generated from waste heat to produce steam used for food processing, resulting in reductions in municipal gas consumption.

Supply flow chart (Calbee Shin-Utsunomiya Factory)

Boiler using waste cooking oil in operation

In October 2021, a boiler powered by waste cooking oil became operational at the Calbee Obihiro Factory. The boiler uses waste cooking oil generated at the factory as fuel. Through this initiative, we can reduce the use of fossil fuels as well as CO₂ emissions from treating and refining waste cooking oil. In FY2022, we reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 380 tons per year.

CO₂ reduction from switching energies used

In FY2019, Calbee switched to CO₂-free electricity derived from renewable sources such as hydraulic power. We have since purchased carbon offset power through the J-Credit Scheme^*1 as well as electricity traded with conventional non-fossil fuel energy certificates^*2. We rolled out this initiative to five factories in the Kanto suburbs including the Shimotsuma Factory and Japan Frito-Lay, Ltd. Koga Factory in FY2019 and two factories in Hokkaido and Kagoshima in FY2020. In FY2021, five more factories were added to the initiative: the Kakamigahara Factory, Konan Factory, and Kyoto Factory in April, and the Hiroshima Factory and Hiroshimanishi Factory in September. This initiative resulted in reductions of Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions (down 61.1% from FY2019/3). The Calbee Group remains committed to switching to renewable energy.

*1 A scheme in which CO₂ emissions reductions through the use of renewable energy are certified as credits by the Japanese government. (Source: The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's website)
*2 A scheme in which certificates for the environmental value of electricity generated from non-fossil energy sources, such as petroleum and coal, are issued and traded on the market. (Source: The Agency for Natural Resources and Energy's website)

Biogas-fueled power generation facilities in operation

The Shin-Utsunomiya Factory started using biogas produced in the wastewater treatment process at the factory as fuel for generating electricity in March 2022.

320 MWh of electricity, enough to power about 70 households, was generated from renewable energy during the year and consumed at the factory. Through this initiative, we reduced greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of approximately 3,000 tons CO₂ per year.

Four 25kW biogas power generation devices

Introduction of solar power generation system

A solar power generation system was installed on the building of the Calbee Kyoto Factory in December 2021 to generate electricity via solar panels. In FY2022, approximately 350 MWh of electricity, enough to power about 80 households, was generated and consumed at the factory, resulting in energy-savings of 1.5% at the factory compared with FY2020.

Reduction of CO₂ emissions for Category 1 of Scope 3 emissions

Without the cooperation of its supply chain partners, it would not be possible for the Calbee Group to reduce its Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. In 2022, the Calbee Group took part in the Supply Chain Decarbonization Promotion Model Project supported by the Ministry of Environment and has since implemented the following initiatives.

Review of Scope 3 emission factors
We have changed our calculation database to IDEA Version 3.2 to better reflect our efforts to reduce CO₂ emissions when calculating for Category 1 of Scope 3 emissions. We reviewed emissions from our domestic factories in FY2018, which is the base year, and emissions in FY2022, and had a third-party verification conducted. We will recalculate emissions from FY2019 to FY2021 from domestic factories, as well as other business locations, in FY2023.
Engagement with suppliers
In FY2022, we conducted our own assessment of major suppliers in addition to an assessment using a CSR procurement self-assessment questionnaire of the Global Compact Network Japan (GCNJ) in order to strengthen our engagement with suppliers. We will identify the actual state of reductions of greenhouse gas emissions based on the responses to the self-assessment questionnaire, consider what support Calbee can offer, and work collaboratively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Visualization of GHG emissions from potatoes
We are in the process of visualizing GHG emissions from potatoes, which are the main raw ingredients in many of our products. To do so, we will first investigate the sources of GHG emissions from pre-planting preparations to harvesting in our potato cultivation process and take a close look at fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural materials, and fuels used for cultivation.