Its agenda, ‘Making life better through gas technology’, is inspired by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and encompasses the three pillars of the company’s philosophy: ‘Proactive, Innovative & Collaborative’.
Put together following Global Reporting Initiative guidelines, the Ernst & Young-verified report shares the company’s progress in areas such as resource optimisation, energy efficiency, water usage, waste management, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and sustainable technology solutions for customers.
By working with organisations such as EcoVadis, Responsible Care, and the UN Global Compact, Nippon Gases has included its new Sustainability Mid-Term Plan FYE2022-2026 within the report.
The plan outlines the mid-term goals relevant to the company’s sustainability targets, including initiatives to reduce water usage intensity by 10% in all its operating plants, reduce the rate of waste disposal intensity by 11%, and reduce GHG emissions by scaling up its use of renewable energy and promoting biomethane production.
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We are proactive, we are innovative, we are collaborative.
Having bounced back from a year impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, Eduardo Gil, President, Nippon Gases, stated that 2022 has been a period in which the company has proven its worth.
“In our sustainability report you will find our goals and milestones to prevent global warming, improve air and water quality, reduce waste and, in short, minimise the environmental footprint not only of our company, but also of our customers and suppliers,” he added.
Its efforts to prevent global warming includes participation in large-scale decarbonisation projects in hard-to-abate sectors such as steel production, an area of manufacturing responsible for 8% of global CO2 emissions.
By joining the €9 million H-ACERO project – financed by the Basque Government – the company will work with industry leaders to adopt green hydrogen as an alternative energy source at various stages of the steel production process.
Source: Nippon Gases
Having won multiple awards for safety at this year’s European Industrial Gases Association (EIGA)’s Annual General Meeting, the company’s report also emphasises its focus on safety and various social measures including diversity, ethical behaviour, talent management, and community engagement.
Read more: Nippon Gases wins multiple awards at EIGA event
As part of the ‘People’ aspect of its NGE Midterm Initiatives, Nippon Gases aims to increase the female population of its workforce to 30.5% and its managerial and specialist participation to 28.5%.
It also aims to boost its evaluation of employee engagement to more than 85% and increase people participation, funding, and the number of community projects by 30%.
The company has also released a statement regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine, revealing that it ’continues to cooperate with government and non-governmental humanitarian initiatives to aid in alleviating the suffering of millions of people’.
Last month the gas giant announced that it will not engage in any new business development activities in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus and will comply with the sanctions imposed upon the Russian Federation.
The full Sustainability Report 2022 is available to view here.