PHC Group is working to visualize environmental impact at the product level and acquire external certification of our efforts to address climate change and achieve sustainable growth. In the Life Sciences business, we have integrated processes from calculating carbon footprint (CFP) to earning the ACT Ecolabel, strengthening our ability to respond to customer requirements and increase product value.

Customers and society as a whole are increasingly demanding not only performance on the individual product level, but also that we quantify and reduce environmental impact throughout the entire product lifecycle, from raw material procurement to disposal and recycling. In the pharmaceutical and research fields in particular, there is a growing need to visualize Scope 3 emissions, and ensuring transparency including in supply chains has become a source of competitiveness.

CFP Project — Building a Data Infrastructure Through a Site-Led Approach —

This project goes beyond simply calculating emissions. By visualizing emission sources across each stage, from raw material procurement and production to logistics, use, disposal, and recycling, and identifying reduction opportunities. This has enabled design-led improvements that incorporate environmental impact reduction considerations from the product design stage.

CO₂ Emissions Throughout the Product Lifecycle

In addition, rather than ending as a formal calculation process, this project was driven as a site-led initiative by going back to the level of the components that make up each product.

When ascertaining detailed data on the component level, numerous innovations were needed to organize and closely examine non-standardized information. Through this process, we created data infrastructure that can be used across the Group and established a framework that enables smooth deployment across other products.

For situations that cannot be quantified through drawings and existing data alone, we performed CFP calculations by measuring and verifying data on-site in collaboration with many departments across the organization. On-site measurement and verification closed the gap between theoretical and actual values, contributing to improved data accuracy that more closely reflects actual on-site conditions. With the participation of on-site departments, concrete improvement initiatives aimed at achieving both environmental sustainability and productivity are also progressing.

ACT Ecolabel Certification — Making Value Visible Through Third-Party Evaluation —

Using the data obtained through the CFP calculation as a base, we acquired the My Green Lab ACT Ecolabel, an international certification that evaluates the environmental performance of laboratory equipment, for 27 models of our ultra-low temperature freezers.

This certification comprehensively evaluates a product’s energy usage, materials, and disposability, as well as environmental initiatives at manufacturing sites and the company. Its importance has increased in recent years as a part of the procurement requirements of pharmaceutical companies.

ACT Ecolabel is an internationally recognized indicator that evaluates environmental impacts from multiple perspectives throughout a product’s lifecycle and enhances transparency and credibility for customers through objective third-party assessment. We created a system for quantitatively demonstrating our environmental performance by responding to this evaluation process based on our CFP data.

https://act.mygreenlab.org

Through these initiatives, we are visualizing previously unseen environmental value in the form of quantitative data, enhancing our ability to respond to customer procurement standards and ESG evaluations. In the European and U.S. markets in particular, cases are increasing where environmental performance is a condition for bidding or has a direct impact on purchasing decisions, and these initiatives are contributing to the expansion of business opportunities.

Future Developments

These initiatives are creating the following value:

Going forward, we will expand the scope of covered products, including CO₂ incubators, and roll out these initiatives across the Group. We will also leverage CFP data to improve products and enhance ACT Ecolabel scores, with the aim of further enhancement of both product value and environmental value.

Furthermore, we will use these data to enable inter-product comparisons and improvement simulations with the aim of establishing a continuous environmental performance improvement cycle. In the future, with a circular economy perspective, we will accelerate value creation throughout the entire product lifecycle.

Pursuing Further Improvement

Comment From the Project Leader

Through this initiative, we built a foundation for understanding and improving emissions throughout the product lifecycle across departments, including R&D, Procurement, and Manufacturing. With the results achieved through this cooperation as our starting point, we will embed environmental considerations even more deeply into our product design and business activities in the future and seek to help create a circular economy by incorporating the principle of resource circulation. We will continue our efforts to transform environmental value into new competitiveness to remain a company that is trusted by customers and society.

Koji Ushikubo,
ESG Leader, Life Sciences Business Unit, PHC Corporation