NSK Ltd.
Corporate Communications Department
NSK Publishes Industry's First Ball Screw CFP Assessment Report
Clarification of the Calculation Conditions for CO₂ Emissions
NSK Ltd. (NSK; Headquarters: Tokyo; President & CEO: Akitoshi Ichii) published a CFP Assessment Report today summarizing the company's self-assessed carbon footprint of products (CFP) for its MT-FrixTM low-friction ball screws for machine tools, which were released in October 2024. NSK published the report as part of its efforts to help build a decarbonized society. This is the first time in the industry that a ball screw CFP assessment report has been published.
*Survey scope: World’s ball screw manufacturers; Survey period: As of August 2025, based on NSK’s research
1. Background and Importance of CFP Disclosure
CFP is a quantitative indicator of greenhouse gas emissions per product, serving as an effective tool to visualize a company’s efforts to reduce its environmental impact. In international markets, particularly in Europe, there is a growing demand for environmental information disclosure across the entire supply chain. Disclosing CFP has become a crucial initiative that not only demonstrates a product’s environmental value but also enhances international competitiveness.
2. NSK’s CFP Assessment Report Initiatives
NSK is working to reduce CO₂ emissions throughout the entire product life cycle, from the production phase to the use phase by the customer. In this way, NSK is advancing the visualization of the environmental impact for products with significant CO₂ reduction potential across their entire life cycle.
In March 2025, NSK developed a high-load capacity large-size tapered roller bearing for construction machinery that supports reconditioning, enabling CO₂ emission reductions primarily in the manufacturing process by reusing the product. In July of the same year, NSK published the bearing industry's first CFP assessment report.
For ball screws, NSK developed the MT-FrixTM low-friction ball screw for machine tools in October 2024, which significantly reduces CO₂ emissions during the use phase by halving the dynamic friction torque. This product’s CFP assessment report has also been published. This is the first CFP assessment report for a ball screw to be published in the industry.
3. Exhibition at EMO Hannover 2025
Following its exhibition at JIMTOF2024 in October 2024, NSK will exhibit panels of the MT-FrixTM low-friction ball screws at EMO Hannover 2025, one of Europe’s largest machine tool exhibitions, in September 2025, introducing this environmentally friendly product to the European market, where the demand for such products is especially high.
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4. Key Contents of the CFP Assessment Report
Based on the “Carbon Footprint Display Guide” from Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, this report discloses the following items:
Purpose of CFP assessment
Target product
Target GHG types/lifecycle
Cutoff criteria and scenarios
Information on the data used
Referenced rules
Calculation results
Limitations of the study and future directions
■ You can view the details on the MT-FrixTM low-friction ball screw and a high-load capacity large-size tapered roller bearing for construction machinery that supports reconditioning, below:
◆ CFP Assessment Report:
・MT-Frix™ Low-Friction Ball Screw
・high-load capacity large-size tapered roller bearing (Japanese)
◆Product information
・MT-Frix™ Low-Friction Ball Screw
・high-load capacity large-size tapered roller bearing
5. Future Initiatives
NSK aims to reach net-zero CO₂ emissions for Scope 1 and 2 by fiscal year 2035. To achieve this, NSK is promoting the following initiatives:
· Development and provision of environmentally friendly products
· Promotion of energy-saving activities
· Improved production efficiency through technological innovation
· Utilization of renewable energy
Going forward, NSK will continue to ensure the transparency and reliability of its products’ CO₂ emissions by publishing CFP assessment reports and will seek to help build a carbon-neutral world through business growth.
About NSK
NSK produced the first bearings in Japan in 1916 and over the past 100 years, it has supported the development of industries worldwide by creating various innovative products and technologies in bearings, automotive parts, and precision machinery. Since the early 1960s, the company has expanded overseas and now has operations in about 30 countries. It ranks third in the world in the field of bearings and leads the world in ball screws, electric power steering, and other products.