Environmental Management

NSK’s Approach

A sense of crisis is growing over the advance of global warming and climate change, depletion of resources, chemical pollution of air and water, and loss of biodiversity. All of humanity faces the challenge of learning to live sustainably while protecting the global environment. The NSK Group’s Mission Statement declares that NSK “helps protect the global environment.” With the environment as one of our core values, we carry out environmental activities to address global issues, contribute to the realization of a sustainable society, and improve our corporate value.

Policy

The NSK Group established the NSK Environmental Policy and the NSK Environmental Code of Conduct in 1997 to reflect its commitment, which spans all of its business operations, to help protect the global environment. In line with this policy, we strive to develop products and services that help reduce environmental impact, and our guiding principle is to practice business operations that seek to reduce environmental impact throughout the value chain.

In November 2021, we revised our Environmental Policy in light of growing international attention to environmental issues in recent years and rising expectations for corporate action to address these issues.

Envisioning what the NSK Group should look like in 2050, we have formulated a long-term environmental action plan with a target year of FY2026 by back-casting from our vision for the future. With global environmental management and environmental compliance as the foundation, we work hard to help resolve three social issues: the establishment of a carbon-neutral society, the establishment of a sound material-cycle society, and the establishment of an environmentally symbiotic society. By providing products like bearings that reduce energy loss, we will help to reduce society's overall environmental impact, and by reducing the environmental impact of the Group's business activities to net zero, we will support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

NSK Group Environmental Action Plan
Environmental Risks and Opportunities

In the effort to build a sustainable world, there are accelerating efforts to develop measures and regulations to reduce CO2 emissions, encourage resource circulation, and reduce environmentally harmful substances. In line with this, progress is being made in areas such as the electrification of automobiles. Doing its part, the NSK Group identifies and evaluates environmental opportunities and risks in each phase of the value chain and reflects these in its management strategy and environmental action plan to achieve continuous growth.

Material and Energy Balance

The NSK Group works with suppliers to reduce environmental impact via green procurement and other initiatives. We also strive to reduce the environmental impact of our customers and of society as a whole by providing environmentally friendly products.

Input and Output of Global Business Activities (FY2021 and 2022)

System

Environmental Promotion System

Each department implements various measures to achieve NSK’s environmental action plan and continuously monitors and evaluates its progress.
Initiatives related to the environment are regularly reported to the Core Values Committee. The Committee discusses policies to strengthen activities related to the environment, which is one of NSK’s core values, and considers related risks, so that it can suggest improvements to address issues. In particular, climate change-related matters are singled out from among environmental initiatives and are regularly reported to the Operating Committee and other committees by the Carbon Neutrality Department. This process facilitates discussions and resolutions on strategies, policies, and targets, as well as shared consideration of risks. Especially important measures undergo deliberations by the Operating Committee before being submitted to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors oversees the NSK Group’s environmental issues by approving or rejecting and commenting on reports and proposals from the Operating Committee.

*For more information on the Core Values Committee, please visit NSK’s Corporate Governance Structure.

Targets and Performance

Mid-Term Management Plan 2026 (MTP2026) Targets, with Targets and Performance for Each Fiscal Year
MTP2026 targetsFY2022 targetsFY2022 performanceFY2023 targets
Environmental managementMaintain ISO 14001 certification at all subject sitesMaintain ISO 14001 certification at all subject sitesMaintained at all subject sitesMaintain ISO 14001 certification at all subject sites
Obtain ISO 14001 certification within 3 years of starting full-scale operations at a site

No applicable site

Obtain ISO 14001 certification within 3 years of starting full-scale operations at a site
No serious violations of environmental laws and regulations

No serious violations of environmental laws and regulations

No serious violations of environmental laws and regulationsNo serious violations of environmental laws and regulations
No serious incidents of environmental pollution

No serious incidents of environmental pollution

No serious incidents of environmental pollutionNo serious incidents of environmental pollution
Creating environmentally friendly products

Create environmentally friendly products with a Neco score of 1.2 or higher (ongoing)

Continue with new developments (Develop 1 or more environmentally friendly products)Developed 4 environmentally friendly products
(total 243 products)
Continue with new developments (Develop 1 or more environmentally friendly products)

Avoid at least 3 million t-CO2 emissions during the use of NSK products

2.60 million t-CO22.29 million t-CO22.47 million t-CO2
Fighting global warming and climate changeManufacturing, technology, officesCO2 emissions*: 50% reduction from FY201726.6% reduction from FY201743.6% reduction from FY201745.0% reduction from FY2017
Energy usage per unit of sales: 10% reduction from FY20175.0% reduction from FY2017

4.9% reduction from FY2017

6.0% reduction from FY2017
Distribution (Japan)

CO2 emissions by transport volume: Continue to reduce by 1% year on year

Below 4% (base year FY2017)
(1% reduction from FY2021)

0.5% (base year FY2017)
(Reduced by 4.3% from FY2021)
Below -0.5% (base year FY2017)
(1% reduction from FY2022)
Resource conservation and recycling measuresManufacturing, technology, offices

Industrial waste per unit of sales: Continue to reduce by 1% year on year

Below 7.4% (base year FY2017)
(1% reduction from FY2021)
-5.8% (base year FY2017)
(Reduced by 13.2% from FY2021)
Below -6.8% (base year FY2017)
(1% reduction from FY2022)

Maintain a recycling rate of at least 99%

99% or higher

99.0%

99% or higher

Water withdrawal per unit of sales: 9% reduction from FY2017

Below -5% (base year FY2017)

-10.4% (base year FY2017)Below -6% (base year FY2017)

Distribution (Japan)

Packaging waste per production unit:
14% reduction from FY2021
Below -6% (base year FY2021)

-8.5% (base year FY2021)

Below -10% (base year FY2021)
Reducing use of environmentally harmful substancesDevelopment and design, procurement, manufacturingFull response to the 10 EU RoHS2 substancesFull responseEnsured full response in newly developed products
Continued efforts to completely eliminate harmful substances in manufacturing processes
Full response
Procurement

Conduct survey regarding inclusion of substances on the NSK List of Environmentally Harmful Substances

Conduct supplier audits of the management systems for environmentally harmful substances
Continued to conduct supplier audits and take corrective actions
Conduct supplier audits of the management systems for environmentally harmful substances
Obtain responses from all target suppliersContinued to obtain responses from all target suppliersObtain responses from all target suppliers

Manufacturing (Japan)

Handling of PRTR-designated substances per unit of sales: Continue to reduce by 1% year on year

Below -1% (base year FY2021)

-10.9% (base year FY2021)Below -1% (base year FY2022)
Biodiversity conservation

Identify the factors in operations that could have a negative impact on biodiversity

Continue activitiesContinued activitiesContinue activities
Expand social contribution activities related to biodiversity conservationContinue activities

Initiated new satoyama conservation activities in Shizuoka Prefecture

Continue activities
Educate to deepen employee awareness of issuesContinue activities

Continued activities

Continue activities

* Greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 equivalent) are calculated by multiplying emissions from use of an amount of electricity, fuel, etc., by its respective global warming coefficient. In Japan, the global warming coefficients used are given in the Ministry of the Environment's and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Greenhouse Gas Emission Calculation and Reporting Manual. Outside Japan, the global warming coefficients used are released by electricity providers or given in the International Energy Agency’s CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion.

Initiatives

Global Environmental Management
  • Acquiring and Maintaining Environmental Management Certification

    The NSK Group implements the PDCA cycle for environmental management at all sites. Environmental initiatives are important at sites involved in development, design, manufacturing, and distribution because these processes have especially large environmental impacts. We require these sites to obtain external ISO 14001 certification—the international standard for environmental management systems—within three years of full-scale operation, such as the start of mass production. We increase the effectiveness of our management system globally to ensure continuous improvement, obtaining certifications for each site and undergoing regular reviews by third-party organizations.

    Certification for Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems

 

Environmental Compliance
  • Environmental Compliance

    In addition to compliance with environment-related laws and regulations, the NSK Group does more than merely comply with environmental laws; we adhere to rigorous internal standards that go beyond legal obligations to prevent air and water pollution. In the event of an accident or legal violation that has an impact on the external environment, we promptly report the matter to administrative authorities, investigate the cause, and implement measures to prevent recurrence.
  • Environmental Audits

    Regular internal audits and third-party audits are conducted at each site around the world. Additionally, the NSK Head Office’s environment-related divisions and regional headquarters conduct audits designed to prevent oil leakages and spills, ensure compliance with environmental laws, and properly manage waste and environmentally harmful substances.
Environmental audit (Europe)

Environmental audit (Europe)

  • Remediating Soil and Groundwater Pollution

    The NSK Group completely eliminated the use of chlorinated organic solvents by fiscal 2003. However, we are continuing to clean up six sites where past use has left traces of contamination in soil and groundwater. We regularly monitor groundwater and report our progress to agencies.
Other Initiatives
  • Environmental Education and Training

    The NSK Group recognizes that the key to increasing the effectiveness of environmental protection initiatives is for every employee to perform their daily work based on sound knowledge. This is why we constantly work to raise employees’ environmental awareness and provide rank-based training to deepen knowledge. This consists of general environmental training for all new employees, environmental e-learning focused on different themes and conducted several times a year for all employees, and training tailored to different objectives for the environmental managers in each department.
Excerpt from “Carbon Neutrality” e-learning program

Excerpt from “Carbon Neutrality” e-learning program