Environmental Initiatives

Santen has established the "Santen Group Environmental Conservation Policy" in order to promote and develop environmental conservation activities globally.

1. Scope 1 emissions: Direct GHG emissions from sources owned or controlled by the Company (fuel combustion and industrial processes)
   Scope 2 emissions: Indirect GHG emissions from the generation of purchased energy, such as electricity, heat, and steam
   Scope 3 Category 1 emissions: Scope 3 emissions denote indirect GHG emissions, other than Scope 1 and 2 emissions, resulting from a company's value chain activities, which are not owned or controlled by the Company. Among them, Category 1 emissions are emissions from all purchased goods and services.
2. SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative): A joint initiative to encourage companies to set and achieve science-based targets for GHG emissions reduction in line with the Paris Agreement
3. Paris Agreement: An agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which has set the target of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2℃ above pre-industrial levels
4. Based on figures that do not include estimated CO₂ emissions derived from gasoline for overseas sales vehicles.

We established environmental conservation systems integrated with business activities at all Group companies, as well as addressing various environmental challenges, promoting environmental conservation initiatives through every single employee's autonomous activities. Noto Plant, Shiga Product Supply Center and Suzhou Plant in China acquired ISO 14001 certification, which is the international standard for environmental management systems, and conduct environmental audits. 

Each plant takes the initiative in conducting regular internal audits to check whether the environmental management system is appropriately operated, in addition to the external ISO 14001 audit. Furthermore, Santen accepts on-the-spot audits by commissioned companies of the process of commissioned production, providing good opportunities to learn about other companies' efforts, and contributing to improving our environmental measures.

We aim to reduce our energy consumption intensity by at least 1% per year, as stipulated in Japanese Act on Rationalizing Energy Use and Shifting to Non-fossil Energy. Environment-related committees are held at each site to systematically promote the rationalization of energy use, including the introduction of more energy-efficient equipment and the use of LED lighting.

We strive to minimize the environmental impact of our products and manufacturing processes. In research and development activities, a compound to be the active ingredient for a product undergoes non-clinical studies in order to estimate its pharmacokinetics and safety following the rigorous standards mandated by GLP(*). Chemical substances used in our laboratories and plants are properly handled with assessing their toxicity and hazardousness and determining the amount released or transferred to the environment. We focus on environmental concerns from the entire product lifecycle perspective, by replacing plastic materials for eye-drop containers with biomass plastic, reducing plastic materials for packaging materials, and giving priority to the use of recycled paper for outer boxes.

Santen grasps the overview of environmental impact, comprised of input such as energy usage, input of materials, and input of water resources, and output such as release into the air and water, and the release of waste and other materials. It also grasps and analyzes the costs of environmental conservation efforts (investments and costs) and their effects (economic effects and environmental conservation effects) to promote effective activities for mitigating environmental impact.

There was no accident that causes environmental pollution, i.e. soil contamination, and no infraction of laws or regulations related environmental issues, at our business sites in Japan or other countries in FY2023.