By implementing carbon management measures such as promoting energy-saving and visualizing energy use, as well as reducing emissions of CO2, the main greenhouse gas, Morinaga aims to realize a low-carbon society and is making efforts towards preventing global warming.
We are working on the reduction of CO2 emissions by measuring overall amount of emissions and promoting the visualization thereof. We set environmental goals and promote initiatives focusing on activities at factories, as CO2 emissions are largely (75% of overall CO2 emissions) generated by Morinaga’s four factories and five affiliated production companies.
In FY2020/3, the amount of CO2 emitted from Morinaga’s four factories and five affiliated production companies was 57,048 t-CO2, and the energy consumption rate per production unit was 0.467 t-CO2. This shows that we reduced our CO2 emissions by 19.5% compared to the FY2006/3 level. Compared to the FY2019/3 level, the emission amount was cut by 1.9%, and the energy consumption rate per production unit was reduced by 1.7%. Our CO2 reduction efforts focus on the promotion of energy saving through the installation of energy saving-type equipment, etc. The amount of CO2 emitted from over overseas production facilities in 2019 was 9,137 t-CO2.
We are currently examining the possibility of replacing CFC-using facilities with those using HCFCs and HFCs, with a low ozone depletion potential, or natural refrigerants. We intend to replace, in a planned manner, equipment and devices that use CFC R-22 with those using a low-global-warming-potential refrigerant. We have also implemented stricter measures to prevent leakage of CFC gas from existing facilities.
Morinaga Angel Dessert and Morinaga Dessert, whose product lines include frozen desserts, are proceeding with the replacement of refrigerant-equipments in their large-sized refrigerators with natural refrigerants that has zero ozone-depletion potential and low climate-change coefficient.
In an effort to load as many products as possible on a pallet, a platform used for product storage and transportation, we have adjusted dimensions of cardboard cases and apply our efficient stacking pattern for loading cases onto the pallets. Furthermore, we save the use of energy in the storage and transportation processes by designing our products to minimize the wasted space.
With a view to increasing major brands’ productivity and responding to the diversifying market needs, the Morinaga Group is working on the reorganization of production systems and achieving high efficiency thereof.
In FY2020/3, in order to improve productivity, we decided to merge Morinaga Snack Foods Co., Ltd. and Morinaga Kofu Foods Co., Ltd. We also closed two production bases, transferred part of their production lines to, and rebuilt the lines in, the Tsurumi Factory and the Oyama Factory. We also constructed a third factory in the premises of Takasaki Morinaga Co., Ltd., intending to launch by the end of FY2021/3.
In the new factory and relocated production lines, we made capital investments taking into consideration energy saving. For example, we installed highly efficient energy-saving equipment and adopted a building design that features ceilings set lower than those of former buildings for the reduction of air conditioning loads.
Takasaki Morinaga’s Third Factory
The Morinaga Group has continuously been engaged in the activities to promote energy conservation. In order to make as much contributions as possible to the prevention of global warming, an international environmental issue, we are focusing on the facilitation of energy conservation promotion activities at our production sites, as most of our energy consumption is attributable to these facilities.
We have so far implemented such measures as: conducing energy-saving patrols to prevent overlooking of compressed-air or steam leakage from pipes and failures to switch off the lights; replacement of aged equipment with highly efficient one; switching to LED lighting; and ensuring the optimal electricity consumption by installing inverters on pumps and fans with a power of 7.5 kW or above to respond to changes in equipment loads.
In FY2020/3, we accelerated our efforts in factories to switch to LED lighting. This resulted in a significant increase in the ratio of LED lights.
We intend to facilitate our energy consumption promotion activities further, by seeking advice from energy conservation consultants, energy management companies, and equipment manufacturers, and planning and implementing energy conservation measures based on their advice.
As a measure to ensure efficient distribution and environmental friendliness, Morinaga has created a joint distribution system in collaboration with the corporations in the same industry.
Increasing the loading rate through the joint distribution reduces the number of transportation and delivery vehicles, leading to a decrease in air pollutant emissions.
As a Specified Consignor * under the revised Act on the Rationalization etc. of Energy Use (“Energy Saving Act”), we calculate and identify the amount of CO2 emitted during transportation, which was 15,809 t-CO2 in FY2020/3.
The Company considers its key tasks as a food manufacturer to be delivery of safe, reliable products to customers and procurement of sustainable raw materials that are not harmful to the global environment or society.
“I wish to provide delicious, highly nutritious Western confectionaries to the people of Japan.” Morinaga & Co., Ltd. was launched with this strong desire as expressed by Taichiro Morinaga, the company’s founder.
The Morinaga Group is aware of various social issues that it faces at every stage of its value chain (planning and development, procurement, production, distribution and sales, and consumption/disposal) and is promoting measures to resolve them.
Society as a whole is becoming increasingly health-conscious and there is a growing need to take proper nutrients in an easy and functional way. The Morinaga Group has been working on the development of wellness products that can help people lead a healthy and happy life.