Lack of purified water due to insufficient infrastructure management as well as drought and flood damage due to climate change are becoming serious social problems. Toshiba Group, encompassing many businesses, has businesses with large impacts on water resources among natural capital.* In addition, since our sites are located in various regions around the world, response to "water risks" is an important issue in our environmental management. Therefore, we assess and analyze "water risks" that affect corporate activities and are working to strengthen water risk management.
Toshiba Group also promotes strict implementation of wastewater standards at all production sites to reduce the amount of water received and to prevent water pollution, and contributes to resolving water issues in each region by providing products and services that help reduce water risks.
- Using a tool (ENCORE) to assess companies’ impacts on nature and the extent of their dependencies on nature, the impacts on land, freshwater and ocean use
change; resource use; climate change; pollution, etc. are assessed for each business area.
Water Risk Assessment
Regarding all Toshiba Group production sites in Japan and abroad (approximately 60 sites), we assess water risks by categorizing them into "water quantity (water resource, groundwater resource, and drought) risks," "water quality risks," "flood risks," and "regulatory and reputational risks."
In this assessment, we first conducted the primary assessment using "Aqueduct", a water risk assessment tool run by the World Resources Institute (WRI), along with implementation of a questionnaire survey of the target sites and analysis of hazard maps to supplement the assessment results, in order to obtain and develop data for each site. Through this process, we assessed the water risks of river basins (external factor assessment) on a five-point scale (very High/High/Medium/Low/very Low).
Next, from the sites with a high risk level identified as "very High" or "High" in the external factor assessment results, we chose high priority sites (Priority 1 to 4) taking into consideration the business impact level (Category 1 to 5) based on major indicators, including the amount of water withdrawal, amount of water discharged, and production output, then finally extracted sites with high water risks.
Water Risk Assessment Process
Classification of high-risk Sites
Assessment Results
The following shows the assessment results by water risk.
Of the target sites, the six sites listed in the table below were extracted as Priority 1. These sites are already working to reduce risks by reducing water withdrawal, introducing appropriate wastewater treatment process, and taking BCP measures, etc.
Sites Extracted under Priority 1
| Country | Content assessed as high risk | |
|---|---|---|
| Site A | Japan | Water resource risks, Drought risks |
| Site B | Japan | Regulatory and reputational risks related to wastewater quality, Flood risks |
| Site C | Japan | Flood risks |
| Site D | Japan | Flood risks |
| Site E | Japan | Flood risks |
| Site F | The Philippines | Drought risks, Regulatory and reputational risks related to wastewater quality |
| Country | Content assessed as high risk | |
|---|---|---|
| Site A | Japan | Water resource risks, Drought risks |
| Site B | Japan | Regulatory and reputational risks related to wastewater quality, Flood risks |
| Site C | Japan | Flood risks |
| Site D | Japan | Flood risks |
| Site E | Japan | Flood risks |
| Site F | The Philippines | Drought risks, Regulatory and reputational risks related to wastewater quality |
Reduction of the Amount of Water Received in Business Activities
With respect to water withdrawal, we have set a voluntary target in our Environmental Action Plan regarding the total amount of water received per unit activity. Each of our production site has incorporated a policy on reducing the amount of water received into its annual plan, and has developed and promoted specific measures.
The total amount of water received in FY2023 was 18.0 million m3, while the amount of water received per unit activity was 116% of the total for the previous year, so we were unable to achieve our target; however, we continue to implement wide-ranging efforts, such as the use of recycled wastewater from sites and the introduction of systems for using rainwater.
Thorough enforcement of wastewater standards in business activities
Regarding wastewater, we develop and promote various measures to comply with legal requirements, stricter local municipal agreements, and internal regulations.
Contribution of Products and Services
Toshiba Group aims to provide water-treatment-related products and services that address issues in the urban areas of emerging countries, such as increasing water shortages and water pollution, thereby contributing to the establishment of sustainable water circulation systems and the creation of environmentally advanced communities.