CSR Activity Report (CSR Guideline Activity Reports)

Contributing Solutions to Social Issues through Business Activities

Leverage innovation to provide solutions to various social issues such as climate change, resource and energy use, water resource and natural environment conservation, improvement of medical care, and promotion of public health, thereby contributing to sustainable development for society.

Basic Approach

Global environmental issues continue to become increasingly severe, marked by global warming, water scarcity, marine pollution, resource depletion, and loss of biodiversity. The world population is approximately eight billion, a number that is expected to surpass 10 billion by 2050. Meanwhile, developed countries as well as many emerging countries are expected to face rapid population aging, as average lifespans increase and birthrates decline.
In the world of the 21st century, the most critical shared challenges are to resolve global-scale environmental issues and to provide healthcare that helps people lead healthy, independent lives, which involves delivering high-quality medical care that reduces the burden on both patients and medical staff.

Toray Group has been implementing the Green Innovation Business Expansion Project (Green Innovation Project) since 2011 and the Life Innovation Business Expansion Project (Life Innovation Project) since 2014, and the progress of these projects has been monitored by the Sustainability Committee and other committees. To strengthen the initiatives, in 2018 and 2020 respectively, the Group established and announced the Toray Group Sustainability Vision followed by the Long-Term Corporate Vision, TORAY VISION 2030 to clearly outline the world as envisioned by the Toray Group in 2050. The Group also set KPIs to be achieved by 2030 as long-term milestone targets. Under the Medium-Term Management Program, Project AP-G 2025, announced in March 2023, Toray integrated the Green Innovation and Life Innovation businesses, creating a Sustainability Innovation (SI) Business1 to better meet diversifying sustainability needs. The Group is now promoting initiatives aimed at expanding the SI Business together with the Digital Innovation (DI) Business2, as part of an SI & DI Project.

Through the SI & DI Project, Toray Group aims to help achieve “a net-zero-emissions world, where greenhouse gas emissions are completely offset by absorption” (in other words, a net zero emissions, carbon-neutral world),” “a world where resources are sustainably managed,” “a world with a restored natural environment, with clean water and air for everyone,” and “a world where everyone enjoys good health and hygiene” as outlined in the Toray Group Sustainability Vision. The project seeks to do this by expanding Toray’s businesses in areas that contribute to these goals. Here are some specific examples of Toray initiatives under this vision. To accelerate efforts to combat climate change, the Group will expand aircraft and automobile applications for its advanced materials and help reduce CO2 emissions by improving fuel efficiency through vehicle weight reduction. It will also work to help society transition to renewable energy by supplying materials for wind and hydrogen power applications. For the sustainable, circular use of resources, the Group will also promote initiatives for resource recycling and bio-technology. To help ensure safe water and air, it will proceed with initiatives in areas such as water treatment membranes and air filters. Finally, Toray will expand its products that support health, longevity, improved quality of medical care, and human safety, as well as help the elderly and home-care recipients to live more independent lives.

  1. 1 Sustainability Innovation (SI) business: Businesses or material lines that can help realize the Toray Group Sustainability Vision.
  2. 2 Digital Innovation (DI) business: Materials, equipment, technologies, and services, etc., based on advanced digital technology.

Structure

To promote activities designed to achieve the Toray Group Sustainability Vision, the Group established the Sustainability Committee headed by the president to serve as a group-wide committee. The committee is tasked with managing and promoting efforts to achieve the Toray Group Sustainability Vision. Toward this end, the committee draws up overall medium- and long-term roadmaps and action plans, deliberates on the yearly action plans for the two group-wide projects—the SI Business Expansion Project and the Climate Change Project—and oversees and manages implementation issues and the status of activities. The Sustainability Committee also collaborates with the CSR Committee, Risk Management Committee, Safety, Health and Environment Committee, and Technology Committee to address climate change-related issues for the entire Toray Group.
Through these projects, Toray Group is contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to help achieve a carbon neutral world, as well as promoting the reduction of Toray Group greenhouse gas emissions to become carbon neutral itself. The Group is also accelerating its resource recycling efforts, including recycling and the conversion of key polymers to biomass-based polymers, by developing and promoting group-wide strategies for the implementation of sustainable, circular use of resources.
For more information on the Toray Group governance structure related to the issue of climate change, please refer to the Toray Group TCFD Report VER. 2.

CSR Roadmap 2022 Targets

CSR Roadmap goals

Help address social issues by developing innovative materials and new technologies, focusing on the fields of Green Innovation and Life Innovation

Main Initiatives and Key Performance Indicators

KPI
⑴ Increase revenue from Green Innovation products
7-❶
⑵ Increase revenue from Life Innovation products
7-❷
⑶ Expand contribution to CO2 reduction in the value chain3
7-❸
⑷ Expand water filtration throughput contribution by Toray’s water treatment membranes4
7-❹
⑸ Conduct a wide variety of product research and technology development to help build a low-carbon, circular economy
-
⑹ Contribute to the utilization of biomass in and recycling of plastic products, the spread of renewable energy and hydrogen, and the reuse of water resources
-
⑺ Contribute to countermeasures to public health risks, including infectious diseases, by developing and upgrading materials and products for protective clothing and personal protective equipment, as well as materials to protect environmental hygiene including of air and water
-
Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Target Fiscal 2022 Result
Fiscal 2020 Fiscal 2021 Fiscal 2022
1,000 billion yen (Fiscal 2022) 993.4 billion yen
300.0 billion yen (Fiscal 2022) 369.6 billion yen
5.3 times compared to fiscal 2013 (Fiscal 2022) 9.5 times compared to fiscal 2013
2.4 times compared to fiscal 2013 (Fiscal 2022) 2.5 times compared to fiscal 2013
  1. Reporting scope : Toray Group
  1. 3 Toray calculates the value chain CO2 emissions reduced throughout the entire product lifecycle in accordance with the chemical sector guidelines of the Japan Chemical Industry Association, and the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA).
  2. 4 Water treated annually with Toray water treatment membranes. It is calculated by multiplying the amount of fresh water that the Toray membranes can produce per day, including reverse osmosis (RO), ultrafiltration (UF) and membrane separation bioreactors (MBR), by the number of membrane elements sold.

Related Materiality for CSR

  • Accelerating Climate Change Mitigation
  • Promoting a Circular Economy
  • Taking a Nature-Positive Approach
  • Committed to Healthier Lives
  • Developing in Collaboration with Stakeholders
  1. * Click here for CSR Roadmap 2025 from the perspective of materiality (PDF:392.4KB).PDF
  2. * Click here for a PDF summary of the main materiality-related initiatives, KPIs and progress achievements up to fiscal 2022 under the CSR Roadmap 2022 (PDF: 1.6MB).PDF

Looking to the Future

The consolidated revenue generated by the Green Innovation Project in fiscal 2022 was 993.4 billion yen, an increase of 161.2 billion yen from the previous year. Although sales of resin products were sluggish due to a slump in the automobile markets in Japan and China, sales of carbon fiber for aircraft and wind turbine blades, as well as water treatment membranes were strong.
The contribution to the reduction of CO2 emissions and the expansion of water treatment from the use of Toray Group products throughout the value chain increased due to business expansion. The Group will continue to help address resource, energy, and global environmental issues through its businesses.
The consolidated revenue generated by the Life Innovation Project in fiscal 2022 was 369.6 billion yen, an increase of 61.2 billion yen from the previous year. This was due to increased sales of textiles for sports fabrics and automotive airbags, as well as carbon fiber for sporting-related applications. Toray Group will continue to leverage its strengths in advanced materials, while accelerating activities in the Pharmaceuticals & Medical Products Business.
Worldwide, a range of issues are becoming increasingly interconnected and serious. These include population growth and aging in many countries, as well as climate change, water shortages, and resource depletion.
This is inducing a transition to more sustainable modes of production and consumption. Initiatives will be implemented for moving to a circular economy where used products are recovered and regenerated to make new ones. This will enable a further transition from a mass production/mass consumption linear business scheme to business models such as PaaS (products as a service), sharing, product life extension, resource collection and recycling, and circulated supply chains.
In order to better respond to diversifying sustainability needs, in fiscal 2023 Toray Group integrated its Green Innovation and Life Innovation businesses to create the Sustainability Innovation (SI) business. Under the SI & DI Project, the Group is now enhancing its strength by expanding products that meet the aims of the Toray Group Sustainability Vision. These include aims to achieve “a net-zero-emissions world, where greenhouse gas emissions are completely offset by absorption,” (in other words, a net zero emissions, carbon-neutral world), “a world where resources are sustainably managed,” and “a world with a restored natural environment, with clean water and air for everyone,” and “a world where everyone enjoys good health and hygiene.”

Click here for the main initiatives and KPIs for CSR Guideline No. 7 “Contributing Solutions to Social Issues through Business Activities” during the CSR Roadmap 2025 period (fiscal 2023–2025).

Fiscal 2022 CSR Activity Report

Click bellow on activity reports for fiscal 2022.