Calculating carbon footprint for plastics used

Asahi Kasei, a diversified Japanese multinational company, has established a platform (the Platform) jointly with NTT DATA Corp. to grasp the amount of GHG emissions and calculate the carbon footprint of products (CFP) for each grade of performance plastics used as moulding material for automotive parts, consumer electronics, etc. The applicable performance plastic products are Leona™, Tenac™, Tenac-C™, Xyron™, and Thermylene®. Use of the Platform began in April 2022, and CFP data provision to customers will begin in May 2022.

The Asahi Kasei Group made efforts to strengthen the business platform for sustainable growth from the viewpoint of Green, Digital, and People in its previous medium-term management plan, Cs+ for Tomorrow 2021. In its new medium-term management plan, announced on April 11, 2022, Green Transformation is positioned as one of the key areas for strengthening the management foundation, and Asahi Kasei is advancing reductions of its own GHG emissions as well as contributions to reducing the world’s GHG emissions for the realization of carbon neutrality. Therefore, from the perspective of GHG emissions reduction, Asahi Kasei has sequentially advanced the calculation of CFP for each product starting with the main products, and information provision to certain customers has begun.

Leona™, Tenac™, Tenac-C™, Xyron™, and Thermylene® are performance plastic products widely used as material for automotive structural parts, electrical equipment, consumer electronics, etc., featuring superior characteristics such as strength, lubricity, flame retardance, etc. Asahi Kasei’s performance plastics business has more than ten each of manufacturing sites and sales sites worldwide, and it provides products and technical service to customers around the world. As the supply chain is complex, involving various sites, it was difficult to promptly obtain detailed management information such as budgets, actual results, and forecasts, as well as CFP for each final product in an integrated format from production to sale.

With the growing awareness for the global environment and sustainability, industry-wide initiatives have arisen in addition to efforts within individual companies. For Asahi Kasei’s performance materials business, in addition to advancing decarbonization through business operations and procurement, there are calls to provide CFP information for each product to customers downstream in the supply chain for the promotion of decarbonization across the supply chain. The Platform was established to meet these expectations.

Outline of the Platform

Asahi Kasei and NTT Data jointly established a platform enabling Asahi Kasei’s performance materials business to grasp comprehensive management information globally in fiscal 2020.

The Platform was expanded to grasp CFP.

Characteristic 1: Inclusion of GHG emissions from procurement and transportation to outsourced processing, in-house manufacturing, and shipment

The CFP of each material procured from upstream suppliers is added to the GHG emissions calculated proportionally in outsourced processing and in-house manufacturing processes, enabling visualization of CFP inclusive of the supply chain from upstream to manufacturing and shipment. (For calculating CFP of materials, LCI database “IDEAv2.3” provided by National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) is used.)

Characteristic 2: Monthly calculation of CFP for each final product is possible even with complex supply chain

The performance plastic products supply chain is a complex one, with many different product grades, manufacturing sites spread around the world, and numerous production process steps. In order to cover the complex supply chain, “Anaplan” planning and analysis tool featuring high-speed mathematical processing was introduced. Grasping monthly CFP for each product is enabled by inputting various data on materials and production sites into Anaplan.

Characteristic 3: Dual analysis of cost and CFP achieved by combining with management information

As the Platform was created by expanding an existing management information platform, combined analysis of cost and CFP from various perspectives, such as by final product or by customer, is enabled. As these analyses are visualized using the business intelligence (BI) tool “Tableau,” not only CFP reduction but also proposals emphasizing the balance of cost and CFP can be made to customers.

Moving forward, Asahi Kasei will consider the optimal CFP calculation system and the way of disclosure corresponding to the characteristics of each product. Asahi Kasei aims for the achievement of a carbon neutral sustainable world by contributing to solutions for various challenges in society through its businesses.