Management of Water Utilization

Utilization of Water Resources

Ascertaining water risks for corporate business activities and taking suitable countermeasures are growing in significance. The JVCKENWOOD Group has set a target to reduce water use as follows.

■Reduction in Water Consumption

・Target: 11% reduction by FY2030 from the FY2019 level (total, global)

We reduced water use by 37% from the FY2019 level in FY2023.
In FY2023, water consumption decreased due to the termination of operations of the overseas production plant JVCKENWOOD Technologies Singapore Pte. Ltd and Shanghai Kenwood Electronics Co., Ltd and the rebuilding of the Yokohama Head Office building. Meanwhile, the Group has been steadily implementing measures to reduce water use on a constant basis. As a specific example, we are working to recycle water by recycling wastewater (for details, see Initiatives Pertaining to Wastewater). We also recognize the importance of complying with laws and regulations pertaining to water quality, and no violations were committed in FY2023.

Water usage (FY2019-2023)

Coverage: refer to “Change in Water usage by business location”

Water usage (by type) (FY2019-2023)

Unit: t

Type	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023
Waterworks	163,858	137,286	147,896	118,082	108,504
Industrial water	79,986	56,030	33,250	49,419	42,614
Fresh groundwater	12,455	11,134	11,841	9,899	9,703
Fresh surface water (rainwater)	0	0	0	0	0
Total usage	256,299	204,450	192,987	177,400	160,821

Coverage: refer to “Change in water usage by business location”

Change in water usage by business location　(FY2019-2023)

Unit: t

Japan/overseas		FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023
Japan	Head Office & Yokohama Business Center	19,841	15,365	16,579	7,559	8,506
	Hachioji Business Center	23,364	16,534	14,304	15,251	15,804
	Hakusan Business Center	8,766	5,443	5,726	5,404	6,023
	Kurihama Business Center	13,774	12,361	13,001	11,820	15,019
	Yokosuka Business Center	4,253	2,947	3,067	2,990	2,875
	JVCKENWOOD Yamagata	4,147	3,341	3,147	3,327	3,594
	JVCKENWOOD Nagano	4,554	3,958	3,720	6,419	5,641
	JVCKENWOOD Nagaoka	11,554	11,791	10,460	10,139	10,167
	JVCKENWOOD Creative Media	9,235	9,311	9,318	9,404	9,515
	Victor Entertainment	3,931	3,027	3,115	2,852	2,653
	JVCKENWOOD Video Tech	851	567	597	495	498
	JVCKENWOOD Design	0	0	0	0	0
Malaysia	JVCKENWOOD Electronics Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.	38,303	33,965	27,300	31,860	29,529
Thailand	JVCKENWOOD Electronics (Thailand) Co., Ltd.	11,577	8,266	7,267	-	-
Thailand	JVCKENWOOD Optical Electronics (Thailand) Co., Ltd.	24,278	16,175	15,416	19,630	17,636
Indonesia	PT JVCKENWOOD Electronics Indonesia	55,708	39,855	33,250	29,789	24,978
People’s Republic of China	Shanghai Kenwood Electronics Co., Ltd.	18,504	19,697	21,977	18,535	8,383
Singapore	JVCKENWOOD Technologies Singapore Pte. Ltd.	3,659	1,846	1,743	1,726	-
Total usage		256,299	204,450	192,987	177,400	160,821

Initiatives Pertaining to Wastewater

To address the rising water risk in recent years and to use water resources in a sustainable manner, the JVCKENWOOD Group is endeavoring to ensure as far as possible that the water used and the wastewater generated in its business activities are reusable water resources. For example, at our Head Office and Yokohama Business Center, we recycle about 5,000 m³ of water annually by purifying gray water from kitchens and cafeterias as well as wastewater from toilets to recycle it. This helps reduce the amount of drinking water and industrial water that we use (see diagram below). In FY2023, we spent approximately 5.12 million yen of costs for the maintenance of septic tanks and other water-related expenses.

With regard to wastewater quality, the actual amount of 28 hazardous substances specified under the Water Pollution Prevention Act contained in our wastewater was 0.58 tons in FY2023, achieving the target to beat our FY2022 result of 0.62 tons. The water management plan is introduced by six business locations including the Head Office and Yokohama Business Center.

Water recycle system

Wastewater volume (by type) (FY2019-2023）

Unit：t

	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023
Sewers	250,267	182,481	139,585	134,313	109,799
Rivers	-	-	-	-	-
Other	-	3,562	31,059	29,789	29,529
Total	250,267	186,044	170,644	164,102	139,328

Coverage 1: refer to “Change in water usage by business location”

Coverage 2: Basically, the calculation is based on actual measured wastewater volume. For some sites where wastewater is circulated, the amount of wastewater after circulation is aggregated.

Operations in Water-stressed Regions

The Group identified regions where water shortages and flooding are a concern (water-stressed regions) by using the Aqueduct tool provided by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and has confirmed that two of its business locations operate in these regions. The total amount of water used in the two business locations was 26,019 tons in FY2023, which represented 16.2% of the total water use by the Group. We aim to actively work toward reducing water use in the regions, considering that the significance of doing so is particularly high in achieving our global target for water use reduction. In addition to the Group’s measures to reduce water use, we undertake activities to support stakeholders faced with water risks in the regions. In FY2020, we provided support such as donation of care bags to 22 employees of JVCKENWOOD Optical Electronics (Thailand) Co., Ltd. who suffered flood damage.

Participation in Water-related Initiatives

The Group participates in the Water Project launched by the Ministry of the Environment. The purpose of the Water Project is to introduce companies’ measures to preserve the water environment and communicate the importance of water, as well as correct information on water. We exchange information with other participants and utilize the exchanged information for our measures to preserve the water environment.

For details, see the website of the Water Project.