Information Disclosure Based on TCFD Recommendations

Our Support for TCFD Recommendations

In response to the global shift towards decarbonization in recent years, the NOK Group has expressed its support for the recommendations of the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures) established by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) in April 2022. The NOK Group has been advancing efforts related to climate change under its environmental vision "NOK Twin Green Plan 2030" leading up to 2030, and intends to further strengthen these efforts in light of its support for the TCFD. Going forward, we will continue to identify, based on TCFD recommendations, the risks to and opportunities for our business activities posed by climate change, reflect our findings in our business strategies, and proactively disclose information to enhance our corporate value.

TCFD ロゴ

Governance

The NOK Group has established an ESG Committee under its Board of Directors as an organization responsible for formulating various management policies, including our climate change actions based on medium- to long-term perspectives. The ESG Committee, chaired by the President and composed of general managers from different divisions, is responsible for formulating NOK's environmental, social, and governance-related policies and targets, and for checking our progress toward these targets. The ESG Committee has been set up such that initiatives discussed at the Committee are subject to review by the Board of Directors. In addition, the Climate Change Scenario Analysis Subcommittee and the Carbon Neutrality Subcommittee have been established under the ESG Committee as specialized bodies for climate change actions. The Climate Change Scenario Analysis Subcommittee estimates the potential impacts of climate change, while the Carbon Neutrality Subcommittee formulates and promotes specific climate change actions. These subcommittees take the lead and work with related internal organizations, bases, and group companies to promote climate change initiatives, and regularly report on the progress of these initiatives at ESG Committee meetings.

Governance

Risk Management

NOK has established its basic policies and management regimes for group-wide risk management in its Risk Management Regulations. Based on these regulations, we have established a management regime for promoting risk management of the Group where the President takes charge of risk management. Climate change-related risks and opportunities are assessed and managed by the ESG Committee. The Climate Change Scenario Analysis Subcommittee, which is a subordinate body, works with the Risk Management Committee and other relevant internal organizations to identify and classify climate change risks and opportunities based on their magnitude and duration of impact on business operations. These results are submitted to the ESG Committee for assessment and deliberation, after which they are reflected in discussions on actions and business strategies. Significant risks and opportunities are reported regularly to the Board of Directors.

Strategy

We recognize that climate change is an important management issue that will affect our finances into the future. As such, we have carried out scenario analyses in accordance with TCFD recommendations in order to assess the impacts of climate change and reflect climate change actions in our management strategy. Based on data from sources such as the International Energy Agency (IEA), we assessed the impact of climate change on our businesses under two scenarios, the 4°C and 2°C scenarios. Based on the results of these scenario analyses, we will be reviewing and promoting actions to address the identified risks and opportunities as outlined below. We will also continue to expand our scenario analyses and incorporate their results into our business strategies and management plans in order to improve the resilience of our management strategy.

Scenario Definition

  • Period covered: 2030
  • Scope of coverage: NOK Consolidated Global
  • Referenced scenarios: IEA WEO (Stated Policies Scenario, Sustainable Development Scenario), RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, RCP8.5, etc.
Envisioned world 4°C scenario 2°C scenario
Temperature rise
  • By the end of the 21st century, the global temperature rises by about 4°C compared to the pre-industrial era.
  • By the end of the 21st century, the global temperature rise is kept to less than 2°C higher than the pre-industrial era.
Policies/energy
  • Little or no progress in decarbonization policies, no carbon tax introduced, limited deployment of renewable energy.
  • Carbon taxes are introduced, share of renewable energy grows, business costs rise accordingly.
Markets/raw materials
  • The automotive industry gradually moves towards electrification, but the bulk of vehicles still run on internal combustion engines.
  • Gradual advances in electrification are accompanied by a gradual rise in the price of related raw materials.
  • The automotive industry undergoes rapid electrification, which results in a decline in the number of internal combustion engine vehicles.
  • Markets related to renewable energy and the reduction of environmental footprints expand, and the robotics and semiconductor markets also expand with the acceleration of digitalization. The expansion of these markets is accompanied by rises in prices of related raw materials to levels even higher than in the 4°C scenario.
Physical risks
  • Rising temperatures increase damage from flooding and tropical cyclones, which affects factory operations and supply chains.
  • While rising temperatures cause damage from flooding and tropical cyclones, their impacts are smaller than in the 4°C scenario.

Risks and Opportunities

Impacts Risks Opportunities Actions
Markets [Seal Products]
  • Declining sales of conventional products for internal combustion engine applications due to the increase of electric vehicles.

[Electronic Components]
  • Declining market competitiveness due to delays in response to environmental issues
    (prices, customers’ purchasing policies).
 [Group-wide]
  • Demand for control/electrical units and electronic components grows with electrification.
  • Carbon neutrality increases opportunities to grow sales of low-friction, long-life products.
  • Markets related to renewable energy, semiconductors, and labor- and power-saving (robots, etc.) grow.
 [Group-wide]
  • Expand sales to the electric vehicle (EV/FCV) market and growth industries (renewable energy, semiconductors, etc.).

[Seal Products]
  • Create more opportunities to expand sales of seal products for electrical units and batteries for electric vehicles, as well as newly developed products.
  • Develop and expand sales of products with smaller environmental footprints.
    (Low friction, long life, high durability, bio-based raw materials, etc.)

[Electronic Components]
  • Develop and expand sales of FPCs for electric vehicle batteries.
  • Expand sales in the renewable energy storage battery market.
  • Cultivate the electric vehicle infrastructure market (charging stations).
Raw materials [Group-wide]
  • Rising procurement costs due to carbon taxes on raw materials.
  • Rising raw material prices due to shifts in supply-demand balance.
 [Group-wide]
  • Reduce raw material costs through recycling and other effective uses of resources.
  • Reduce costs by improving supply chain efficiency.
 [Group-wide]
  • Monitor supply-and-demand forecasts for raw materials, and optimize procurement costs and prices. (Seal products: raw rubber materials, steel materials, etc., Electronic components: copper, etc.)
  • Strategy for developing material-saving fabrication methods (to improve yields)
  • Consider increasing the use of reused materials and product recycling.
Carbon price [Group-wide]
  • Rising operating costs due to carbon taxes.
 [Group-wide]
  • Promote manufacturing efficiency and energy-saving initiatives.
    (Improve motivation to save energy.)
 [Group-wide]
  • Reconsider the targets in the NOK Twin Green Plan 2030.
  • Introduce in-house carbon pricing.
  • Develop new low-energy materials and fabrication methods.
Energy [Group-wide]
  • Rising energy procurement costs due to shifts in electricity demand and power source makeup.
 [Group-wide]
  • Intensifying competition among electric power suppliers.
  • Promote the introduction of in-house renewable energy power sources using public subsidies, etc.
 [Group-wide]
  • Optimize our power procurement sources.
  • Introduce renewable energy sources such as solar power generation.
Corporate reputation [Group-wide]
  • Corporate reputation negatively impacted due to insufficient environmental initiatives.
  • Concerns that these will become a standard for making investment and loan decisions.
 [Group-wide]
  • Attract ESG investment by improving our corporate reputation.
 [Group-wide]
  • Proactively disclose corporate information in accordance with the ESG Framework.
Disasters [Group-wide]
  • Supply chain disruptions due to disasters.
  • Suspension of operations at company plants and damage to inventory in storage.
 ― [Group-wide]
  • Carry out hazard risk assessments and tropical cyclone/disaster countermeasures (water protection) at all bases.
  • Secure inventory levels that are appropriate for the risk exposure.

Targets

As part of our climate change actions, the NOK Group has formulated the NOK Twin Green Plan 2030, and has been promoting the reduction of CO2 emissions and development of next-generation eco-technologies. In order to strengthen our climate change actions, we have recently raised the CO2 emission reduction targets set in the NOK Twin Green Plan 2030 based on results from our TCFD scenario analyses. With the aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, we will continue to promote efforts to address climate change and consider revisions to our targets from time to time based on the results of scenario analyses and social conditions.

[Targets]

  • 2050:      Carbon neutrality target year
  • 2030:      Reduce NOK consolidated domestic CO2 emissions by 50%（compared to 2018）
                 　Reduce NOK consolidated overseas CO2 emission intensity by 30%（compared to 2018）

As of May 31, 2022