Business Activities and the Environment

A company is like a living organism, functioning within the global environment. As it grows, providing products and services to society, it consumes various resources and energy and generates waste. As the need to build a recycling-based society grows, companies must also gain a clear understanding of their own environmental impacts and execute more advanced ecological management.
In addition to making steady efforts to reduce waste and other environmental impacts, the Nikon Group has also been actively engaged in its own unique activities, a notable example of which is the development of Eco-glass^*, which has an amazingly small environmental footprint. During the year ended March 31, 2012, we sought to expand the scope of our environmental management system, and we continued to focus our efforts on CO₂ emissions reduction and on the reduction and management of hazardous chemical substances.

Relationship with the Environment in the Nikon Group's Business Operations: Nikon is minimizing environment impact in each product and service process, including development, design, procurement, production, packaging and transport.

*Eco-glass
The Nikon Group developed lead- and arsenic-free optical glass for use in the lenses and prisms of optical devices, and calls this type of glass "Eco-glass." The use rate of Eco-glass in optical systems has reached 100% in most Nikon products.

Nikon Group's Principal Environmental Impacts (for year ended March 31, 2012)

INPUT		Nikon Corporation facilities	Group manufacturing companies in Japan	Units
Energy	Electricity	160,695	92,159	MWh
	City gas	6,013	1,425	Thousand Nm³
	Liquefied Petroleum Gas(LPG)	422	2,155	t
	Heavy oil	10	836	kl
	Kerosene, light oil, etc.	49	124	kl
	Water	2,126	899	Thousand m³
PRTR^* substances	2-aminoethanol	1.573	0	t
	Ferric chloride	0	4.800	t
	Hexavalent chromium compounds	0	2.071	t
	Chromium and trivalent chromium compounds	0	1.791	t
	Dichloropentafluoropropane	0	1.475	t
	Toluene	0	3.887	t
	Lead compounds	11.602	0	t
	1-bromopropane	27.232	54.782	t
	Boron compounds	3.023	17.138	t

OUTPUT		Nikon Corporation facilities	Group manufacturing companies in Japan	Units
CO₂ emissions	Electricity	60,290	36,636	t-CO₂
	City gas	13,492	3,271	t-CO₂
	Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)	1,265	6,463	t-CO₂
	Heavy oil	27	2,265	t-CO₂
	Kerosene, light oil, etc.	127	310	t-CO₂
PRTR substances emissions to the air	2-aminoethanol	0	0	t
	Ferric chloride	0	0	t
	Hexavalent chromium compounds	0	0	t
	Chromium and trivalent chromium compounds	0	0	t
	Dichloropentafluoropropane	0	1.382	t
	Toluene	0	3.116	t
	Lead compounds	0.008	0	t
	1-bromopropane	24.772	40.875	t
	Boron compounds	0.004	0.024	t
Wastes including valuable resources	Amount discharged	3,123	2,610	t
	Amount recycled	3,103	2,458	t
	Amount of landfill	8	89	t

Scope of Data
Nikon Corporation facilities: Head Office, and Oi, Yokohama, Sagamihara, Kumagaya, Mito and Yokosuka Plants

Group manufacturing companies in Japan: Tochigi Nikon Corporation, Tochigi Nikon Precision Co., Ltd., Sendai Nikon Corporation, Miyagi Nikon Precision Co., Ltd., Kurobane Nikon Co., Ltd., Hikari Glass Co., Ltd., TNI Industry Co., Ltd.

*PRTR
The "Pollutant Release and Transfer Register" system is a system used by governments to collect, tabulate, and disclose data on chemical substances that might have harmful effects on human health and ecosystems. They are identified and reported to governments once per year by companies.