Biodiversity

• Toshiba participated in the Interactive Fair for Biodiversity in October 2010

In order to prevent biodiversity loss on a global scale, Toshiba Group will establish a system to promote its initiatives and visualize the effects of its business activities on biodiversity.

• Basic Policy
• Product initiatives
• Initiatives at Production Sites
• Supply chain initiatives
• Contributions to Society

Basic Policy

Toshiba Group's policy on biodiversity

The business activities of Toshiba Group benefit from ecosystem services supported by diverse forms of life and at the same time affect such services. Ecosystem services are classified into (1) provisioning services (supply of food, water, wood, etc.), (2) regulating services (such as waste separation and water purification), and (3) cultural services (recreation and psychological benefits, etc.).

In order to conserve biodiversity, which is the foundation of ecosystem services, Toshiba Group implements the four pillars of its initiatives: products, production sites, supply chains, and contributions to society.

Four pillars of initiatives to conserve biodiversity

Biodiversity Guidelines

Toshiba Group formulated the Biodiversity Guidelines in September 2009. The Group will strive to make its initiatives for preserving biodiversity visible by analyzing its business activities and diverse environmental issues, including biodiversity, in comprehensive, quantitative terms and thus reduce environmental impacts and utilize ecosystem services in a sustainable manner.

Toshiba Group Biodiversity Guidelines

Product initiatives

Index of Mining Impact on Biodiversity (MiBiD™)

Toshiba Group has developed the MiBiD™ method is to quantify the impacts on biodiversity from mining materials used for products. We have already created a database of materials (e.g., steel, copper, and aluminum which are most-used minerals worldwide) extracted from mines around the world that records the relationships of said materials with the mines, the surrounding natural environments, and vegetation using MiBiD/kg as the base unit. We are now considering the use of this method in our product assessments.

Example of calculating the MiBiD base unit (MiBiD/kg) for each mine

Positioning of biodiversity in LIME

Toshiba Group makes use of the Japanese version of the Life-cycle Impact assessment Method based on Endpoint modeling (LIME), developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, to assess the effects of its business operations on biodiversity. The LIME method expresses the effects of resources consumed for business activities and chemical substances discharged from them on human society and the ecosystem as coefficients. In order to assess the effects on biodiversity, damage caused to four affected areas (ecological toxicity, land use, resource consumption, and waste) is quantified to calculate the Expected Increase in Number of Extinct Species (EINES), an indicator of how much extinction risks for the Red List of endangered species increase. This enables quantitative analysis of material input and output associated with business activities as a direct indicator of effects on endangered species.

Assessment of using the LIME method

Map of the relationship between business and biodiversity

Case Study

Assessment of products’ effects on biodiversity

Toshiba Group assesses its products’ effects on biodiversity using the Japanese version of the Life-cycle Impact assessment Method based on Endpoint modeling (LIME), which allows for comprehensive assessments from four perspectives: (1) human health, (2) biodiversity, (3) social assets and (4) primary production. It is also developing products that contribute to conserving biodiversity.

Analysis of LIME assessments

Spectroscopic properties of E-CORE, our LED lamp model designed to reduce UV radiation

Case Study in 2009

Example of LIME assessments: Electric power substations

145kV GIS

Some electric power substations are built in mountainous regions covered with rich green foliage. Toshiba Group uses the LIME method to assess environmental impact reduction effects obtained when reducing the area of installation for substations with old air-insulated switchgears (AIS) and that for substations with 145 kV gas-insulated switchgears (GIS). GIS substations, which require only 1/30 of the installation area for AIS substations, reduce the integrated LIME assessment indicator to 20% of the level of AIS substations because the effects of land use (modification of forests), disposal of concrete for the foundation, and so forth are reduced substantially. In particular, it is found that the effects of GIS substations on biodiversity are reduced to 10% of the level of AIS substations.

Comparison of integrated LIME assessments of substations

Initiatives at Production Sites

Toshiba Group aims to minimize the adverse effects of its business activities on biodiversity and shift its biodiversity policy toward initiatives for improvement to realize an ideal state of environmental management in 2015. To achieve this goal, Toshiba Group is developing biotopes at its major production sites worldwide (approx. 100 locations).

While the measures to mitigate climate change and ensure efficient use of resources discussed under Greening of Process are initiatives that mainly contribute to provisioning services and regulating services, we consider development of biotopes to be an initiative that contributes to cultural services.

Toshiba Group definition of a production site biotope

Attracting butterflies and other flying organisms	Establishment of habitats or resting places for birds, dragonflies, butterflies, and other living organisms, regardless of their rarity, in the areas surrounding production sites
Ex-situ conservation of rare flora and fauna	Protecting and breeding rare flora and fauna in the areas surrounding production sites on-site before returning them to their native habitats

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Rare flora and fauna: A species on the Red List or other species of wildlife specified by local government or regional experts.

Attracting butterflies and other flying organisms

Although the existing wooded areas at production sites have many garden species and are pleasing to the eye, they are not suitable habitats or resting places for wildlife. For this reason, we will convert such wooded areas into biotopes by planting butterflies' favorite trees and at the same time we expect the costs of pruning and watering to fall.

Ex-situ conservation of rare flora and fauna*

Toshiba Group launched an ex-situ conservation initiative as stipulated in Article 9 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Our production sites can serve as extremely important conservation areas for flora and fauna since: (1) the sites can be managed by our employees and (2) the sites' security is ensured and there is no risk of illegal removal of plants or overhunting of insects by third parties. Going forward, we will aggressively promote ex-situ conservation of rare flora and fauna at our production sites.

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Ex-situ conservation (Article 9 of the CBD): Measures taken for the recovery and rehabilitation of threatened species and for their reintroduction into their original habitats under appropriate conditions as well as measures taken for the purpose of complementing in-situ measures aiming to conserve such threatened species within their original habitats.

Toshiba Keihin Product Operations

Toshiba Keihin Product Operations is raising Japanese eight-barbel loaches and killifishes in a dragonfly pond created onsite. It will reintroduce the Japanese eight-barbel loaches that it breeds to the Tsurumi River watershed, their original habitat.

Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corp.

Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corp. transplanted daylilies, which are excessively picked in the Koajiro forest of Miura Peninsula, to an open space on-site at the company and succeeded in blooming them. As their seedlings increase in the future, the company will re-plant them in the forest.

Biodiversity conservation through local collaboration

At Toshiba Group, we are promoting biodiversity conservation activities in collaboration with local stakeholders and governments. For example, Mr. Yuji Kishi, Professor at the Keio University Faculty of Economics in Tokyo and representative of TR Net, a non-profit organization (NPO), advises us on our initiative targeting the Tsurumi River watershed. As for ex-situ conservation of daylilies at Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corp., we collaborate with Kanagawa Prefecture, which owns the Koajiro forest. Going forward, we will continue to promote biodiversity conservation activities in collaboration with local experts and interested parties

Internalization of the biodiversity potential assessment method

Assessing the areas surrounding production sites is essential for implementing initiatives at the sites. Toshiba and InterRisk Research Institute & Consulting, Inc. have jointly developed a simplified version of the biodiversity potential assessment method that can be conducted by production site staff. We regularly hold one-day internal training courses on this method. By attending one of these training courses, employees can learn about the biodiversity potential assessment method as well as acquire basic knowledge and the latest trends related to biodiversity.

Aiming to acquire a certification demonstrating low biodiversity impacts

Toshiba America, Inc. was assessed with regard to their impacts on biodiversity by Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC), an environmental NGO. Through regularly assessing the improvement status of organism species protection and organisms' habitats, our production sites aim to acquire a certification demonstrating low biodiversity impacts.

Establishing ecosystem networks centered on production sites through regional cooperation

In order to conserve biodiversity at its production sites, Toshiba Group aims to establish ecosystem networks centered on production sites through regional cooperation.

Toshiba Group has confirmed that a wide range of animals and plants, including rare local species, live at its production sites as a result of afforestation, development of biotopes (living places for specific pairings of plants and animals), and other past efforts. However, these ecosystems are not always complete unto themselves within the sites. In particular, to protect animals such as the birds and insects that fly over these sites, it is important to establish networks with external organizations. Therefore, Toshiba Group aims to build regional ecosystem networks in cooperation with residents and NPOs in the municipalities where its production sites are located.

Local ecosystem networks created in collaboration with stakeholders

Toshiba Group aims to minimize the adverse effects of its business activities on biodiversity and shift its biodiversity policy toward initiatives for improvement to realize an ideal state of environmental management in 2015. This means that by 2015, the Group intends to prevent the number of species designated for protection (as agreed upon with local stakeholders) from decreasing and to increase the size of the populations of such species from 2015. As the first step, the Group will select the species to be designated for protection at each of its production sites.

Minimizing adverse effects and shifting toward improvement (conceptual diagram)

Toshiba’s ideal regional ecosystem network (conceptual diagram)

In collaboration with outside experts, Toshiba Group has conducted quick assessments of biodiversity potential in areas surrounding our production sites. These assessments were made to evaluate the environmental potential of wooded areas and river systems located within a 2-km radius of each site in order to examine how our production sites can contribute to the development of local ecosystem networks through land use.

In FY2010, we conducted assessments at 14 sites in Japan and one site in the Philippines. We identified each site’s characteristics and made quantitative assessments of how we could contribute to establishing an ecosystem network in the surrounding areas (the biodiversity potential). In the future, we will choose characteristic sites based on the results of these assessments and select the species to be protected, including indigenous or rare species in surrounding areas. We aim to create ecosystem networks in the future in collaboration with local stakeholders.

Biodiversity potential assessment

• Assessing green zones and water systems located within a two kilometer radius from each site
• Identifying each site’s characteristics and quantitatively assessing their biodiversity potential

Results of quick biodiversity potential assessments at 15 sites

Type	Site name	Location	Assessment of Green zones	Assessment of Water systems
Industrial zone	Toshiba Ome Complex	Tokyo, Japan	4	4
	Toshiba Fukaya Complex	Saitama Prefecture, Japan	2	1
	Toshiba Keihin Product Operations	Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan	0	3
	Toshiba Yokohama Complex	Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan	3	0
	Toshiba Carrier Fuji Plant	Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan	1	3
	Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Himeji Plant	Hyogo Prefecture, Japan	3	4
	Toshiba Information Equipment (Philippines)	Republic of the Philippines	2	4
Dense residential	Toshiba Fuchu Complex	Tokyo, Japan	3	4
	Toshiba Solutions Fuchu Engineering Center	Tokyo, Japan	3	4
	Toshiba Komukai Operations	Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan	0	2
Agricultural	Toshiba Mobile Display Ishikawa Works	Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan	4	3
	Toshiba Medical Systems	Tochigi Prefecture, Japan	3	3
	Toshiba TEC Shizuoka Business Center (Ohito)	Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan	4	4
Forest	Toshiba Yokkaichi Operations	Mie Prefecture, Japan	3	6
Central urban	Toshiba Head Office Building	Tokyo, Japan	3	5

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Shaded sites scored three or more points out of a possible four points for green zones and four or more points out of a possible seven points for water systems.

Candidates species for protection at typical production sites

Wastewater management using the WET method

Toshiba Group uses the Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) method, which employs biological indicators, on a trial basis as a new way of investigating the impact of wastewater from its production sites on the environment. This method, which confirms the impact of chemical substances in wastewater on the environment as the magnitude of the overall impact on living organisms, has already been introduced in Europe and North America. With the cooperation of the National Institute for Environmental Studies, investigators at the Yokohama Complex used four organisms of species −luminescent bacteria, algae, crustaceans (water fleas) and fish (zebra fish) −to conduct short-term chronic toxicity tests referring to U.S. guidelines.

In FY2010, Toshiba Group carried out these tests at five production sites, including the Toshiba Yokohama Complex, which were chosen from among the various industries in which it operates. No substantial impact of wastewater on the ecosystem was observed at any site. In the future, the Group plans to continue periodically investigating the status of wastewater management.

Water flea (left) and zebra fish (right) used to assess wastewater (photos courtesy of the National Institute for Environmental Studies)

Sampling of wastewater

Supply chain initiatives

In addition to conventional eco procurement, procuring raw materials in a way that accounts for ecosystems' needs will be one important element of future biodiversity conservation initiatives. Toshiba Group aims to establish a system of procurement which employs suppliers who are keen on conserving biodiversity. In the future, in cooperation with its suppliers, the Group will strive to protect biodiversity throughout the supply chain.

Contributions to society

1.5 Million Tree-Planting Project

Toshiba Group's 1.5 Million Tree-Planting Project contributes to realizing ecosystems that are suitable for the growth of various organisms by pruning and thinning trees for proper forest management. Furthermore, the Group provides human resource development services for those who love nature, such as tree-planting events for employees, nature observation programs and training for nature observation instructors.

Objectives of the 1.5 Million Tree-Planting Project

Forest thinning with local governments and NGOs

In May 2009, Toshiba Group entered into a comprehensive agreement on cooperation in forest development with Aomori Prefecture. Toshiba is working with Aomori Prefecture to develop a total of about 10.5 ha of forest land in Shichinohe Town and Misawa City and is using the land as a place for the environmental education of employees. It also makes the most of the Forest Neighborhood Association system* promoted by an environmental NPO to have paper manufacturers process wood generated by tree thinning in Misawa City then produce paper from the processed wood and use the paper for copying and printing pamphlets and other materials. In March 2010, some 63 tons of wood were produced from forest thinning. Toshiba Group uses such wood for the printing of its own environmental reports and other materials. Thus the Group will contribute to the realization of a recycling-oriented society by not only helping to thin forests but also effectively using timber from forest thinning.

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A new tree thinning promotion system implemented by the environmental NPO Office Neighborhood Association, which aims to create a link between forest developers and businesses in order to establish a connection between tree thinning and the use of thinned trees.