Green Power for Japan

Naoyuki Inoue works as manager for occupational safety and environmental protection at Boehringer Ingelheim Japan. For him and his colleagues, one thing is clear: A company should be a role model for its employees when it comes to environmental protection, for example by choosing more sustainable energy sources.

"Changing the power supply for the Yamagata site had been planned for a long time. We based our decision which power supply to choose on two criteria: reducing energy costs, and minimizing our carbon footprint. However, we chose to put more weight on the latter because we believe that our company has a responsibility – both to the people and to the environment.

Prior to the switch on July 1, 2020, we had been covering our electric energy needs with a mix largely consisting of natural gas, coke, and crude oil. As a result, we emitted approximately 4,000 metric tons of CO₂ per year. We wanted to reduce this amount as quickly as possible. That is why, as a first step, we switched to a power contract that allows us to purchase electricity generated mostly from renewable energy sources. This cut back our CO₂ emissions by around 33 percent for 2020. For 2021, we expect our CO₂ emissions resulting from electricity consumption to drop to almost zero until the end of the year. And we already have our sights set on our next target: to also reduce the emissions we emit for other types of energy, such as thermal energy – for example by switching from heavy oil to liquefied natural gas (LNG) for steam boilers.

And we want to achieve even more: We also intend to save water resources. Here we are involving our employees and drawing their attention to how much we consume at the site. For instance, with information leaflets hanging above washbasins in toilets. They remind colleagues to use less water.

We are proud of what we have already achieved. But that doesn't mean we are losing sight of our goals. We want to keep on improving. This motivation is something we want to transfer to all our employees. After all, each of us should make a contribution to protecting the environment."