Japan
Sustainability Data Book 2024Efforts in product use
Design and development efforts
Promotion of green procurement
We have established the Suzuki Green Procurement Guideline that indicates our policy to purchase eco-friendly parts and materials from suppliers who are making ambitious efforts in environmental conservation and agree to our guideline by submitting the Suzuki Green Procurement Promotion Agreement to us.
We partially revised this guideline in October 2013 to clarify the matter related to the establishment of a substance of concern management system at partner companies, and prepared the self-checklist for the control system. (We have been requesting new and existing suppliers to submit checklists thereafter. More than 91% of suppliers of production parts have attained outside certifications including ISO 14001.) Also, we work alongside our suppliers to conform to not only existing regulations, such as the European ELV Directive and European Regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), but also various future environmental laws and regulations.
Also, we request business partners to work on reducing environmental load such as (1) CO2 emissions, (2) VOC emissions, (3) the amount of waste generated, and (4) water usage, as well as (5) to promote energy saving in their business activities.
We will revise the Suzuki Green Procurement Guideline in FY2024 in seeking to further enhance our green procurement initiatives.
* Suzuki Green Procurement Guideline:
https://www.globalsuzuki.com/corporate/environmental/green_policy/
Management of substances of concern
In recent years, new regulations on substances of concern have been successively increased on a global basis. Suzuki provides products to customers worldwide and therefore must respond quickly to rapid changes. With this in mind, in 2003 Suzuki began utilizing the International Material Data System (IMDS) for the automobile industry. In addition, Suzuki has built an in-house substance of concern management system (SIDIS, or Suzuki IMDS Data Inhouse System), through which it efficiently gathers information about materials and chemicals used in each part. We use this information to calculate the recyclability rate, which is a requirement to receive type approval of motor vehicles in Europe, and manage various regulated substances as part of green procurement. In FY2023, Suzuki provided customers with 42 models including automobiles, motorcycles, and outboard motors upon confirming that these products complied with regulations for substances of concern. We are also preparing for European ELV regulations and other regulations that are scheduled to be newly reviewed and enforced in the future, while studying their details. With expectations of a further tightening of regulations, we will strictly comply with these regulations and strive to provide customers with products having low environmental impact.
■ In-house substance of concern management system
* ASR: Automobile Shredder Residue
Promotion of establishment of the substance of concern management system in overseas bases
[Green Procurement Guideline operational audit]
As a basis for managing substances of concern, we formulated the Suzuki Green Procurement Guideline and started its operation sequentially at major overseas production bases from 2011 onward, and conduct an audit aimed at confirming its operation.
[Audit for implementation of Asbestos Control Rules]
The use of asbestos is completely prohibited in Suzuki’s technical standards. We newly established the Asbestos Control Rules to enforce prohibition of its use, particularly for parts delivered to overseas plants. The rules require complete prohibition of the use of asbestos by our business partners, and implementing periodic education to relevant parties within the Company. The implementation of these requirements is audited by Suzuki.
<FY2023 results>
On-site audits (six sites)
- Jiangmen Dachangjiang Group Co., Ltd. (China)
- Pak Suzuki Motor Co. Ltd. (Pakistan)
- Pt. Suzuki Indomobil Motor (Indonesia)
- Magyar Suzuki Corporation Ltd. (Hungary)
- Suzuki Motor (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Thailand)
- Thai Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd. (Thailand)
Promotion of establishment of the substance of concern management system at business partners
Information about substances of concern in the automobile industry is collected as IMDS data in cooperation with business partners. However, as there have been IMDS data defects in the past, we conduct online briefing sessions about developments in the regulation of substances of concern, including requests for business partners to input accurate IMDS data, as well as audits and guidance concerning strict adherence to Green Procurement Guidelines, and promote the establishment of a substance of concern management system throughout the entire supply chain.
<FY2023 results>
Companies that received an audit and guidance: 15
Conformance to regulations concerning chemical substances
We have promoted a shift in products to materials that do not contain four phthalate-type plasticizer substances (DEHP, DBP, BBP, and DIBP) specified as a regulated substance (prohibition) under REACH (EU) in cooperation with our business partners. We have completed the switch to materials not containing these substances for automobiles by January 2024.
* Measures for motorcycle and outboard motors have been completed as of July 2020.
Currently, we are working on confirming the non-use of PFHxS and Dechlorane Plus (DP), as well as UV-328, which have been designated as eliminated substances under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
As new initiatives to confirm non-inclusion of regulated substances, we established internal regulations in April 2023 with respect to procedures for complying with regulations to ensure the switchover of regulated substances. We have furthermore been promoting efforts to strengthen post-mass production management, including sampling analysis and confirming that parts do not contain these substances.
We have also begun the registration of SCIP data* as a result of the Waste Framework Directive (EU). Suzuki is utilizing IMDS data to gradually register data concerning its products that are sold within the EU.
- * SCIP (Substances of Concern In articles as such or in complex objects (Products)) A framework intended to make information about chemical substances included in recycled materials more accessible in an aim to transition to a circular economy. This helps to improve the safe use of recycled materials by, for example, removing the hazardous substances contained in the recycled material rather than using the material in its current state.
<FY2023 results>
- Completed switch to materials that do not contain four phthalate-type plasticizer substances
- Promoted switch to materials that do not contain PFHxS, Dechlorane Plus (DP), and UV-328
- Established and began implementing internal regulations on procedures for confirming non-inclusion of regulated substances
Efforts in business activities
Efforts in production
Efforts to reduce chemical substances
● Purchasing new substances
Before our domestic offices adopt new materials such as paint, oil, and detergents, the environmental management department examines the toxicity of chemical substances contained in the materials and the planned amount of use, as well as how to use and store them, and determines whether or not they are allowed to be used. The data collected through the research are managed as Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) data, which will be used to reduce the volume of those materials. Also, for raw materials, our SDS* is kept up-to-date to provide the latest chemical data.
* SDS (Safety Data Sheet): A sheet listing the names, physical chemistry behavior, hazards, and caution for handling, etc. of chemical substances.
● PRTR (Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) target substances
To reduce environmental load, we are working to reduce PRTR target substances. The amount of release and transfer was 1,389 tons in FY2023.
■ Amount of PRTR target substances that are handled, emitted, and transferred
- [Scope of aggregation]
- Head office, Iwata Plant, Kosai Plant, Osuka Plant, Sagara Plant (including the Sagara Proving Grounds), Hamamatsu Plant, Motorcycle Technical Center (Ryuyo Proving Grounds), Marine Technical Center, and Shimokawa Proving Grounds (from FY2020)
Plan for early disposal of PCB (Polychlorinated Biphenyl)
The Act on Special Measures concerning Promotion of Proper Treatment of PCB Wastes requires appropriate disposal of PCB waste contained in old capacitors, etc. by March 31, 2027. Suzuki has set an in-house target to complete the disposal of these materials by March 31, 2025 and is working to achieve this goal. At Suzuki’s domestic plants, PCB waste equivalent to 2,845 total units of vehicles has been disposed of as of March 31, 2024.
● Efforts to prevent soil and groundwater contamination
• Efforts to prevent the proliferation of soil contamination
In FY2022, all 16 business locations of domestic plants and domestic manufacturing subsidiaries conducted an investigation of the history of the land in order to record information about the risks of soil contamination due to chemical substances, etc., used in the past. Based on this investigation, we conduct soil surveys when making changes to the character of land that is at risk of soil contamination and are making efforts in purifying and removing contamination appropriately when soil contamination is found.
In FY2023, we conducted soil surveys five times at our domestic plants and found no contamination.