LIXIL Apprises Environmental Strategy to Enhance Positive Impact on the Planet, Society

LIXIL Corporation, the maker of pioneering water and housing products, has announced its updated environmental strategy on how it would tackle key environmental issues, including climate change mitigation and adaptation, water sustainability, and contributing to the realisation of a circular economy.

In each of these three focus areas, it stated that the updated strategy sets out new mid-term targets across LIXIL’s operations, value chain, and beyond, to expand the positive impact the company is having on environmental and social issues of the world.

It said the company’s approach extended beyond the mitigation of risks and adaptation, but throughout its value chain, leveraging its expertise to change the way people live today and tomorrow.

In a statement made available to THISDAY, the President and CEO of LIXIL, Kinya Seto, said: “As a purpose-driven organisation, LIXIL is embedding ESG activities and commitments into our core business strategy, to ensure that we are having a positive impact and to strengthen our business over the long-term. Our updated environmental strategy is central to this approach, ensuring that we are aligned across our business to important environmental commitments, but also because it will allow us to capture new opportunities and manage risks.”

Demonstrating the company’s strengthened commitment to accelerate efforts for sustainable business practices from operations and in collaboration with business partners, LIXIL recently marked its third consecutive year on the Supplier Engagement Leaderboard and Water Security A List by the CDP, one of the founding partners of the SBTi.

He said Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Buildings accounts for around 28 percent of energy related CO2 emissions of which housing accounts for 17 percent, adding that energy efficiency and high-performance housing is an urgent issue to be tackled.

Also, LIXIL has renewed its certification from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in line with its targets to cap global temperature increase at 1.5ºC compared to pre-industrial temperatures. Aligned with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations, the company said it has set approved targets in June 2022 for absolute GHG emissions reductions- from previously 30 percent to 50.4 percent for Scope 1 and 2 and 15 percent to 30 percent for Scope 3 by the fiscal year ending March 2031 from the fiscal year ended March 2019 base year 2 and 3.

It disclosed that in Japan, heating, cooling, and hot water account for about 60 percent of the energy consumed by the average home.

Improving the efficiency of housing insulation can greatly reduce CO2 emissions, yet 90 percent of existing homes in Japan fail to meet current national energy-efficiency standards, and conserving energy through home insulation is a key Japanese government policy.

In addition to Scope 1-3 targets, FYE2026 LIXIL’s window product line-up ratio will become 100 percent high-performance for newly constructed homes and will continue to enhance technologies for improved energy efficiency, replacing existing windows and housing products in response to the growing renovation market.

LIXIL, meanwhile, is introducing functional yet efficient solutions for end-users to reduce consumption of energy in both new and existing homes, driving impact for LIXIL and the environment – contributing to mitigation by enhancing the line-up of high-performance windows, doors and construction methods, and by energy saving water technologies such as faucets and toilets; while offering solutions such as shades, shutters, and storm doors designed to alleviate the effects of rising temperatures and heavy rainfall for adaptation.

On water sustainability, it stated that by 2050, an estimated 40 percent of the world’s population will suffer from severe water deprivation.

“Therefore, the world’s leading water technology provider, LIXIL has set new targets that are focused on the social and environmental sustainability of water for future generations that are supported by its efforts to reduce, reuse, filter and improve accessibility to safer or better-tasting water.

“LIXIL will improve water use efficiency by 20 percent in its operations by FYE2031 and will reduce water usage at water-scarce business sites in accordance with TNFD optimising water usage and using water responsibly at production sites. LIXIL will ramp up its efforts to recycle water and reduce its water footprint in its operations needed for manufacturing.

“Through water-efficient products and solutions, LIXIL can enable consumers to use water more efficiently and responsibly, reducing daily consumption. LIXIL’s water-saving toilet and faucet products and smart water controllers are targeted at reducing a total of 2 billion cubic meters of water per year by FYE2025, globally.

“Better homes also need clean and safe water for showering, washing hands, or drinking. LIXIL is helping to enable safer water for consumers and communities to tackle contamination by providing product solutions and promoting behavioural change.

“With a proven track record of providing innovative solutions and partnerships for impact, LIXIL is also committed to advocating for more effective and responsible water policies: working with partners and developing culturally and geographically relevant solutions, joining the conversation on water issues such as scarcity, efficiency, safety and reuse.

“The approach targets to expand its impact by access to safer water and water services, and improving quality for better tasting water through its filtration technology,” Seto noted in the statement.

On circular economy, LIXIL said with the world’s growing population, global consumption is expected to double by 2050. “Today, construction-related sectors consume nearly half of the world’s extracted resources. Resource efficiency and innovation of circular solutions are imperative for sustainable growth, and LIXIL has set targets that contribute to the world and industry.

“Updated targets include recycling 90 percent of waste from operations by FYE2026 globally, improving efficiency. Across the value chain, LIXIL has set enterprise-level targets to reduce single-use plastics used for packaging, increase resource-efficient products and solutions, building take-back systems for product-to-product use; supported by repairing, resale or leasing services to ensure products can be used longer,” he said.

According to the president, “LIXIL’s circular material, revia, promotes the reuse of plastic waste that has almost doubled over the last twenty years. Largely comprised of single-use plastics, plastic waste represents an urgent and growing environmental issue around the world. This innovation aims to create an ecosystem that spans procurement to production, sales, installation and collection, establishing a sustainable business model, and targets to contribute to the reduction of plastic waste, which will also result in less CO₂ emissions and plastic pollution that are harmful to land, water, and society.

On his own, the Chief Technology Officer and Chair of the Environmental Strategy Committee, Uchu Mukai, said: “With the updated Environment Strategy, we want to reduce our CO2 targets by evaluating our total emissions, including Scope 1, 2, and 3, protect water-one of the most precious resources – and focus on circular solutions that can have a positive impact on our planet, aiming at a waste reduction from our facilities, resource efficiency, circularity throughout our products along the value chain.

“With the addition of biodiversity as an interconnecting material issue, we believe that this strategy is an important step forward in addressing challenges and having a positive impact on our business and the environment.”