Revised Edition

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are goals common to international society by 2030, also known as the “Global Goals.” They were agreed upon and adopted by 193 member states including Japan at a United Nations summit held in September 2015. The SDGs were also recorded in “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” which was also adopted at the simultaneously convened 70th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. The SDGs aim to put an end to poverty, protect the Earth, and enable people everywhere to enjoy peace and well-being.

Revised Edition

 Kao Corporation views laundry detergents from a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) perspective in order to realize a sustainable society. Kao has made products compact and developed laundry detergents that dispense with just one rinse cycle instead of the conventional two cycles. Kao proposes "eco together," a new laundry style that reduces environmental impacts together with consumers through just one rinse cycle.

Revised Edition

 Asahi Kasei Corporation has successfully produced a polycarbonate resin by using the by-product carbon dioxide, which has been emitted into the atmosphere until now, as a starting material.
 This production process does not use toxic materials such as phosgene as a starting material, which suppresses generation of wastewater and waste products.
 This is a breakthrough process with excellent environmental, social, and economic benefits.

Revised Edition

 Toray Industries, Inc. have developed carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP), a composite material that enables the fabrication of lightweight airplane structures.
 Reducing the weight of an airplane permits the carriage of more passengers and cargo and extends the flight distance. A lightweight airplane conserves energy, causes low CO2 emissions, and minimizes the emission of greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

Revised Edition

 Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation succeeded in the development and commercialization of transparent engineering plastics whose main raw material is isosorbide derived from renewable resources. Not only was the environmental impact reduced by using a unique process utilizing renewable resources, but the performance of the product, such as excellent impact resistance and weathering resistance, was radically improved as well.

Revised Edition

 Toray Industries, Inc. has developed a high-performance reverse osmosis membrane with exceptional water permeability, removal performance, and fouling resistance. Membranes that achieve both energy saving and high quality water production are regarded as epoch-making technology that contributes to the solution of water issues worldwide.

Idling-stop systems heavily burden on the battery, causing existing batteries to rapidly degrade, with short battery lifetimes. This technology resolves this problem and contributes to the reduction in CO₂ emissions

Kao Corporation developed a “water-based inkjet ink” for printing on the plastic films used for packaging daily commodities and food
The ink maintains a high image quality and has lower volatile organic compound emissions, thereby reducing its environmental impact.

Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. developed a new manufacturing process for propylene oxide, which is used as a raw material for polyurethane and other materials.
The new process enables high yields of propylene oxide while reducing its environmental impact.

Prof. Wakamiya and his team at Kyoto University have focused on next-generation technologies. Through research and development in the field of materials chemistry, they succeeded in achieving a high power-conversion efficiency with perovskite solar cells.
Building on this achievement, EneCoat Technologies is working toward the practical pplication and social implementation of perovskite solar cells.

As part of the initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the importance of the Carbon Footprint of Product (CFP), which indicates the greenhouse gas emissions throughout the entire lifecycle of products and services in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent , is increasing. However, calculating the CFP for chemical products is complicated and requires significant time and effort to perform accurately. To address this issue, Sumitomo Chemical developed CFP calculation tool called “CFP-TOMO”, and calculated the CFP for around 20,000 of its own products. Along with sharing this data with customers, the tool is provided free of charge to other companies, thereby contributing to the advancement of CFP calculations.