Analytical & Medical Solutions Business

Analytical & Medical Solutions Business

As regulations for decarbonization are being established and strengthened in many countries, the needs for help to reduce the environmental impact of medical examination products are growing. This means that our company is responsible for reducing CO₂ emissions not only from our manufacturing operations but also from the stage of delivery to our customers as well as their usage. We are starting to see requests from partner corporations for cooperation with environmental targets they have set, and it is possible that the expense of dealing with those requests will increase in times ahead.

Since there has been a sudden increase in damage from typhoons, floods, and other such natural disasters that occur due to climate change, there is a need to make our manufacturing and physical distribution sites and those of our suppliers more resilient. It appears likely that we will see growing local production of medical device and analytical device products, as well as localization of service sites, from the perspective of preventing delays in device delivery and reducing CO₂ emissions due to long-distance transportation as well as other reasons. It will also be necessary to improve our backup support structure for testing equipment for when customers are hit by the disasters that grow more intense due to climate change.

1. Reduce CO₂ emissions from our works (Scope 1, 2)
   At Hitachi High-Tech, we supply analytical system and associated consumables to medical and research institutions around the world. To continue our supply even in times of disaster, we have established Hitachi High-Tech Kyushu as our business continuity plan (BCP) site. We have also achieved carbon neutrality there by using renewable energy, installing solar panels, and shifting to electric vehicles (EV) for our business vehicles. We are aiming to achieve zero CO₂ emissions from Hitachi High-Tech manufacturing sites by FY2030, and we are moving forward with measures to reduce CO₂ emissions. These include switching electric power to renewable energy over time, including sites where other medical and analytical system are manufactured.
2. Reduce CO₂ emissions from customer use of products and other such sources (Scope 3)
   At Hitachi High-Tech, we introduced a product development process that has included environmentally conscious design (eco-design) and life cycle assessment since FY2016. This initiative contributes to CO₂ reduction in the product value chain (procurement of raw materials, use of product, and so on). We will expand this kind of eco-design in our products and contribute to the reduction of environmental impact in medical examination products.
3. Business continuity plans (BCP) in response to natural disasters
   Based on our BCP, we are addressing the trend of increasing numbers of natural disasters by strengthening our capability for dealing with business interruption risk.