Environmental Communication

This page introduces our environmental contributions and activities for biological diversity conservation.

The Advantest Group discloses information on environmental burdens and environmental protection activities by including such information in our reports and website, holding exhibitions, and so forth.
We believe it is important to share environmental information with our stakeholders and to reflect such information in our environmental management in order to continuously grow as a company without compromising our integrity.
We also engage in communication with local communities through various environmental protection activities.

We endeavor to foster communication with a variety of stakeholders through environmental contribution activities.

In February 2021, Advantest joined a group which acquired Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) / Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Chain of Custody (CoC) certification for using MSC/ASC sustainable seafood at four of our bases: Advanfacilities Office, Gunma R&D Center, Gunma Factory, and Saitama R&D Center.

Currently, the employee cafeterias at our three offices in Gunma and Saitama regularly offer menus using sustainable seafood, contributing to the sustainability of fishery resources. In fiscal 2023, although it was difficult to provide new ingredients due to soaring purchase prices, we offered the menu every month by devising a variety of ways to creatively arrange the menu, such as by changing the flavors of the ingredients. As a result, a total of 1,653 employees ate sustainable seafood being offered, an increase of approximately 200 from the previous year. Being accustomed to sustainable seafood in the employee cafeteria has led our employees to make SDGs-conscious choices, such as purchasing marine products with the MSC / ASC certification label at supermarkets in our daily lives.

Advantest records and assesses the environmental burden on the area surrounding its business establishments, such as office waste water, in accordance with ordinances and pollution control agreements.
In addition, we are managing plants and cultivating biotope at our business establishments while considering biodiversity.

To show our gratitude for the gift of nature created by biodiversity, and to recognize the significance of biodiversity in supporting the prosperity and the wellness of our society, the Advantest Group will carry out initiatives in conserving biodiversity and in contributing to the sustainable use of biological resources.

Since April 2022, Advantest has joined the 30by30 Alliance for Biodiversity, a coalition of volunteer companies incorporated in the 30by30 Roadmap formulated by the Ministry of the Environment.

Reflecting our commitment to living in harmony with nature, Advantest established a biotope in Gunma R&D Center in 2001 with the aim of helping to recreate the original, natural landscape of the Kanto Plain, a landscape that is being lost to development. This biotope, with a total area of 17,000 m2, is one of the largest of its kind established by any private company in Japan.

Advantest's biotope provides a venue in which Advantest employees can learn about the importance of protecting the global environment; the biotope is also used as a way to foster communication with local residents. 21 years have passed since the establishment, and the biotope now has an optimal environment for preserving the local ecological system and is playing a great role in protecting and growing threatened species. In addition, Advantest's biotope provides an ideal environment for achieving an SDG target, "Goal 15: LIFE ON LAND".

In fiscal 2022, Advantest produced four videos showcasing our biotope and releases them on our website. The videos introduce the biotope that is rich in nature, with beautiful aerial images taken by a drone of the indigenous flora and fauna that live there. These images help communicate the biodiversity of our biotope, that leads to securing a nature-positive world, to our stakeholders in an easy-to-understand manner.

Please click on the Biotope Quarterly link below to watch the biotope videos.

Since its establishment in 2001, our biotope has been dedicated to research on, protection of, and cultivation of the animals and plants that live there as well as the extermination of alien species under the guidance of Gunma University. We also utilize our biotope in our efforts to protect and cultivate Eupatorium japonicum and floating heart, which are national near-threatened species and Gunma prefectural IA endangered species.

With regard to Eupatorium japonicum, there are only five places where it grows naturally in Gunma Prefecture, one of which is Advantest's biotope. Advantest has been continuing these protection and cultivation activities for many years, which have led to the creation of an environment that enables the stable natural cultivation of the native plant.

With regard to floating heart, there is only one place where it grows naturally in Gunma Prefecture, and Advantest's biotope has been used as an evacuation shelter since 2012, where floating hearts grow steadily.

Moreover, from fiscal 2019, Advantest implemented emergency protection measures for native Amsonia ellipticas, which were specified as a threatened species (IA) in Gunma Prefecture, and started protection and cultivation activities for them.

Biotopes generally play an important role in the conservation of biodiversity, particularly in terms of restoration of regional natural environment, acting as a place for environmental education and a sanctuary for endangered species. Advantest's biotope is surrounded by a rich environment such as vast puddy fields with species-rich ecosystems, making it one of the ideal places for sustainable growth of endangered species such as Eupatorium japonicum and Salvia plebeian.

The floral monitoring performed in fiscal 2022 revealed that 108 native plant species, including "satoyama" (semirural area) plants and 43 exotic species were growing there. Thus, the Advantest's biotope is playing an important role in the conservation of regional biodiversity.

Field surveys and tree growth experiments conducted from fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2022 have shown that the biotope forest has been helpful to prevent global warming by fixing carbon at a rate in almost similar range of the natural forests over the past decade. However, the results also suggest that further global warming in the future will significantly inhibit the growth of the Q. acutissima trees planted in the biotope forest. Accordingly, planting more Q. serrata and Q. myrsinaefolia trees, which are less affected by global warming, may be good for adaptive management. We expect that Advantest's biotope will continue to play more important roles in the restoration of regional biodiversity and mitigation of global warming by conserving the native plant species and fixing more CO₂.