Environmental efforts on our products

We understand the impacts our business activities have on the planet's environment and we carry out activities to reduce our environmental impact. This page introduces our initiatives for environmental conservation.

Contributing to the sustainable development of society and conducting environmentally friendly business operations are essential issues that need to be addressed in modern business management. The Advantest Group works to develop products from the perspective of environmental conservation while prioritizing high precision and high quality, and certifies as green products those products that are environmentally friendly in terms of the three key aspects of energy and resource saving, improving recyclability, and elimination of hazardous substances. There is demand in society for the supply of green products because they provide both a reduction in the environmental footprint and an improvement in economic value. The Advantest Group has been promoting business activities based on the belief that providing green products will be in response to these demands and beneficial for its customers since 2005.

At the Advantest Group, all products undergo a product environmental assessment.
During the product environmental assessment, products are assessed from various aspects, including energy-saving, reduction of the number of components, size reduction, recyclable design, and elimination of hazardous substances.
New products that meet the Voluntary Standards for Green Products defined by Advantest are certified as green products and are awarded with an Eco Label (type II), in addition to the product environmental assessment. We design new products to be 100% green products.

The Advantest Group Eco Label features an original three-color design representing energy and resource saving, recyclable design, and elimination of hazardous substances through green procurement.

We aim to reduce the environmental impact of our products through product designs that save energy, reduce components, and reduce size.
The reduction rate of energy against conventional products has been set to a standard of at least 20% for semiconductor test systems and measurement instruments, and at least 10% for other products such as handlers and nanotech products.
We have also set a reduction rate of at least 10% in the same way for components and the miniaturization for all of our products.

Note: The above reduction ratios are values based on performance computation.

In recyclable design, we release information on parts that will require special attention during disposal, and plastic parts designed in-house use 90% or more recyclable materials. Moreover, we make sure that products are easy to dismantle with standard tools, and we use rechargeable batteries displaying a recycle symbol.

To eliminate hazardous substances from our products, we have established Group standards on banned substances based on the IEC62474 standard, and we conduct surveys of hazardous substances contained in parts and materials used in our products. Advantest is building a response system for some of its products and eliminating relevant chemical substances using the results of this survey because these chemical substances are regulated by the RoHS directive as of July 2017.
Our main products are semiconductor examining devices, which are not manufactured products. Therefore, our main products do not cause emissions of gases such as PFASs.

In fiscal 2024, a total of seven products related to semiconductor test systems, test handlers, and electronic measurement and medical equipment were certified as green products.

Advantest has been engaged with product reuse/recycling activities through Advantest Pre-Owned Solutions Co., Ltd. (APO), our subsidiary. Along with APO, Advantest not only provides maintenance support for products, but also tries to respond to a variety of customer requests, until the products are no longer in use.

For customers who no longer need our products, Advantest contributes to "reduce" by purchasing them instead of simply disposing of them. Advantest also promotes the “reuse” of our products across our entire customer base network by reselling purchased equipment to other customers who have used it for a long time, or by providing parts.

If there is no demand for the equipment or parts, Advantest implements initiatives to "recycle" the equipment it takes back by sorting it into resource levels.

Advantest buys back and resells products through APO.

Advantest purchases equipment from customers who no longer need our products and resell it with a one-year warranty to customers who still wish to use it after our engineers modify specifications, check operation, and switch licenses. Advantest also provides maintenance support after sale, just as it does for new purchases.

It is the Advantest Group's basic policy to take active steps to ensure that the products we sell are recycled after they are retired. As a basic policy, we buy back products that are not expected to be reused so that the resources can be recycled.

At the request of our customers, we engaged in resource recycling. The following is a list of the results.

Advantest's product recycling system ensures proper disposal of used products, a high recycling rate (over 90%), and recycling of resources at reasonable costs.

Currently, resource recycling is a domestic Japan-only solution, but we will continue consider its global applications and expand our activities.

Operational practices, quotes, individual contracts with customers, recycling cost reimbursement, etc.

Efforts by individual companies alone to address climate change will have only a limited effect, which prompts us to engage in initiatives involving the entire supply chain and industry associations. The Advantest Group will proactively work to reduce our environmental footprint over the mid- to long-term through our supply chain in order to reduce supply chain emissions.

In fiscal 2021, we established a dedicated task force to drive supply chain emissions reduction initiatives. To achieve its targets certified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the Company is promoting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction efforts not only within its own operations (Scope1 and Scope2), but also across its entire supply chain.

The majority of our Scope3 emissions are derived from Category 1: Purchased Goods and Services and Category 11: Use of Sold Products. Accordingly, in addition to reducing Scope1 and Scope2 emissions from our own operations, we have identified emissions reductions in these key categories as a priority issue and are actively implementing initiatives to address them.

Task Force 1 works closely with global R&D organizations to promote GHG emissions reductions through product development. Under our Sustainability Action Plan, we have established the enhancement of product environmental performance as a key objective and use the GHG emissions reduction rate per AT Innovation as a key performance indicator (KPI). In fiscal 2025, we achieved an 88% reduction, demonstrating steady progress toward our target.

Going forward, we will continue to enhance product performance and improve energy efficiency to achieve our fiscal 2026 target, thereby contributing to the reduction of GHG emissions generated during product use.

Task Force 2 works closely with the procurement function to promote GHG emissions reductions by expanding the use of renewable energy among suppliers. Under our Sustainability Action Plan, we have established the decarbonization of the supply chain as a key objective and use the renewable energy adoption rate among key suppliers as a key performance indicator (KPI). In fiscal 2025, the adoption rate reached 50%.

To achieve our fiscal 2026 target, we continue to encourage key suppliers to adopt renewable energy. As part of these efforts, we conduct an annual Supply Chain CSR Survey targeting major suppliers. Through this survey, we assess the status of renewable energy adoption and provide individualized feedback based on the analysis and evaluation of survey results.

These activities help raise awareness of the importance of emissions reductions and support the expanded use of renewable energy throughout the supply chain. In addition, the current methodology for calculating Scope3 Category 1 emissions is primarily based on procurement spending, which makes it difficult to adequately reflect suppliers' actual emissions reduction efforts. Going forward, we will explore the development of a calculation methodology that incorporates suppliers' Scope1, Scope2, and Scope3 emissions data. Through closer collaboration with suppliers, we aim to further advance emissions reduction efforts across our supply chain.

Task Force 3 works closely with the sales organization to promote GHG emissions reductions through collaboration with customers. Through ongoing dialogue with customers, we share information regarding climate change policies and targets, as well as their expectations and requests for Advantest.

Based on these discussions, we strengthen collaboration with customers as a member of the supply chain and contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions. In addition, we strive to create sustainable value by incorporating customer expectations and requirements into our business strategy and sustainability initiatives. At the same time, a challenge remains in the current methodology for calculating Scope3 Category 11 emissions. Under the existing approach, emissions are calculated primarily based on the number of units sold, making it difficult to adequately reflect customer efforts to reduce emissions, such as expanding the use of renewable energy. Going forward, we will explore calculation methodologies that can better incorporate customers' renewable energy utilization and pursue further opportunities to reduce emissions through closer collaboration with our customers.

Task Force 4 promotes the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with business operations through the introduction of energy-efficient equipment and the expanded use of renewable energy. Under our Sustainability Action Plan, we have established targets for reducing Scope1 and Scope2 GHG emissions and increasing the adoption of renewable energy. The GHG emissions reduction rate and renewable energy adoption rate have been set as key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure progress toward these goals. In fiscal 2025, we further accelerated the adoption of renewable energy at our sites in South Korea. As a result, we achieved a 76% reduction in GHG emissions and an 88% renewable energy adoption rate, exceeding our fiscal 2026 targets for both indicators.

Looking ahead, further expansion of renewable energy use will be essential to achieving additional emissions reductions. However, in certain regions, including South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, the limited availability of renewable energy continues to present procurement challenges. We expect that ongoing advocacy efforts through our participation in RE100 will help encourage governments to expand renewable energy supply. At the same time, we will continue to monitor market developments and assess procurement opportunities in each region while exploring measures to further increase the adoption of renewable energy across our global operations.

The Advantest Group pursues operations encompassing the "3Rs" (reduce, reuse, and recycle) with the aim of realizing a recycling society.

The Advantest Group is committed to converting waste into valuables by reinforcing the initiative we launched in FY2009 to separate components. We ensure strict compliance in these activities.

In disposing of waste (including packaging materials) generated in our business activities, we clearly indicate to our outsourcing contractors the disposal method for each classification as per the relevant laws (including local laws and regulations) to ensure proper disposal and recycling by material type.

For more than 15 years, Advantest Gunma Factory has used reinforced cardboard packaging to transport our products, such as test systems, contributing to the elimination of plastics and the reduction of waste. In addition, reinforced cardboards are also used for the pallets on which the products are mounted, thus achieving a reduction in plastics. Currently, plastic accounts for less than 6% of our packaging materials.

The cardboard boxes are manufactured in appropriate sizes with the cooperation of our cardboard suppliers, which serve vital roles in providing safe and efficient deliveries. Moreover, the cardboard boxes are about half the weight of the wooden boxes used in the past, not only contributing to reducing CO₂ emissions during product delivery but also reducing the burden on employees since they are not just easy to pack, but are also easy to unpack at the shipping destination. A single cardboard packaging material is used only once for transporting a single product, and is recycled based on the rules of the customer.

Advantest has installed a recycled paper manufacturing machine from 2020, which can produce new paper from used paper such as rejected documents. With this machine, most of the confidential documents to be disposed, which were hitherto collected and sent to a contractor for disposal, will be processed in-house, and given "new life" by being recycled into paper and made use for various purposes, such as business cards.

We also made notebooks using recycled paper and gave them as gifts to local elementary school students who visited our biotope for nature observation events, as well as to special-needs school students and teachers who paid a visit during our company tours. These help in view of our social contributions by providing teaching materials for learning applications.

The equipment is operated by our employees with disabilities. It will also create more opportunities for people with disabilities to play an active role in the company. Once they embark upon their careers and showcasing their active roles as members of the Advantest Group will prove to be a way to repay their alma mater. With the introduction of the new paper manufacturing machines, Advantest has realized a new circulation cycle through various aspects such as environmental commitment, employment of people with disabilities, and educational support.

For more information on employment of the disabled, please refer to "Efforts to Promote Diversity".

Advantest owned three capacitors, fluorescent lights, and stabilizers that contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), but all pieces of the equipment that contained PCBs were properly disposed of during FY2017.

Advantest's main usage applications of its water resources are the operation of air conditioners, kitchen use, toilet cleaning, and drinking. At our main bases, we use water for industrial use efficiently. In addition to using this water for cleaning the toilets, we also use it with sprinklers on the roof to improve cooling in the summer. Advantest is also filtering drinking water and using ultra-pure water at some business establishments. It should be noted that most of the discharged water produced by Advantest Group is classed as domestic sewage. Currently, domestic sewage and rain water cannot be recycled.

Of course, every member of our staff takes care not to waste water, and strives to make effective use of our water resources.