Initiatives to Address Supply Chain Emissions

The Advantest Group will proactively deploy energy conservation measures and shift to renewable energy to reduce our environmental footprint in the from medium to long term throughout our value chain at each of our bases in Japan and overseas as a response to climate change.

Efforts to Address Climate Change

Advantest newly established the Sustainable Management Promotion Working Group (hereinafter SMWG) in FY2020. The SMWG identifies issues related to climate change from the entire Group, each region, and department, while goals and priority measures will be summarized in an ESG Action Plan 2021-2023 to support and promote company-wide activities for each business year. The SMWG will collaborate with related company-wide committees such as the Disclosure Committee, Internal Control Committee, and Compliance Committee in a timely and appropriate manner, and will manage the progress of the entire group and perform risk management. The progress of the ESG Action Plan 2021-2023 is reported and confirmed at the ESG Global Review Meeting held twice a year, and is discussed and evaluated by the Executive Management Committee and the Board of Director. Task Forces 1, 2, 3, and 4 (explained below) have been established and launched efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the Group and our value chain.

Initiatives to Address Climate Change in Our Supply Chain

The entire Advantest Group is committed in reducing CO2 emissions (Scope 1+2) from our business activities. We are promoting CO2 emissions reduction activities throughout our supply chain by setting Scope 3 "Category 1: Purchased goods/services" and "Category 11: Usage of products," which account for more than 95% of the entire Advantest Group's CO2 emissions, as priority items for reducing CO2 emissions.

(1) Task Force 1: CO2 Emissions Reduction in Product Development (Scope3 Category11)

ESG Action Plan 2021-2023

Key Issue Objective KPI Target Value
2021 Results 2022 2023 2030
Value chain (Scope3) Reduce CO2-equivalent emissions (basic unit) per test by 50% by 2030 Reduction rate in basic units (vs. FY2018) Set basic unit calculation definition → 20% 50%

CO2 generated with the use of our products sold to our customers accounts for 63% of our total CO2 emissions. We will collaborate with our global R&D departments worldwide to promote the reduction of CO2 emissions through the development of next-generation products with low power consumption and high efficiency so as to reduce the power consumption of our products and simultaneously reduce CO2 emissions from the use of our products.

(2) Task Force 2: CO2 Emissions Reduction Through Cooperation with Business Partners (Scope 3 Category 1)

ESG Action Plan 2021-2023

Key Issue Objective KPI Target Value
2021 Results 2022 2023 2030
Value chain (Scope3) Promote the use of renewable energy by suppliers and contractors Number of suppliers who use renewable energy 10 12 20 40 TBD

Beginning from FY2021, we have added questions on the implementation status of renewable energy (deployed to or to be deployed) and greenhouse gas emissions on our "Supply Chain CSR Questionnaire".
Individual feedback based on the analysis and evaluation of the questionnaire results, conducted among our key suppliers, enables us to share an understanding of the necessity and importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions with our suppliers. We will continue to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions throughout the supply chain in collaboration with our business partners and suppliers.

(3) Task Force 3: CO2 Emissions Reduction Through Collaboration with Our Customers

We have begun working with our customers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the supply chain. Through collaboration with our customers, we aim to incorporate their policies and goals regarding climate change into our strategies, through which we also investigate details of their expectations towards Advantest and how they view our role in tackling climate change issues.

* <Calculation method for Category 1>

  • CO2 emissions are calculated by multiplying the total purchase amount for each purchased good by the corresponding intensity of the "Embodied global-energy/emission intensity based on a consumer's price basis" issued by the National Institute for Environmental Studies.
  • For goods for which the transportation cost cannot be isolated from the purchase price, the emissions arising from the transportation of the goods are included in Category 1 emissions, not Category 4: "CO2 emissions generated in transportation of products from tier 1 suppliers to the company."

* <Calculation method for Category 11>

  • Among the Automated Test Equipment sold by the Advantest Group, SoC test systems and memory test systems are subject to calculation.
  • CO2 emissions are calculated by multiplying the total lifelong power consumption of the products sold during the relevant fiscal year by the world emission factor in the IEA Emissions Factors 2021 issued by the IEA.
  • The lifelong power consumption is calculated by multiplying the assumed product usage period (10 years) by the power consumption calculated for each product based on the number of units sold and product specifications of the calculation target system.

(4) Task Force 4: Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Business Activities (Scope1+2)

ESG Action Plan 2021-2023

Key Issue Objective KPI Target Value
2021 Results 2022 2023 2030
Climate change (Scope1+2) Reduce GHG emissions from business activities by 60% (vs. FY2018) GHG emissions reduction amount/rate 35% 34% 38% 40% 60%
Raise renewable energy usage to 70% by 2030, Group-wide Coverage rate by renewable energy 50% 54% 53% 55% 70%

The Advantest Group established mid- to long-term targets for each Group country and site to reduce CO2 emissions from the Group's business activities and are promoting activities towards achieving these goals.
We are promoting the introduction of renewable energy at each global site, and achieved 100% renewable energy usage in Europe and the U.S.A. since FY2020. We have also started introducing renewable energy in Japan from FY2020 and achieved a renewable energy ratio of 100% in FY2021 at the Gunma Factory, our production base in Japan.
As for other overseas bases, we are investigating the status of renewable energy deployment in each country and promoting measures to enable the use of renewable energy as soon as relevant regulatory systems are made available for its adoption.

CO2 emissions over time (Scope 1+2)

* The figures have been retroactively corrected by updating the emission factors, etc.

* Please refer to the ESG Data for third-party assurance of domestic and overseas CO2 emissions in FY2021.

* GHG emissions due to non-energy related activities are included in the figures for FY2018 and after.

* Until FY2018, CO2 emissions from company vehicles were disclosed separately and excluded from the total emissions under Scope 1.
Since FY2019, these emissions have been retroactively included in the total emissions under Scope 1 for disclosure purposes.

Transition to green electricity

* These values are a tally of amount of renewable energy purchased and amount of tradable green certificate purchases.

* Please refer to the ESG Data for third-party assurance of domestic and overseas Green Electricity in FY2021.

Climate change initiatives at our domestic locations

The Gunma Factory switched to renewable energy sources for all electricity use in April 2021

The Gunma Factory has switched to renewable energy sources for all its electricity use. Generated by the hydroelectricity facilities on the factory premises, this CO2-emissions-free renewable energy is produced and consumed locally. The electricity fees for the environmental added value (the increase in fees) will be utilized in future creation initiatives by Gunma Prefecture. The total amount of electricity switched over at the Gunma Factory was approximately 11.8 million kWh per year, and this initiative is projected to reduce annual CO2 emissions by approximately 5,000 tons. This is equivalent to the amount of CO2 absorbed by approximately 360,000 cedar trees.
(A cedar tree absorbs approximately 14 kg of CO2 according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries.)

To date, we achieved 100% renewable energy usage at both our Advantest America, Inc. (AAI) San Jose and Advantest Europe GmbH (AEG) Munich offices. With this power switchover, the renewable energy introduction rate for the entire group is expected to increase from 28% in 2019 to more than 50% in 2021.

We aim to achieve a renewable energy introduction rate of 60% or more by FY2030 and strive to build a carbon-free society. In addition to promoting the introduction of solar power systems and the deployment and expansion of renewable energy at our domestic business sites, we will encourage the introduction of renewable energy while considering its availability in each of the regions in our Asian bases. Furthermore, we plan to work together to reduce CO2 emissions in the supply chain as well.

Climate change initiatives at our overseas locations

Offices that utilize 100% renewable energy

Tradable Green Certificate (United States)

Advantest America, Inc. (AAI) has committed to using renewable energy since 2012, and 2021 marks a decade of this commitment. In an effort to reduce environmental impacts associated with electricity use, AAI has purchased a Green Electricity Certificate for wind power generation. In FY2020, the office sourced over 100% of its electricity from renewable energy sources. Furthermore, in 2013, AAI joined the Green Power Partnership of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is an initiative to purchase renewable energy promoted by the EPA, and has thus contributed to the spread of green electricity.

Tradable Green Certificate (Germany)

Advantest Europe Since 2019, Advantest Europe GmbH (AEG) has been purchasing renewable energy generated from hydroelectric power, etc. at the Böblingen Office, Amerang Office, and Munich Office. Similarly, 100% of the electricity used at these three offices in Germany comes from renewable energy sources.

Initiatives to install EV charging stations

Charging station
(United States)

Advantest America, Inc. (AAI) has installed ten charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) at the San Jose Office, and its employees enjoy complimentary access to them. Currently, approximately 15% of its employees make use of these stands, reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 72 tons per year.

Charging station (Germany)

In 2019, the Amerang Plant in Germany also installed a new charging station for two electric vehicles to support employees switching from gasoline-powered vehicles to electric vehicles.