History of Environmental Laws, Regulations, Certifications, and Initiatives

In 2022, the Sapporo Group reported one case of wastewater quality exceedance at the Sapporo Breweries Sendai Plant to the competent local government. No environment-related fines or penalties were incurred in the Group.

Overall Group initiatives

The Sapporo Group has acquired ISO14001 certification for its manufacturing and development departments, including eight manufacturing bases. Additionally, Sapporo Breweries has acquired EA21 certification in 2016 for all business bases, and operates environmental management systems in all operation bases in manufacturing and sales. Each Group company and operation base are making efforts in auditing and training for increased overall Group awareness of environmental issues and environmental laws and regulations compliance.

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Environmental education

Overall environment education: E-learning is conducted for employees in each Group company.

Special education: Waste management study sessions are conducted for waste managers and management.

Training: Training for emergencies are conducted at ISO14001-certified operation bases.

Sapporo Group's History of Environmental Conservation

(For activities after 1991. Names listed are operation base names and other names at that time.)

Year	Summary
1991	Living Environment Department established
	The “Environmental Conservation Basic Policy” enacted
	“Environmental Conservation Promotion Committee” established at the head office, and “Environmental Conservation Committee” established at all offices
1993	Internal environmental auditing incorporated in factory departments
	Installation of multi-can type boiler systems started
1994	The “Environmental Conservation Code of Conduct,” “Goals for Environmental Conservation,” “Environmental Conservation Guideline” and “Environmental Audit Evaluation System” are established
1996	Pokka Corporation (now Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage) launched "CartoCan" products ahead of other Japanese beverage manufacturers
1997	100% recycling of byproducts and waste at the Gunma factory achieved
	Installation of the cogeneration system started
1998	100% recycling of byproducts and waste at all beer factories and beverage factories of Sapporo Breweries achieved
	The Hokkaido factory was certified ISO14001
	The Chiba factory incorporated fuel cell facilities using biomass, and succeeds in generating electricity for the first time in the world
	A biotope garden was created at the Shizuoka factory and opened to the public
1999	Both factories of Sapporo Wine attained 100% recycling for byproducts and waste, thus realizing 100% recycling for byproducts and waste at all factories including Group companies
	All eight beer factories (excluding the Nagoya factory, which was scheduled for closing) and two Sapporo Wine factories were certified ISO14001
2000	An ambry hemp field and biotope garden was established at the Chiba factory, and opened to the public
	With the Shimadzu Corporation, demonstration experiments for CO2 solidification on a practical application level were conducted for the first time in the world at the Shizuoka factory
	A low-temperature absorption-type refrigerating machine was introduced for the first time in the world at the Hokkaido factory
	Variable functional thermoelectricity gas turbines, cogeneration systems and high-performance freezers were installed in the Saitama factory
	Wind/solar power generator apparatus was installed at the Sapporo and Chiba factories and used for factors such as advertising tower power supply
	“The Basic Green Procurement Policy” was established
2001	The Shin-Kyushu factory and Sapporo Beverage Kanagawa office acquired ISO14001 certification (With this, all manufacturing bases for the Group (9 for beer, 2 for wine, 1 for beverages) completed their ISO14001 certification)
	Biotope gardens created at the Hokkaido, Shin-Kyushu, and Sendai factories and opened to the public
	The Hokkaido and Sendai factories installed energy conserving facilities using ESCO operations for the first time in Japan
2002	The Shizuoka factory installed the world’s first hybrid cooling system
2003	Gasification into natural gas for fuel was completed in all beer factories excluding the Shin-Kyushu factory, which used LPG
	Energy conservation facilities using ESCO operations were installed in the Sapporo Factory headquarters
	Various structures related to environmental conservation were revised with the reorganization of the Group (1) An item stating initiatives toward creating environments that contribute to establishing a “sustainable society” were established within the “Social Relationships” category in the “Sapporo Group Code of Business Conduct” (2) The Sapporo Group Basic Environmental Philosophy was established (3) The “Group Environmental Conservation Committee” was established within the holdings company Sapporo Holdings, to supervise environmental conservation activities throughout the Group.
	CO2 reduction goals (revised 1994) were attained
2004	Cogeneration systems were installed in the Shizuoka factory
	“Energy Conservation Promotion Project” initiatives were implemented throughout all factories
	LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) was implemented for environmental loads of major products. Methods were evaluated by a third-party organization
	Gasification into natural gas for fuel completed at the Gunma factory
	CO2 reduction goals (revised 2004) were attained
2005	The in-house “Two-step hydrogen/methane fermentation technology” experimental plant for food waste started operation
	The west wing of Sapporo Factory (Hotel Clubby Sapporo) installed energy conservation facilities using ESCO operations
2006	Designated fluorocarbon used in freezing facilities for beer manufacturing was replaced
	The Sapporo Factory Frontier was completed. Energy conservation facilities using BEMS were installed
	The Hokkaido head office acquired “Eco-Action 21” certification
2007	Started verification testing on hydrogen fermentation of food waste with organizations including Hiroshima University (technological development operations for global warming measures commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment “Technology development for converting food waste to bio-hydrogen / bio-gas”)
	The Gunma factory (Ojima office) acquired ISO14001 certification
	LCA implemented for two Black Label products, based on 2005 data. LCA was used to evaluate CO2 reductions from 2003
2008	The Tohoku head office acquired “Eco-Action 21” certification
	The Thailand bioethanol plant (“International projects related to biomass in Asian countries” of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO)), which was constructed with cooperation from companies including the Marubeni Corporation, started full operations
	Along with the Taisei Corporation, efforts to establish manufacturing technologies for bioethanol from Hokkaido regional rice and wheat straw were implemented (“The Program for Development and Establishment of Soft Cellulose Utilization Technology” by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries)
	Participated in the “Study Group for Developing and Promoting a Carbon Footprint Program” by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
2009	Test sales for Black Label 350 mL products with carbon footprint labels were made in Hokkaido
	Started verification testing for bio-hydrogen manufacturing from cellulose-type biomass with Brazil’s Petrobras and Ergostech
	Installed waste heat recovery-type freezers using ESCO operations at the Chiba factory
	Renewed energy conservation facilities using BEMS at the Sapporo Factory
	Installed a heat-pump system using beer fermentation heat at the Shin-Kyushu factory
2010	The Chugoku/Shikoku head office acquired “Eco-Action 21” certification
	Sapporo Urban Development participated in the “Domestic credit scheme (domestic emission reduction certification scheme)”
	The Sapporo Group Basic Environmental Philosophy was revised
	The Sapporo Group Basic Environmental Policy was established
	The Sapporo Breweries Medium-Term Goals were established
2011	The Kinki head office acquired “Eco-Action 21” certification
2012	The Sapporo Group established its environmental Medium-Term Goals
	The Sapporo Group established its Biodiversity Protection Guideline
	The head office, Hokkaido head office and Kinki head office combined acquired “Eco-Action 21” certification
2013	The Sapporo Group established its Basic Green Procurement Policy
	The five business bases of the head office, Hokkaido head office, Tokai/Hokuriku head office, Kinki area head office and the Kyushu head office combined acquired “Eco-Action 21” certification
2014	The head office, Hokkaido head office, Tohoku head office, Kanto/Koshinetsu head office, Tokai/Hokuriku head office, Kinki area head office, Chugoku/Shikoku head office, Kyushu head office combined acquired “Eco-Action 21” certification
	Sapporo Holdings was selected (consecutively for three years) as a CDP “Climate Change Information Disclosure Company”
2015	The Sapporo Group established its Middle-Term Policy “Initiatives for Global Environment Conservation 2030”
2016	Sapporo Breweries head office and all business bases acquired “Eco-Action 21” certification
2019	The Sapporo Group declared its support for the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
	The Sapporo Group formulated its Sapporo Group Environmental Vision 2050