The AGC Group is committed to energy conservation and the reduction of fluorinated greenhouse gas emission in its manufacturing processes. We are also fostering the technological development, manufacture, and use of photovoltaic materials and Energy-saving architectural glass as products to help reduce CO₂ emissions from society at large.
In fiscal 2010, Asahi Glass reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 41% from the fiscal 1990 level. We achieved this by reorganizing our business structure, improving our manufacturing processes through fuel conversion and the introduction of the total oxygen combustion and by adopting a cogeneration system. Moreover, we participated in the Japanese government's Experimental Introduction of an Integrated Domestic Market for Emissions Trading and set the target of reducing CO₂ emissions from our manufacturing processes for the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (2008 to 2012) by approximately 1% from the average level for fiscal 2006 and 2007. We continued to achieve this target in fiscal 2009.

Since fiscal 2009, the AGC Group (Japan) has been implementing an annual campaign to save energy at offices, including the head office and sales sites for three months from July to September. In fiscal 2010, each in-house organization conducted a range of activities, such as the visualization of power consumption and the promotion of eco-driving and, as a result, the Group's CO₂ emissions from offices in Japan decreased by about 20 tons.

As for greenhouse gases other than CO₂, Asahi Glass manufactures and sells fluorinated gases (HFC_s and SF₆). In fiscal 2010, we reduced their emissions by 99% from the base year (1995) of the Kyoto Protocol. The amount thus reduced accounts for about 37% of the total reductions achieved in Japan in fiscal 2009 with respect to emissions of HFC_s, SF₆, and PFC_s which we had also been manufacturing in the past. In addition, we have been recovering fluorinated gases from our customers and breaking down and recycling them since fiscal 1997.

The AGC Group's Total Energy Consumption (Left) and Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Right)

* Totals do not always match the sum of regional figures due to rounding.

Asahi Glass's Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Unconsolidated)

*1 For the period from fiscal 2006 to 2008, calculations were made using the statutory CO₂ conversion factor (0.555 t- CO₂/MWh) as provided for in the Act on Promotion of Global Warming Countermeasures instead of using the CO₂ conversion factors set by each power company.

(Reference) Glass manufacturing process:float method

Flat glass for construction is mainly produced with the technique called “float method”, a method to produce flat glass by floating liquid glass over molten tin. This glass manufacturing gives the biggest impact on the environment mainly due to the process of melting materials, such as silica sand and soda ash, by fuel oil to produce chemical reactions, as well as the process of keeping the melted materials in the melting tank for long hours to manufacture homogenous glass without air bubbles. During these processes, the large melting tank of over several ten meters in length, has to be kept at a high temperature for many hours.