Murata and the Environment

Murata continues efforts to reduce the environmental load of manufacturing. “Creating a decarbonized society” has been selected as a priority issue (materiality). A target greenhouse gas (GHG^*1) reduction amount has also been set and business is being operated under that target.

Total GHG emissions increased rapidly until fiscal 2018, due to increased production spurred by higher demand for electronic components in recent years, M&As, and new business expansion. However, with the enactment of the Paris Agreement, companies are now required to reduce total GHG emissions even as they expand.
To address this issue, it is crucial to undertake continuous energy-saving efforts and introduce renewable energy. Murata has continued to promote practical and effective initiatives, such as being one of the firsts in its industry to declare RE100.

At the same time, the world is being frequented by large-scale natural disasters associated with climate change, and further initiatives must be implemented to reduce GHG emissions. Murata believes that it will be crucial to pursue non-continuous energy saving and increase the use of renewable energy with additionality^*2 while expanding the insights gained from such activities not only within the company but also throughout the entire supply chain (from procurement to production, inventory management, logistics, and sales). As the Global No. 1 Component & Module Supplier, it is Murata's duty to strengthen collaboration with like-minded stakeholders and accelerate initiatives aimed at realizing a decarbonized society all over the world.

Link: Third-party verification
Link: TCFD measures

Murata is dedicated to understanding the latest trends related to climate change through its participation in global alliances and industry associations. In line with its commitment to the Paris Agreement, Murata periodically reviews its alignment with the missions of the associations it participates in, ensuring consistency with Murata’s own goals and business activities. If maintaining conformity with their missions becomes difficult, Murata will consider withdrawal.

In December 2020, Murata joined “RE100,” an international initiative which aims to switch the power used in business activities to 100% renewable energy. In fiscal 2024, Murata decided to bring forward the achievement of the RE100 target by 15 years, from the original fiscal 2050 to fiscal 2035. Through the pursuit of this target, we will accelerate the realization of a decarbonized society, contributing to the creation of a sustainable society.

Because multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) and other electronic components which are our main products require that a high temperature state be maintained in the calcination process, they use a considerable amount of power. Due to the space restrictions on the number of units that can be calcinated at one time, we are promoting initiatives to make MLCCs lighter, thinner, shorter and smaller to reduce the environmental load (use of power and raw materials) during calcination.

In addition to reducing the environmental load in such production processes, we aim to promote the use of renewable energy at production subsidiaries in Japan and overseas. We have already installed solar panels at 29 group sites. Recently, we are promoting the installation of efinnos, our solution system that maximizes the use of generated power by combining solar panels with storage batteries. We will continue making necessary investments in 2025 and onwards.

Link: RE100

RE100 is led by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP, as part of the We Mean Business coalition. Since April 2017, Japan Climate Leaders’ Partnership (JCLP) has been the Climate Group’s Regional Delivery Partner on RE100 initiative in Japan.

Murata is a member of the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA). The four electric and electronic organizations including JEITA are targeting an average annual improvement of 1% in the energy consumption rate for fiscal 2030. In addition, they have also set a challenge target of reducing CO₂ emissions from the activities of Japanese companies by about 46% versus 2013 by fiscal 2030. In order to achieve this target, Murata is also working to improve energy efficiency through energy-efficiency measures at factories and offices, etc. As a electronic global warming task force liaison organization collaborating with relevant organizations, JEITA promotes carbon neutrality action plans in the electric and electronic industry. Drawing on domestic and international networks, JEITA presents opinions to international initiatives, including the revision of GHG Protocol, and is actively involved with submitting opinions to public comment solicitation regarding the Basic Energy Plan and the NDC. As an enterprise participating in carbon neutrality action plans, Murata is providing successful examples, cases of contributing to GHG reduction, and energy-saving case studies with an aim to share information on these efforts.

Murata has long been involved in implementing energy saving initiatives, planning and implementing approximately 500 new energy saving measures annually. Due to these initiatives, we were able to slow down an increase in energy consumption that naturally occurs in association with business expansion, achieving a reduction of approximately 40 to 50 kt of CO₂ equivalent. However, recent business expansion has outpaced these efforts, and total GHG emissions have increased in recent years.

In response, Murata has implemented measures to save energy and further our utilization of renewable energy, allowing for a drop in GHG emissions from their peak in fiscal 2018.
Total GHG emissions dropped to 1,044 kt-CO₂e in fiscal 2024, a 4 kt-CO₂e drop compared to the previous year, and achieved the fiscal 2024 medium-term goal. In addition to the early achievement of the RE100 goal, Murata set new carbon neutrality goals: an in-house net zero GHG emissions goal for fiscal 2040 and a net zero GHG emissions goal for fiscal 2050 for the entire supply chain.
To achieve these targets, we will further accelerate our initiatives.

In order to accumulate future CO₂ reductions, we designed an internal carbon pricing system and began putting it into operation in fiscal 2021. Specifically, we are assigning a monetary value to CO₂ reduction and embedding it into the investment index to introduce shadow pricing, which encourages decision-making that executes investments that are effective at reducing CO₂. We will continue to implement systems that can even more effectively help to reduce CO₂.

• Link: Created based on “Guide to Calculating Supply Chain Emissions” (Ministry of the Environment)

As one initiative aimed at “Create a decarbonized society,” at Murata we are striving to expand the amount of renewable energy within the power consumption resulting from business activities. We are focusing not only on actively introducing renewable energy at our domestic and international business sites but also on procuring renewable energy and environmental attributes from off-site sources. Thanks to on-site renewable energy use, renewable energy service contracts, C-PPA^*1, and renewable energy certificates, we recorded a renewable energy rate of 39.2% in fiscal 2024, which contributed to an approximate 490 kt-CO₂ reduction in GHG emissions. As of the end of fiscal 2024, we achieved 100% renewable energy use at four sites in Japan and two overseas sites.
We will continue to review renewable energy sourcing in Japan and overseas to reduce our environmental impact.

Renewable energy sourcing at Murata sites

In fiscal 2021, Kanazu Murata Manufacturing (Awara, Fukui Prefecture) became the first plant in the Murata Group to run on 100% renewable energy. This was made possible through the introduction of a system that combines large-scale solar panels, storage batteries, and an energy management system, along with a menu of renewable energy power from hydroelectric power generation. This plant uses efinnos, the Integrated Renewable Energy Control Solution, to maximize the use of renewable energy.

Construction of the Murata Group's first multistory parking garage with a green design at Wuxi Murata Electronics Co., Ltd. (Xinwu District, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, China) has also been completed. The use of double-sided solar panels and the installation of solar panels on the walls of this parking garage increased the solar energy to ground surface area absorption rate by 1.2 times. This allows for the generation of power equivalent to the annual energy consumption of at least 300 average households and a 490 t-CO₂ reduction in CO₂ emissions.

Murata will continue to promote renewable energy sourcing at Murata sites in Japan and abroad.

• *1

  C-PPA: An abbreviation for Corporate Power Purchase Agreement.

Murata is actively procuring renewable energy from outside sources.
Murata aims to achieve long-term, stable procurement of renewable energy with additionality while also providing a menu of renewable energy power from the grid. With a view to procure renewable energy for approximately half the power required for areas where major sites concentrate, we have signed a P-PPA with grid power companies (Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc. and Hokuriku Electric Power Company) and commenced procurement.

We also entered into a V-PPA with Mitsubishi Corporation and Renova to purchase non-FIT NFCs for power generated by a solar power plant that is expected to generate approximately 200 GWh annually, as an effort to procure renewable energy with additionality that contributes to meeting Japan’s carbon neutrality goal.

We will continue to review renewable energy sourcing in Japan and overseas to reduce our environmental impact.

Link: Murata Entering into Contract with Chugoku Electric to Procure Green Energy and More- Renewable energy to constitute 50% of power at production sites in the Chugoku region by 2030 -

Link: Murata and Mitsubishi Agree on a Cooperative Framework for Working Toward a Carbon-Neutral Society- Japan's largest renewable energy procurement trial using a virtual PPA -

Link: Murata enters into a Virtual Power Purchase Agreement with Renova - Partnership accelerates renewable energy adoption through newly developed non-FIT and FIP solar power plants -

Murata has been continuously implementing energy saving initiatives from the past and continuously executes between 450 and 600 large and small energy saving measures annually (equivalent to 40 to 50 kt-CO₂ reduction).
Since 2015, we have been performing energy audits (energy saving diagnosis) at each group site as well as creating and deploying approximately 200 energy saving checklists which can be horizontally deployed from among energy saving initiatives concerning utilities and production facilities. The progress status, verification of the impact, and updating of the checklists are performed under guidance from the headquarters. In fiscal 2024, we implemented 940 energy-saving measures and achieved results equivalent to a 81 kt-CO₂ reduction in CO₂ emissions.

Murata also proposes energy-saving solutions using in-house products.
At Ogaki Murata Manufacturing (Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture), we introduced m-FLIP™, an operating rate improvement solution for manufacturing, to visualize equipment status and production volumes, achieving a 20% boost in equipment utilization within four months.
At Minato MIRAI Innovation Center, wireless sensors developed by Murata are being used as part of IoT for equipment maintenance inside the center building. Facility status is visualized by collecting and managing data, such as temperature and humidity conditions and current values of various systems, on the cloud. The utilization of data acquired by sensors and the application of IoT tools to troubleshooting analyses have achieved a 25% energy-saving effect in air-conditioning and a 50% energy-saving effect in patrolling.

Applying material design techniques for ceramic capacitors, Murata also developed the world’s first heat-resistant ceramic catalyst material for exhaust treatment. By adopting catalysts using this material to reduce the consumption of fossil fuel during exhaust treatment, users can reduce GHG emissions deriving from fuel while maintaining exhaust gas decomposition performance.
Wuxi Murata Electronics Co., Ltd. (Jiangsu Province, China) introduced this ceramic catalyst in May 2021 and achieved a 39% reduction in annual fuel consumption (equivalent to a reduction of 380 t-CO₂) while maintaining exhaust gas decomposition performance.

We will continue to focus on the development of technologies and products that bolster the resolution of environmental issues, as well as promote environmental management by actively applying the solutions in-house, thereby contributing to the realization of a sustainable society.

Link: Operating rate improvement solution for manufacturing: m-FLIP™ (Japanese)
Link:Promoting digital transformation in manufacturing by visualization using wireless sensors | Wireless Sensing Solution (Japanese)
Link: Environmental impact reduction solution: Heat-resistant ceramic catalyst for factory exhaust treatment (Japanese)

At Murata, we are developing electronic component manufacturing equipment that has a high rate of energy efficiency. Our indicator for the energy savings realized by this manufacturing equipment is energy consumption per unit of production (per unit of net production). We are developing the new equipment with the goal of a 25% or higher reduction in energy consumption against benchmark machinery (conventional manufacturing equipment).
We are also promoting energy-saving improvements in existing manufacturing equipment operating at factories and horizontally deploying our energy-saving measures for production systems.
In addition, every year we conduct energy-saving training workshops for production equipment design engineers in their second year of employment, providing them with expertise in relation to the design of production equipment in order to realize energy savings.
We are also reviewing energy-saving measures for promoting efficient energy consumption, targeting high-energy consumption processes that were identified through visualizing our manufacturing processes.
These efforts reduce the energy required for product manufacturing, thereby achieving highly energy-efficient production.
We will aim to further accelerate our energy-saving efforts through more detailed visualization of energy and energy-saving diagnostics at Murata offices based on our horizontal deployment list for energy saving.

Murata implements energy saving measures not only in manufacturing equipment but also engages in product manufacturing which considers the environmental load across the entire product lifecycle consisting of component material purchasing, design and development, production, usage, recycling, and disposal.

Link: Murata and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Characteristics of Murata's power supply products

Link: Murata and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) MLCC Products that Put Environmental Load Reduction into Practice Based on 'Light, Thin, Short, and Small' Characteristics

76% of all of Murata's GHG emissions are Scope3 emissions. We realize that reducing Scope3 GHGs is just as essential as reducing Scope1 and Scope2 GHGs and established Scope3 reduction goals in accordance with SBT criteria.
Going forward, a wide range of related departments will work together to promote climate change countermeasures across the entire Murata supply chain.

Category 1 (purchased goods and services) accounts for over half of Murata’s Scope3 GHG emissions. For this reason, we consider it essential to have the cooperation of suppliers to promote our efforts for reducing GHG emissions.
In fiscal 2024, Murata held an initiative policy briefing session for suppliers in Japan, in which more than 250 companies participated. In this briefing session, we shared the need for decarbonization, referring to the active shift to decarbonization and increasing demand for low-GHG emission electronic components, as well as introduced our own initiatives and specific steps toward reducing emissions.
We also gave one-on-one interviews, during which we asked about the company’s progress in emission-reduction goal setting and request for support while also making a request for their submission of primary data. As a result, we were able to increase the primary data percentage of Category 1 CO₂ emissions up to 16.7%. As our support for suppliers in reducing emissions, we will continue to collaborate by making proposals that involve our proven renewable energy system and energy-saving system, as well as an energy management system using Murata’s sensors.

We strive to reduce environmental burden at the distribution stage of products in addition to manufacturing stages.
In addition to reducing CO₂ emissions through simplified lighter packaging and the promotion of modal shift, we are also promoting eco-friendly distribution based on the 3Rs.

In fiscal 2024, we monitored CO₂ emissions per basic unit of production output 2.0 kg/M yen or lower in our domestic logistics, and worked to improve the accuracy of aggregation results produced by the system tools for aggregating CO₂ emissions in all Murata logistics, including our overseas logistics.
We achieved a 480 t/year cut in CO₂ emissions from our logistics through steady and expanding modal shifts in domestic inter-site logistics.

In fiscal 2025, we will continue to globally promote initiatives aimed at reducing CO₂ emissions through means such as adopting low-profile, lightweight pallets for shipments from Japan to the Greater China region, ASEAN countries, and the U.S.; facilitating modal shifts to joint transportation with other companies and the increased use of shipping vessels; and reducing packaging materials, including the use of thinner shrink wraps.

• In fiscal 2024, our CO₂ emissions during domestic distribution were 425 tons per month, this was 30% of the amount in fiscal 2007.
• Murata’s CO₂ emissions during distribution for the entire world were approximately 9,654 tons per month.

Link: Murata Manufacturing and ROHM Commence Joint EV Truck Transportation, a First in the Electronic Components Industry - Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Logistics - (Japanese)

Link: Creating a Sustainable Supply Chain: Advancing Environmental and Societal Benefits with Hydrogen Fuel Cell Trucks (Part 1)

Link: Creating a Sustainable Supply Chain: Advancing Environmental and Societal Benefits with Hydrogen Fuel Cell Trucks (Part 2)