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Environmental
Management
Sustainability Report 2006 |
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| Coexistence and Harmony with Society |
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The Kobe Steel Group is committed to harmonious
coexistence and cooperation with society. To that end, we contribute
to local communities and promote international cooperation through
participation in beneficial social activities both as a Group and
through individual employees. |
| Contribution to Local Communities |
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Kobe Steel's operating
locations contribute to the beautification of local landscapes by
participating in clean-up campaigns and other activities. In addition,
they contribute to communities by engaging in social service.
In fiscal 2005, for example, we dispatched environmental lecturers
to Amagasaki Technical High School in Hyogo Prefecture and Kobe Takatsuka
High School in Kobe. |
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Environmental education at Amagasaki Technical
High School |
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| Environmental Activities in Local Communities |
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Members of the River Clean Eco-coal Bank (River Clean Ecotan Ginko) notified Kobe Steel that "the actual facts differed from the content and picture Kobe Steel had posted" on its Sustainability Report Web site. In the writing of the passage below, Kobe Steel's editors and publisher of the Sustainability Report had neglected to fully check the facts. Kobe Steel deeply apologizes for the trouble and misunderstanding this lapse has caused the concerned party.
A correction follows. |
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Turning Local Bamboo into Charcoal |
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Yuukari-kai, the foremen's association at Kakogawa Works, has long been involved in local volunteer activities. One of them introduced below is the Eco-Charcoal Activity.
The Eco-Charcoal Activity is a program undertaken by the River Clean Eco-charcoal Bank (River Clean Ecotan Ginko). Bamboo groves, owned by people who have grown too old to care for them, are harvested, and the Eco-charcoal Bank uses a charcoal machine to turn the bamboo into charcoal. The finished charcoal is divided three ways among the bamboo grove owners, the people who make the charcoal, and the Yoda Machizukuri Iinkai (Yoda Town Development Council). A number of members of the Yuukari-kai participated in the Eco-charcoal Activity in fiscal 2004.
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Restoring Mountains, Rivers and the Sea |
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| The bamboo charcoal, made through the Eco-charcoal Activity, has purifying properties. It is used to improve the water quality of ponds and irrigation ditches located in the area. The Yuukari-kai members hope that "more people will become interested in environmental conservation and that they will participate in any way they can." |
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| Supporting Environmental Activities |
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Kobe Steel established
the Kobelco Natural Environment Conservation Fund and the Kobelco
Environment Creation Fund in April 2001 to support people involved
in activities to conserve the natural environment.
Kobe Steel will continue to support wide-ranging environmental conservation
activities, through various undertakings that go beyond the framework
of the Kobe Steel Group, while recognizing the importance activities
at the popular level.
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Tree planting in Mongolia
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| Name |
Kobelco Natural Environment
Conservation Fund |
Kobelco Environment Creation
Fund |
Activities
Targeted for
Support |
Community-based environmental
conservation activities by general public |
Relatively large-scale
environmental preservation activities with great potential and
high contribution to the environment |
Activities
in fiscal 2005 |
Support of 31 environmental
conservation activities including conservation of woodlands
near cities, biotope creation, tree plantings, nature observation
tours, environmental workshops, educational activities for global
warming prevention |
Forest conservation
and recycling support programs Supporting environmental exhibitions |
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| Cooperation with the Local Community |
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| Shinko Kobe Power
Inc. in Kobe supplies heat from its power generation plants to three
sake breweries in the Nishigo area_Nishigo is one of the five areas
renown for sake brewing in Kobe and Nishinomiya. |
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Steam generator |
| Greening of Operating Locations |
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To improve the quality
of the surrounding environment and contribute to the absorption of
CO2 in the air, Kobe Steel's operating locations
are building green zones around their facilities and growing various
kinds of foliage.
For example, near the center of the grounds of the Kobe Corporate
Research Laboratories, we completed construction of a biotope in the
summer of 2005 to commemorate the centennial of Kobe Steel's founding.
The many commemorative trees that had been planted throughout the
grounds were transplanted to the periphery, and new trees were planted
to create an environmentally friendly place in which to pursue research. |
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Greening of factory site
Biotope at Kobe Corporate Research Laboratories
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| International Cooperation |
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The Kobe Steel Group
accepts trainees from abroad and provides technical training. Promoting
international cooperation, Kobe Steel utilizes its broad experience
in the environmental and energy fields.
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Overseas trainees at Kobelco Eco-Solutions
Co., Ltd. |
| Cooperation
Activities |
Country |
Sponsoring Organization |
| Accepted overseas
trainees |
Zambia |
Hyogo Prefecture |
| Environmental
technical training (Wastewater treatment facilities) |
Vietnam |
Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) |
| Accepted trainees
for prevention of air pollution, including acid rain |
Southeast Asia,
others |
JICA |
| Training to
monitor acid rain in East Asia |
Cambodia, China,
Malaysia |
JICA |
| Analysis techniques
for environmental burden substances and risk assessment course |
Chile, Egypt,
Fiji, Indonesia, others |
JICA |
| Energy-saving
training |
Iran |
JICA, The Energy
Conservation Center |
| Accepted trainee
group for Chinese environmental conservation |
China |
The Association
for Overseas
Technical Scholarship (AOTS) |
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| Aluminum Can Collection and Recycling |
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As Japan's largest producer of rolled aluminum
products, Kobe Steel launched the Shinko Aluminum Can Back program
in 1990 at all divisions, offices and operating locations.
This program continues in many forms today. For example, the Moka
Plant and Shinko Moka Sohgo Service Ltd. are working with authorities
in Tochigi Prefecture and other companies to mount a public relations
campaign about recovering and recycling aluminum cans. To that end,
they send a car-mounted can press to local summer festivals and other
events to demonstrate how recycling is done. |
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