Supplementary Material for Integrated Report 2020

Environmental Accounting

The KOBELCO Group continuously engages in environmental conservation. The costs and benefits of these efforts are analyzed, and relevant information is disclosed in order to deepen stakeholders’ understanding of our initiatives.

Environment-Related Investments and Results

Kobe Steel, Ltd. invests in the installation and continual maintenance of environmental equipment and pursues environmental measures on a variety of fronts. In fiscal 2019, we invested approximately ¥3.9 billion, primarily to reduce CO₂ emissions and prevent water pollution.

Expenses in fiscal 2019 totaled ¥35.6 billion. Moreover, we invested about 26% of total expenses, or roughly ¥9.4 billion, in R&D for technology development, including making automobile weight reduction proposals that combine competitiveness in the raw materials of cutting-edge high-strength steel and aluminum with automotive solution technologies, applying our strengths in steel, aluminum and welding materials.

Of these, we invested approximately ¥5.8 billion as research and development expenses related to climate change. We will continue to implement measures related to environmental preservation.

Environmental Conservation Costs (FY 2019)

(Millions of yen)

Item			Equipment investment	Expense
Costs in business areas	Pollution prevention costs	Air pollution prevention	80	9,540
	Pollution prevention costs	Water pollution prevention	620	4,940
	Resource recycling costs	Waste recycling/ processing, yield improvement	10	9,030
	Climate change-related costs	Energy-saving investment	3,210	-
Management activities costs	EMS registration/renewal		-	50
	Environmental impact monitoring/measuring		-	300
	Personnel expenses for environmental measures/organizations		-	2,020
R&D costs	Development of eco products and reduction of environmental impact of manufacturing processes		-	9,390
R&D costs		Of which, R&D related to climate change	-	5,770
Social activities costs	Environmental organization support, advertising		-	10
Other costs	Assessments on pollution load		-	320
Total			3,920	35,600

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