Environmental Accounting

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 2020, we invested approximately ¥1.7 billion, primarily to reduce CO₂ emissions and prevent water pollution.

Expenses in fiscal 2020 totaled ¥31.9 billion. Moreover, we invested about 28% of total expenses, or roughly ¥9.0 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 ¥4.5 billion as research and development expenses related to climate change.

We will continue to implement measures related to environmental preservation.

Breakdown of Equipment Investment and Expenses (Millions of yen)

(Millions of yen)

Item			Equipment investment	Expense
Expenses in business areas	Environmental expenses	Air pollution prevention	210	7,610
	Environmental expenses	Water pollution prevention	210	3,940
	Resource recycling expenses	Waste recycling/ processing, yield improvement	10	8,950
	Climate change-related expenses	Energy-saving investment	1,230	－
Management activities expenses	EMS registration/renewal		－	40
	Environmental impact monitoring/measuring		－	250
	Personnel expenses for environmental measures /organizations		－	1,880
R&D expenses	Development of eco products and reduction of environmental impact of manufacturing processes		－	8,960
R&D expenses		Of which, R&D related to climate change	－	4,510
Social activities expenses	Environmental organization support, advertising		－	10
Other expenses	Assessments on pollution load		－	300
Total			1,660	31,900

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