14 Nissan Environmental & Social Report 2002
1 Environmental Management
Breakdown of Environmental Preservation Costs for FY 2002General classification Category Contents Amount (100-million yen)Environmental management Management activity costs ISO14001 certification, environmental management, 32.6
Social activity costs education, environmental advertising, etc.Green countermeasures, environmental activity support, etc. 2.8
Research and development R&D costs Costs of research and development into the reduction of 956.2environmental impact of automobiles
Manufacturing Business area costs BreakdownPrevention of pollution Prevention of air, water, and soil pollution. 48.0Global environmental costs Energy conservation, prevention of global warming, 39.9
environmental protection, etc.Resource circulation costs Effective use of resources, reduction of waste 36.2
materials and water, reuse, etc. Subtotal 124.1Recycling Upstream/downstream costs Recycling technologies, recovery, and processing of 1.5
automobiles and componentsOther activities Environmental restoration costs Elimination of soil pollution, allocation funds for injury 9.0
Total 1,126.2
5 Environmental Accounting
Since its introduction in 1998, environmental accounting has been continually implemented as a means of enabling wide-scale disclosureof environmental accounting information and enhancing the understanding of the company’s environmental protection activities;furthermore, this practice is also intended to support efficient execution of environment-related R&D and other measures. Environmentalaccounting for FY 2002 was carried out based on the guidelines set forth in the Ministry of the Environment’s Environmental AccountingGuidebook (2002 edition).
1. Environmental Preservation Cost
Preservation of the environment generates direct and indirectexpenses associated with reduction of the environmental impactscaused by business activities, and the total cost of environmentalprotection during FY 2002 was 126.62-billion yen. This figure wascalculated based on the costs of various activities in each category,and calculation focused on primary factors for environmentalpreservation; in addition, consideration was also given to secondaryand tertiary aims.This total represents an increase of just over 30% with respect tothe previous year’s figure, and an increase was also seen in the R&Dcosts that make up a considerable portion of the overall figure. Themain cause of these increases resides in the large amount ofinvestment made in advanced development projects for futuretechnologies, and the development of fuel-cell vehicles is a typicalexample of one such project. In addition, the cost of environmental-related measures also increased for overall automobile development.In terms of manufacturing, Nissan invested 700-million yen in theimprovement of water processing capabilities in order that waterpollution may be prevented, and a further 400-million yen wasinvested with the aim of conserving energy.In addition, other related costs included expenditure forenvironmental advertising that used the lineup of ultra-low emissionvehicles (U-LEVs) successively market launched since last year.
2. Benefits of Environmental Preservation
Direct and indirect benefits are brought about by investment andexpenditure for the purpose of environmental preservation. The benefit generated in 2002 was calculated with respect to thecorresponding figure for 2001, and based on reduced costs associatedwith energy conservation, waste material processing, and waste waterprocessing, this benefit was found to be 1.83 billion yen. Furthermore, areduction in the volume of the principal environmental load materialsassociated with the manufacturing process was also recorded.
3. Future Activities
At Nissan, we intend to continue in our environmental protectionefforts, aiming to develop deeper understanding of the actual state ofactivities individually.Environmental and economic activities must both be realized in amutually compatible feature in order that we may achieve sustainabledevelopment; furthermore, the benefitial quantification of benefits isalso crucial in terms of the comparative evaluation of costs.Accordingly, it is our intention to realize environmental accountingthat is fully integrated into the heart of company activities and deeplyintertwined with management, financial accounting, and all othertypes of Nissan promotional measures. We will endeavor to ensurethat our introduction of critical management resources for theassurance of sustainable development will serve as a guide to others.
Effect of Cost Reduction for Environmental Protection Countermeasures (100-million yen)Cost reduction due to energy conservation 18.0Reduction of waste processing costs 0.34Reduction of wastewater processing costs -0.02Total 18.3
Amount of Environmental Impact Substances ReducedCO2 (ton-CO2) -28,521Disposed waste material processing (ton) 7,535Disposed waste water processing (1,000 m3) 541
Calculation Details:1. The calculation period is from April 1st, 2002 until March 31st, 2003.2. Although personal expenses were previously calculated as management activity costs,
calculation is not now carried out for each classification in accordance with the 2002 Ministryof the Environment Guidelines.
3. In terms of research and development, those costs related to the reduction of environmentalimpact were calculated; however, costs that could not be separated were multiplied by aproportional division ratio before being summed.
4. Water disposal costs increased by 8.8% as a result of investments aimed at the reduction ofenvironmental risk. (502.91-million yen ➔ 547.022-million yen)
5. The results of the reduction of costs associated with environmental protectioncountermeasures and volume reductions for environmental load materials were determinedbased on Nissan Motor calculations. The differences between FY 2001 and FY 2002 areshown, and these figures were calculated with respect to the previous year’s figures using theper-production volume and cost.
6. The total CO2 emission volume rose by 4.1% with respect to the previous year’s level as aresult of increased manufacturing loads; however, in terms of both manufacturing-price andmanufacturing-volume units, emission levels fell. (Manufacturing-price units: 45 tons of CO2 /100-million yen ➔ 41.17 tons of CO2 / 100-million yen — Reduction) (Manufacturing-volumeunits: 0.767 tons of CO2 / automobile ➔ 0.692 tons of CO2 / automobile — Reduction)
