Astellas Pharma

Carbon per million dollars of revenue. The legacy industry-standard reference (CDP, MSCI). Useful for cross-sector context, but distorted by margin — high-margin firms appear artificially efficient. Read alongside the operational and asset intensities for the full picture.

OpEx (operating expenditure) is the running cost of the business — staff, services, energy, materials. This shows how carbon-intensive operations are per million dollars of spend. Removes the margin distortion that revenue-based ratios introduce.

EVIC (Enterprise Value Including Cash) is the firm's total capital footprint — equity + debt + cash + minority interest. The EU's standard intensity measure (SFDR PAI 3) — answers: how much carbon does each million of capital deployed in this business produce?

PP&E (Property, Plant & Equipment) plus leased real-estate assets is the firm's physical infrastructure on the balance sheet. This shows the carbon intensity of that physical footprint — uses Scope 1+2+3 for consistency with the other headline intensities. Surfaces stranded-asset risk for asset-heavy firms.

Since April 2020, Astellas switched all electricity at its three Ibaraki Prefecture sites (Tsukuba, Tokodai, Takahagi) to TEPCO Energy Partner's 'Aqua Premium' 100% hydroelectric plan, reducing emissions by ~24,000 tCO2 in FY2023. Renewable energy reached 19% of total energy and 40% of electricity in FY2023 (373 TJ total). Mix includes 86% renewable electricity, 13% wood biomass, 2% wind, 0.3% PV/geothermal. Solar panels are being installed at research facilities; wind power and biomass boilers operate at the Kerry Plant in Ireland.

Astellas' Net Zero by 2050 plan targets a 90% reduction in GHG emissions plus 10% neutralization of residual emissions (vs 2015 baseline). The company also notes consideration of purchasing carbon credits (CO2 emission rights) to reduce Scope 1 emissions, with cost-control measures still under review. No specific durable removal technologies (DAC, BECCS) are named.

• Fuel switching + energy efficiency at sites

  Boilers prioritise gaseous fuels (city gas, LNG, LPG) to reduce GHG and SOx. FY2023 saw ~¥600 million invested in solar panel installations, LED lighting, and air-conditioning upgrades to heat-pump chillers, abating 4,825 tCO2. Energy monitoring systems are deployed to visualise consumption. Total energy fell from 2,089 TJ (FY2021) to 2,005 TJ (FY2023).

• Sales fleet electrification

  Since FY2008 Astellas has switched sales fleets to hybrid and electric vehicles, particularly in Japan and the US. FY2023 sales-fleet emissions were 13,380 tons (vs 12,378 in FY2022, 12,697 in FY2021). Preparing for the 2035 ICE phase-out in some markets requires further shift to EVs for fleets and trucks plus a modal transport shift.

• Sustainable packaging — biomass plastic + recycled cardboard

  Since FY2021, blister sheet packaging using 50% sugarcane-derived polyethylene (biomass plastic) is used for some Japan products. Cardboard packaging uses recycled paper, and materials are labelled to promote consumer recycling. FY2023 plastic packaging containers totalled 218 tons in Japan; plastic waste generated in Japan was 230 tons, targeted to remain below 250 tons.

• Business travel reduction

  Business travel emissions (Cat 6, airplane) were 21,496 tCO2 in FY2023, rebounding from COVID-era lows (2,410 in FY2021, 6,940 in FY2022) but still well below the FY2015 baseline of 53,528 tCO2. Astellas will continue company-wide travel-reduction efforts initiated during COVID-19.

• Sustainable Procurement Pledge for Cat 1 supplier collaboration

  Cat 1 (purchased goods and services) at 858 kt is the largest Scope 3 source (~77% of Scope 3). Astellas established the Sustainable Procurement Pledge with suppliers, plans to formulate a supply-chain sustainability roadmap, and will analyse CO2 emission data of purchased products to drive reductions. On-site EHS assessments of 4 suppliers were conducted in FY2023.