Water resource

Basic ideas

Basic ideas for water resource

Water is essential for Tokai Carbon’s business activities, and we are also aware that it is a vital resource in the local communities where our manufacturing plants are located. We are promoting efficient use of water companywide as water recycling and manufacturing process improvements.

Objectives

We are working to reduce water consumption by clearly grasping the amount of water required for production and limiting excess water usage. In 2024, we have set a target of reducing water usage below the 2021 level (9 million m3/year) for our consolidated companies (Tokai Carbon and major group companies both in Japan and overseas), and have made efforts to reduce our water consumption. As a result, the consumption for 2024 was 8.02 million m3, achieving our target. In 2025, we will work to reduce water usage, aiming for "water consumption of 8.9 million m3/year or less (1% reduction against 2021)".

Targets and progress are discussed in the Sustainability Committee, chaired by the president, and reported to the Board of Directors on a quarterly basis.

Initiatives

Water risk assessment

We identify areas of water stress by referring to the WRI Aqueduct. In 2025, we conducted a survey of 44 production sites(*1) in Japan and overseas of the Tokai Carbon group.
Of these, five sites were identified as having high water stress (*2). Apart from one sales site, we conducted a detailed survey of past floods, droughts and water consumption for each site to confirm that they are at low risk.

  • *1 As of January 2025. Including Laboratories.
  • *2 Sites that were classified as "High" or “Extremely High” for overall water risk among the risk items in the chemical industry of WRI Aqueduct.

Initiatives to reduce water consumption

Tokai Carbon’s operation sites take various measures to achieve the goal of reducing water consumption.

Business Site Initiative
Graphite electrodes Domestic productions sites Adjustment of industrial water intake
Overseas production sites Recycle and reuse of cooling water in the graphitization process
Carbon black Overseas production sites Water leakage prevention measures
Smelting and Lining Overseas production sites Optimizing the amount of cooling water used at each production facility

Performance

Environmental data

In calculating performance, water consumption is computed as the amount taken in.

Amount of water intake (1,000 m3)

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Amount of water intake Tokai Carbon 2,637 2,880 2,760 2,857 2,616
Tokai Carbon Group 7,836 9,006 8,726 8,452 8,019
(Breakdown)Tap water Tokai Carbon 290 292 366 417 408
Tokai Carbon Group 2,448 2,818 2,743 2,550 3,017
River(industrial water) Tokai Carbon 1,697 1,908 1,727 1,795 1,666
Tokai Carbon Group 2,770 3,073 2,771 2,939 2,753
Ground water Tokai Carbon 649 680 668 645 542
Tokai Carbon Group 2,597 3,062 3,048 2,897 2,234
Others Tokai Carbon Group 21 54 164 66 15
  • *Period of calculation: January to December each year
  • *The scope of reporting:
    Tokai Carbon : Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd.
    Tokai Carbon Group: Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd., Tokai ErftCarbon GmbH, Tokai Carbon GE LLC, Tokai Carbon CB Ltd., Cancarb Limited, Thai Tokai Carbon Product Co.,Ltd., Tokai Fine Carbon Co., Ltd. , Tokai Carbon Korea Co., Ltd., Tokai COBEX Polska sp. z o.o., Tokai COBEX Savoie SAS

Water intake per unit of sales

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
34.1 38.9 34.8 25.6 23.1 22.9
  • Scope of reporting: Consolidated
  • *Water consumption is computed as the amount taken in. The amount of water intake includes tap water, industrial water, ground water and others.

Amount of water drainage (1,000 m3)

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Amount of water output Tokai Carbon 2,010 2,115 2,018 2,080 1,994
Tokai Carbon Group 2,609 2,717 2,548 2,637 2,633
(Breakdown)Sewer Tokai Carbon 95 108 142 183 155
Tokai Carbon Group 473 470 476 506 497
River Tokai Carbon 546 553 564 603 579
Tokai Carbon Group 768 793 760 838 876
Sea Tokai Carbon 1,369 1,453 1,312 1,293 1,260
Tokai Carbon Group 1,369 1,453 1,312 1,293 1,260
  • *Period of calculation: January to December each year
  • *The scope of reporting: Tokai Carbon : Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. Tokai Carbon Group: Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd., Tokai ErftCarbon GmbH, Tokai Carbon GE LLC, Tokai Carbon CB Ltd., Cancarb Limited, Thai Tokai Carbon Product Co.,Ltd., Tokai Fine Carbon Co., Ltd. , Tokai Carbon Korea Co., Ltd., Tokai COBEX Polska sp. z o.o., Tokai COBEX Savoie SAS

Discharges of Environmentally Hazardous Substances into Water

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Units 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
BOD emissions kg 1,372 1,787 1,430 1,211 1,165 1,069
COD emissions kg 6,855 9,369 9,233 9,687 5,950 5,777
Total nitrogen t 5.4 6.0 5.2 8.2 8.7 7.3
Total phosphorus t 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2
  • Data-gathering period: April to March of the following year.
  • Reporting scope: Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd.
  • * Total nitrogen and Total phosphorus : Business locations that could impact the bodies of water specified in the Ministry of the Environment’s “Environmental Quality Standards for Water Pollution”attached table titled, “Environmental Quality Standards for Conservation of the Living Environment (Coastal waters, lakes)."

Number of violations of water related laws, regulations, etc.

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
0 0 0 0 0
  • Reporting scope: Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd.
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