Biodiversity Conservation
Relevant SDGs
Aiming to create a society that exists in harmony with nature, we are engaging in biodiversity activities tailored to our various locations and surrounding environments. This is being carried out in collaboration with our stakeholders.
Basic Approach
At the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in December 2022, the "Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework," a new global target for biodiversity, was adopted. Companies are required to take stronger actions to achieve nature-positive outcomes.
Our Group recognizes that biodiversity conservation is a crucial issue in environmental management, as our business activities both depend on and impact ecosystems. We believe that biodiversity conservation requires integrated efforts, including responses to climate change and resource circulation, and collaboration with a variety of stakeholders.
Some of our Group companies are located adjacent to rich natural environments such as national parks and prefectural parks. Each business unit promotes biodiversity conservation activities tailored to their specific location and the surrounding environment.
Going forward, we will visualize dependencies and impacts, as well as risks and opportunities.
Summary of Fiscal Year 2023
Each business unit promoted biodiversity activities tailored to their local situation, such as greening activities, protection of endangered species, monitoring of living organisms, and holding nature observation events as part of biodiversity-focused land use. Employees' participation in these activities deepened their understanding of biodiversity. We also promoted integrated measures such as reducing GHG emissions, water withdrawal, and waste. For products, we set biodiversity considerations as one of the considerations for environmentally friendly products and continued to focus on these goals.
Morioka Seiko Instruments Inc. received the "The Director-General's Award of Tohoku Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry" in the 2023 Green Factory Award.
Land use considerations for biodiversity
Greening activities
SII Crystal Technology Inc. promotes greening of its premises by employees. In fiscal 2023, they planted moss phlox seedlings, with over 30 employees participating each time, which both improved the biodiversity of the site and fostered communication among employees.
Planning moss phlox seedlings by employees
Ninohe Tokei Kogyo Co., Ltd. continuously promotes flower bed creation by employees and won an award in the flower bed contest hosted by Ninohe City.
Flower bed created by employees
Dalian Seiko Instruments Inc. in China has been continuously working on creating green spaces with a focus on biodiversity. They refrain from using pesticides and herbicides in green space maintenance and compost dead branches and fallen leaves. Seiko Instruments (Thailand) Ltd. conducted large-scale tree plantings at two factories in 2022 and is currently monitoring the growth of the trees.
Green spaces of Dalian Seiko Instruments Inc.
Protection of endangered species
At the Seiko NPC Nasu-Shiobara Plant, three Cephalanthera falcata (Kinran) orchids have been discovered in one corner of the facility, and nearby, numerous Cypripedium macranthos (Ginran) have also been identified. While it was once common to see these orchids thriving in the forest, their population has declined substantially in recent years, leading to concerns about potential extinction. The Ministry of the Environment has designated them as “Endangered II” species. The Nasu-Shiobara Plant keeps them under careful observation and looks forward to their flowering every year. In the spring of 2023, new blossoms were confirmed in another part of the facility. In addition, the company has confirmed the presence of other unusual species such as Cymbidium goeringii, Liriope muscari and Plantain lily. The facility has also promoted greening efforts by planting moss phlox and blueberries to provide bird feed.
Cephalanthera falcata (Kinran)
In Chiba Prefecture there is a type of white pine tree called Himekomatsu, which is listed as endangered. Three Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII) business sites in Chiba have been registered as "Himekomatsu Preservation Supporters" since February 2016 as part of Chiba Prefecture's Himekomatsu Recovery Project. We monitor the growth of these trees and report that information to Chiba Prefecture every October, deepening our understanding of Himekomatsu and helping to preserve its genetic lineage. In fiscal year 2023, we relocated some Himekomatsu from our Makuhari site to our Takatsuka site and will continue to monitor their growth.
* The three Seiko Instruments facilities in Chiba Prefecture: Makuhari Office (Chiba City), Takatsuka Unit (Matsudo City), Ohno Unit (Ichikawa City).
Himekomatsu of Takatsuka site
Education and awareness-raising activities
Monitoring of living organisms and awareness-raising activities
Birdhouses and bird baths have been installed at each Seiko Instruments facility as part of the company’s commitment to provide habitats for living things. Additionally, the firm uses sensor-activated cameras to conduct animal surveys that deepen our understanding of the creatures inhabiting the facility grounds. The survey results are then used for employee awareness activities. At the Sendai facility, the sensor camera videos are publicly displayed at the entrance of the employee cafeteria as part of these awareness initiatives.
Showing Animal Monitoring Videos
Nature Observation Event
Morioka Seiko Instruments Inc., with the cooperation of Shimizu Corporation, held a nature observation event on the Morioka Seiko premises in July 2024. This event provides guidance on biodiversity conservation activities from experts in various fields and has been ongoing since 2012. The 13th event was attended by 26 participants, including government officials and environmental representatives from our Group. The theme was "Measuring Biodiversity," and we received lectures and technical guidance from experts to evaluate the degree of biodiversity improvement we had achieved, and use it for improving our activities and external communication. Measuring biodiversity quantitatively is challenging even for experts, but we believe that continuous monitoring of specific plants and insects will help us to understand biodiversity. We explained the evaluation methods using examples from previous nature observation events and preliminary surveys conducted before this event. We will continue to hold nature observation events to enhance biodiversity conservation activities.
Additionally, Morioka Seiko Instruments and Seiko Group Corp. regularly hold the Seiko Exciting Environmental Classroom to teach children the importance of biodiversity through activities such as making insect hotels and conducting biotope surveys (insect hotels are made from waste materials, fallen branches, bamboo tubes, etc., providing places for insects to breed and overwinter, aiming to create diverse ecosystems).
Scenes from the Nature observation event
Products and Biodiversity
The Green Product Standards include consideration for biodiversity as one of the environmental criteria. Specific measures, such as minimizing the impact on ecosystems by eliminating lead use, are set for each product. The product standards are reviewed every two years, with a focus on enhancing biodiversity considerations for all products.
