Protection of the Global Environment

The Chugai Group regards the conservation of the global environment as a crucial foundation supporting all business activities, and actively promotes efforts to minimize its impact on the global environment.

Water is not only an important raw material for pharmaceutical production, but also an indispensable resource for a sustainable society. In addition to reducing the amount of water used in our production activities and managing wastewater, the Chugai Group aims for our water source conservation activities through forest maintenance at production sites to not only minimize the impact of our company’s production activities on the global environment, but also to contribute to the conservation of abundant water resources used jointly with the people living in the watershed area.

In 2025, in Kawanehon Town, Haibara District, Shizuoka Prefecture, which serves as the water source for the Fujieda Plant, activities were carried out with the cooperation of the nonprofit organization Earth and Future Environment Fund and under the guidance of the nonprofit organization Kawane Raifu. On September 6, employees of the Fujieda Plant and their family members participated in the removal and maintenance of shrubs¹⁾. On November 8, in addition to forest thinning activities²⁾, a woodworking experience was held in the form of a workshop in which participants colored “wooden eggs” made from thinned timber.

In Yokose Town, Chichibu District, Saitama Prefecture, which serves as the water source for the Ukima Plant, employees and their family members carried out forest thinning activities on October 4 under the “Saitama Prefecture Forest Development Agreement”4) concluded in 2023.

Activities in Kawanehon Town, Shizuoka Prefecture (September: Shrub Removal)

Activities in Kawanehon Town, Shizuoka Prefecture (November: Forest Thinning)

Conservation activities in Chichibu, Saitama

 
In addition, with the Yokohama Waterworks Bureau of Yokohama City, where Chugai Life Science Park Yokohama is located, the Group concluded an agreement in 2024 for the “Water Source Eco Project W-eco·p (WICOP)”⁵⁾, and is engaged in activities to protect forests and water sources.

In our business activities, the Chugai Group uses water with care and releases it back into nature in a clean state. By continuing with efforts to maintain the forests that nurture clean water, we will contribute to building a society in symbiosis with nature.

For more details, please visit Protection of Biodiversity.

1. Shrubs: Short trees with underdeveloped trunks

2. Tree thinning: Work designed to prevent forests from becoming overgrown, leading them back to health by cutting down certain trees to maintain appropriate density. Thinning allows sunlight to reach the individual trees, while also encouraging the growth of short trees, leading to a healthier forest. By carrying out activities such as tree planting, pruning, undergrowth clearing, and thinning, we can preserve healthy forests with water source recharge function³.

3. Water source recharge function: When trees are firmly rooted in the ground, rainwater does not immediately flow out of the forest, but percolates into the ground (soil) and slowly flows out as groundwater. By carrying out activities such as tree planting, pruning, undergrowth clearing, and thinning, we can preserve healthy forests with water source recharge functions.

4. To protect and nurture the forests, which are the common property of the residents of Saitama Prefecture, companies and organizations engaged in forestation activities, municipalities providing activity sites, and the Saitama Prefectural Government form agreements and collaboratively carry out forest creation initiatives. 

5. An initiative by the Yokohama City Waterworks Bureau in collaboration with companies and organizations to cultivate the water source forests owned by the city of Yokohama in the village of Doshi, Yamanashi Prefecture. Its purpose is to maintain rich forests that create clean water and pass these resources on to future generations.