Corporate News
30/08/2008
NSK one of global 100 most sustainable companies
Group of Companies, proudly announces NSK's selection as one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World. The Global 100 is a list compiled and released annually at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
NSK is one of the world's largest manufacturers of bearings and related linear-motion and automotive products. Based in Tokyo, Japan, the organization operates over 150 locations around the world, including three in Canada that are headquartered in Mississauga.
The company is an industry leader in corporate social responsibility (CSR). All of its facilities will be certified ISO 14001 by the end of 2009, and all follow a comprehensive CSR strategy that emphasizes recycling, green procurement and company-wide environmental education. "Our Global 100 ranking reinforces our longstanding conviction that it can be done - it is possible for industrial manufacturing firms such as ours to be socially responsible and sustainable," said Colin Figgens, President and Chief Operating Officer, NSK Canada. "Ultimately, this is a commitment we all have to make. Our environment and resources are no longer commodities that can be purchased and processed at will," continues Figgens.
NSK has advanced the bearing production process considerably, refining its manufacturing operations and taking significant steps to, among other things, reduce scrap waste, lower CO2 emissions, increase energy efficiency and cut down on the use of harmful chemicals. In its 2007 CSR Report, the company outlines current goals for 2010. They include achieving a waste-recycling rate of 98 percent or greater, reducing the number of liquid coolants with chlorine-based additives by 85 percent and reducing CO2
emissions per production unit annually by one percent.
The company has actively propelled environmental innovation through technologies such as a hybrid solar cogeneration system that uses excess heat from electricity generation to warm production facilities. More recently, NSK has implemented systems for managing waste and chemical substances and in 2007, it rolled out an information-sharing system to improve collection and analysis of environmental data gathered from its plants worldwide.
NSK also maintains a 'zero emission policy'. Zero emission is a concept spearheaded by the United Nations University (through its Zero Emissions Forum) by which businesses emulate the sustainable cycles found in nature. "Sustainability is as much about efficiency as it is about environmental responsibility," said Figgens. "Companies that are sustainable tend to have a better handle on their markets, their production requirements, their outputs - and their waste. All of these attributes are indicative not only of corporate responsibility, but also productivity and competitiveness. CSR is a win-win situation, for us as a business and us as people sharing the same planet."
NSK's efforts around CSR and Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) have earned the company recognition by a number of international SRI indices including the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, the FTSE4Good Global Benchmark Index, the Ethibel Sustainability Index and the Morningstar Japan SRI Index.
For the Global 100 ranking, NSK was selected from among approximately 1,800 firms listed on the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) world-stocks index. Candidates are assessed based on their abilities, compared with industry peers, to manage environmental, social and governmental (ESG) risks.