Initiatives for Reducing Environmental Impact

Based on the idea of staying in harmony and symbiosis with the environment, the Cosmo Energy Group works to reduce its impact on air and water quality by managing environmental pollutants arising from its business activities. In addition to manufacturing products that minimize environmental impact, such as low-sulfur products and low-benzene gasoline, we work to reduce waste and have installed volatile organic compound (VOC) recovery units in facilities for fuel tanker trucks. Through efforts such as these, we have been working to minimize our environmental impact.

At each Group site, we have established control values that are even stricter than the regulatory requirements for exhaust gas emissions and wastewater discharge. By adhering to these higher standards, we avoid violating any regulatory limits.

To prevent air pollution from our refineries, we use fuel with low sulfur and nitrogen content, and have installed flue gas desulfurization and denitrification units, as well as electrostatic precipitators to control the release of air pollutants. Additionally, we have put in floating roof tanks to minimize the atmospheric emissions of VOCs contained in petroleum products, and we have installed vapor recovery units in the product delivery process.

ESG Data: Environmentally hazardous substances – Air pollution emissions

Wastewater from the refining process contains substances such as oil, odorous compounds like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, suspended solids, and organic matter. At our refineries, we are working to prevent water pollution by using a range of wastewater processing equipment for odor mitigation, oil separation, suspended solids removal (through coagulation and sedimentation), and activated sludge treatment.

ESG Data: Water resource use and discharge – Water pollution loads

The Group strives to manage and control emissions appropriately with respect to certain chemical substances it manufactures and uses. We do this in accordance with Japan’s Act on the Assessment of Releases of Specified Chemical Substances in the Environment and the Promotion of Management Improvement (Pollutant Release and Transfer Register [PRTR] Act).

The specific substances being managed are benzene and toluene, which are contained in petroleum products, as well as designated chemical substances contained in catalysts used in the petroleum refining process. We manage and monitor the amounts of these substances being released and transferred, and annually report this data based on the PRTR Act.

The Group's overall release of PRTR-designated chemical substances in fiscal 2023 rised to 437 tons (up 56 tons year on year), while the amount transferred rised to 570 tons (up 114 tons year on year).The increase in release is due to an increase in the number of chemical substances designated under the PRTR Law, and the increase in transfer is due to an increase in the amount of coal ash containing the designated substances collected due to increased operation of the kasumi power plant.

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