The Group will procure sustainable palm oil that takes into consideration deforestation prevention, biodiversity preservation, and the human rights of plantation workers. As of March 2020, the Group’s overall procurement ratio of palm oil certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is approximately 20%. For fiscal 2031, in addition to the procurement of RSPO-certified palm oil, the Group aims to procure only palm oil that is assessed to be sustainable under the Group’s own assessment.

The Group aims to achieve overall water use of 12.3 m³ per million yen of sales (based on IFRS standards). In addition to reducing the amount of water required in the manufacturing processes of products, the Group will reuse water for operations such as cleaning equipment with water originally used for cooling.

Within Japan, the Group aims to achieve a waste recycling ratio of 99.5% in its manufacturing processes and a total waste reduction of 50% in its sales and distribution processes. By recycling waste generated during manufacturing, the Group’s current recycling ratio is 99.5%.

Containers for instant noodles often have oil residue after consumers finish eating, making them difficult to recycle. They are generally disposed of as burnable waste. To address this, the Company began using electricity generated by incinerating waste, allowing for resources to be used effectively. Since March 2020, 50% of the electricity used at the Tokyo Head Office of the Company comes from electricity generated by incinerating waste. In addition, the Group promotes energy-saving measures and the procurement of renewable energy generated from solar panels and other sources at its factories.

The Group promotes the use of plant-derived meat alternatives—such as its in-house developed Soy Meat products made primarily from soy protein—in place of ingredients originating from livestock, which have a high environmental impact. The Group continues its research on Cultured Meat that is derived from cells obtained through tissue cultivation rather than from the body of livestock.

The containers used by products under the CUP NOODLES brand are being replaced with Biomass ECO Cups. These are environmentally-friendly containers with a biomass content of at least 80%. Compared to the existing ECO Cups, the amount of petroleum-based plastic used per cup is reduced by approximately 50%, and the amount of CO₂ emitted throughout the entirety of the container’s life cycle has been reduced by 16%. The conversion began in December 2019, and is expected to be completed in fiscal 2022.

The Science Based Targets initiative was established in 2015 by the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), and the World Resources Institute (WRI). The initiative recommends companies to set science-based targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit the average rise in global temperatures to well-below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.