KANEMATSU CORPORATION
Type of Business: Development, manufacturing, and sales of:Small precision motors, Automotive, appliance, commercial, and industrial motors, Machinery and equipment, Electronic and optical components and other related products
Address: Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture. JP Tower, 2-7-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Number of employees: 7,446 (as of March 31, 2022)
Founded in 1889, the company’s roots are in the import of wool from Australia, and it has expanded its business over time. Today, the company is a trading company with six sales divisions and 101 group companies. The pioneering spirit and ambition to contribute to the international community that was valued by the company’s founder has been passed down to the Kanematsu Group to this day. Under the materiality of “building a sustainable supply chain,” “working toward a decarbonized society,” and “coexistence with local communities,” the Kanematsu Group aims to be carbon neutral at Scope 1 and 2 by 2025, and carbon negative thereafter by increasing the amount of contribution to reduction.
- Challenge
- Lack of know-how in CO2 emissions visualisation
- Need to visualise emissions of more than 100 group companies and supply chain
- Hard to calculate Scope 3 on your own with tens of thousands of suppliers
- Solution
- Introducing CO2 Emissions Visualisation SaaS & SX Consultation
- Propose CO2 emission reduction
- Impact
- Reduction and optimization of data collection & input logic development and man-hours
- Speed to start Scope 3 calculations within 2 months of implementation
Business Strength Rooted in Low Environmental Impact
Kanematsu Corporation operates as a diversified trading and wholesaling company. With six distinct business divisions, the firm handles a wide variety of products and provides services across multiple sectors, including electronics and devices, food, livestock, foodstuffs, steel, materials and plants, and aerospace and vehicles. Historically, one of its core operational strengths has been a focus on business areas that naturally carry a lower environmental impact.
In recent years, rising environmental demands have heightened the importance of analyzing the risks and opportunities that climate change poses to business continuity. To sustain corporate activities over the long term, management recognized the necessity of evaluating the environmental footprint of all operations.
As a trading firm, the company builds extensive supply chains with numerous suppliers and business partners. If any link within these long supply chains carries a high environmental impact, it presents a critical long-term business risk. While the organization has a history of engaging in eco-friendly initiatives, such as sustainable coffee sourcing and forest conservation in Indonesia, these activities were decentralized. To unify and drive these efforts forward under a cohesive strategy, the firm established its Sustainability Promotion Office in April 2020.
With several operating companies engaged in sectors exposed to climate-related risks, the team initiated a comprehensive effort to visualize carbon emissions, aiming to accelerate the transition toward a decarbonized society.
The firm had already begun working on carbon-neutral initiatives. While calculating Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions was manageable via spreadsheet software, calculating Scope 3, particularly across the entire supply chain, proved highly complex. Recognizing the limitations of manual processes and anticipating the future integration of group companies, management decided to introduce a specialized CO2 visualization system at an early stage.
Achieving Scope 3 Calculation Within Two Months
The Sustainability Promotion Office discovered ASUENE at an industry exhibition. Compared to other solutions, the platform stood out for its highly refined interface and, crucially, the integration of both a visualization system and specialized consulting services.
With more than 100 consolidated subsidiaries and tens of thousands of suppliers, determining where to begin with Scope 3 emissions was a significant challenge. Among the 15 categories of Scope 3, some are relatively simple to address, while others require complex, long-term strategies. Lacking the internal know-how to navigate these complexities, the company sought an expert partner to provide the correct frameworks and calculation methodologies.
Partnering with external experts also builds internal credibility. Presenting the initiative as a collaborative effort with specialized consultants makes it much easier to promote and roll out across various group companies in the future.
Furthermore, the relationship with the support team was a critical selection factor. Decarbonization is a continuous, long-term endeavor. Therefore, selecting a partner requires alignment in direction, strong interpersonal chemistry, and an environment where concerns can be discussed openly.
In practice, regular meetings and immediate answers from ASUENE have proven highly beneficial. The expertise of the ASUENE consulting team (a certified CDP climate change consulting partner), combined with their attentive follow-up, was a primary reason for selection. Additionally, the system is highly intuitive, making it accessible even for personnel who are unfamiliar with decarbonization concepts or less experienced with digital tools.
Since many enterprises struggle to take the first step in emissions visualization, the simplicity of the ASUENE platform serves as an excellent selling point when expanding the system to group companies and suppliers.
Achieving Scope 3 Calculation Within Two Months
The onboarding process provided the sustainability team with thorough, foundational training. Although team members had studied carbon emissions beforehand, the comprehensive guidance from ASUENE filled crucial knowledge gaps.
At the headquarters, emissions from electricity and gas (Scope 1 and 2) are now visualized with minimal effort. As the organization advances into complex Scope 3 calculations, the platform’s automation minimizes data entry errors, making the reduction in administrative hours increasingly apparent. High data accuracy, reliable consulting, and rapid visualization are expected to become even more vital moving forward.
Currently, the primary administrator spends about an hour a day on the platform, using it as both an operational tool and a learning resource. Because the system automates the underlying calculation logic, the administrator can operate almost single-handedly, focusing entirely on optimizing the data collection flow and inputting information.
This streamlined workflow enabled the company to calculate four Scope 3 categories within just two months of implementation: a milestone that would have been virtually impossible to achieve independently.
Since group companies often operate with limited personnel, having an efficient system that minimizes workloads is essential. Management considers ASUENE to be the premier solution capable of meeting these stringent requirements.
Decarbonizing Corporate Management to Protect the Future of Commerce
A significant portion of the business portfolio is already sustainable and low-impact. Management believes it has a responsibility to protect the integrity of the supply chain by continuing to operate in an eco-friendly manner. The goal is to build long-term, sustainable relationships with customers while actively preserving the environment.
For a trading company, leaving a sustainable commercial legacy for the next generation is a core organizational theme. While the firm has a long history of social contributions and donations, management recognizes that solving environmental issues is indispensable to securing sustainable commerce. By taking the lead among trading firms, Kanematsu is committed to making every effort to realize a decarbonized society.
