Environmental management system operations and audits
To promote activities for the continuous reduction of the environmental impact from all our activities, we are introducing environmental management system. Our major production sites overseas have acquired certification of ISO14001, a set of international standards for environmental management. In Japan we obtained integrated ISO14001 certification for our Global Headquarters and all of main facilities covering the areas of research and development, production, distribution. We are to extend environmental management systems with these same criteria to regions in which we are newly expanding. In addition, to check if our environmental management system are functioning properly and to confirm our various organizations are implementing measures on an ongoing basis in line with our policy, we are undergoing audits by third-party organizations, and Nissan own internal audits of environmental systems and performances.
For our Japanese dealerships, we have introduced the Nissan Green Shop certification system, an original Nissan approach to environmental management based on ISO14001 certification. This ongoing approach is maintained through internal audits conducted by the sales companies themselves every six months, in addition to regular annual reviews and certification renewal audits carried out every three years by Nissan headquarters.
Please see the following for more details on the environmental management at each of our plants and facilities.
Risk management
In addition to compliance with environmental laws and regulations in each of our workplaces, we have developed a system to manage compliance with local government ordinances, industry group standards, and voluntary controls. We also constantly monitor regulatory trends and the most recent information, and have systems in place so that we can respond rapidly to new developments in environmental laws and regulations.
Local communication
To help people in the communities where our factories and offices are located understand our corporate activities and risk management systems, we try to enhance communication through such efforts as setting up occasions where we can explain our environmental conservation activities.
Emergency response
We have a thorough system in place that will enable us to respond appropriately during environmental accidents or other emergencies. This includes development of strategies based on the source of the accident and manuals outlining measures to be taken in case of emergencies, and making sure employees know the process for reporting to relevant authorities after an accident has occurred.
Our headquarters conducts regular environmental performance audits of our factories and offices, as well as drills to carry out the procedures in these manuals based on the assumption that an accident actually occurred. We also conduct environmental accident response drills every year, based on hypothetical oil or chemical leakage accidents at a water treatment facility, or a spill at an oil depot.
Expansion of our environmental management system to our business partners
Reducing the environmental impact through our product supply chain or the life cycle of our products is an important aspect of our environmental management.
At Nissan, environment-impacting substances in products are managed globally with technical standards set by the company. We also share the Nissan environmental philosophy and environmental action plan with suppliers of vehicle parts and materials. Working together, we make environmental improvements throughout the entire supply chain and publicly disclose information on our activities.
We issued the Nissan Green Procurement Guidelines as a benchmark for the environmental efforts of our suppliers, and began expanding these operations globally in April 2008.
The Nissan Green Procurement Guidelines call for the following efforts and reports from suppliers:
Creation of an environmental management system
Suppliers report to Nissan on the environmental management systems they have created in accordance with ISO 14001 or equivalent standards, to ensure that they maintain their own environmental management systems.
Notifying Nissan of the person responsible for environmental efforts
Suppliers notify Nissan of the person within their company who is responsible for managing environment-impacting substances in the products and materials they supply to Nissan.
Environment-impacting substance data reports
Suppliers report to Nissan on their use of environment-impacting substances in the parts or materials they supply, so that compliance with Nissan technical standards can be confirmed. Nissan monitors the status and usage amounts of environment-impacting substances.
Reports of data for product life cycle evaluation
To quantitatively evaluate the environmental impact over the life cycle of a vehicle, suppliers report environmental data to Nissan, including CO2 emitted during manufacture of the parts or materials that they supply.
Adherence to Green Procurement Guidelines requested of Tier 2 and up-stream suppliers
To reduce environment-impacting substances in the supply chain overall, first-tier suppliers that deal directly with Nissan bear responsibility for managing second- and lower-tier suppliers, and for making sure that they adhere to Green Procurement Guidelines.
