Business case

Providing electricity and gas services, including traditional and renewable energy generation, natural and manufactured gas and operating gas networks

Energy Utilities and Independent Power Producers

Utilise waste streams as a source of secondary resources and recover waste for reuse and recycling

Use waste as a resource

**Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all**

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Access to electricity and clean cooking fuels has improved in many parts of the world, but 675 million people are yet to be connected to the grids and 2.3 billion are still cooking with unsafe and polluting fuels. 
The war in Ukraine and global economic uncertainty continue to cause significant volatility in energy prices, leading some countries to raise investments in renewables and others to increase reliance on coal, putting the green transition at risk. If the current pace continues, about 660 million people will still lack access to electricity and close to 2 billion people will continue to rely on polluting fuels and technologies for cooking by 2030. 

To ensure access to energy for all by 2030, we must accelerate electrification, increase investments in renewable energy sources, and invest in improving electricity grids.

This goal's targets include: 
- ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services;
- increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix;
- double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency;
- enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology
- enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology.

Source : [https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal7](https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal7)

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7. Affordable and clean energy

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

**Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns**

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The world is seriously off track in its effort to halve per-capita food waste and losses by 2030.The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on consumption and production patterns, with disruptions to global supply chains and changes in consumer behaviour. 

Responsible consumption and production must be an integral part of the recovery from the pandemic. 
But the global economy also needs to speed up the decoupling of economic growth from resource use by maximizing the socio-economic benefits of resources while minimizing their negative impacts. 

Reporting on corporate sustainability has tripled since the beginning of the SDG period, but the private sector will need to significantly improve reporting on activities that contribute to the SDGs. 

This primarily entails environmentally sound management of "toxic chemicals" A substantial use of chemicals is essential to meet the social and economic goals of the world community, and these can be used with a high degree of safety when best practices are followed.  Gross chemical contamination, with grave damage to human health, genetic structures reproductive outcomes, and the environment, has been continuing within some of the world's most important industrial areas, and restoration will require major investment as well as the development of new techniques.
Effective control of the generation, storage, treatment, recycling and reuse, transport, recovery and disposal of hazardous wastes is another similar challenge. 
In addition,  solid wastes include all domestic refuse and non-hazardous wastes such as commercial and institutional wastes, street sweepings construction debris, and, in some countries, human wastes. As hazardous waste is frequently intermixed with other waste, this poses particular management challenges.
Finally, this target ensures that radioactive waste is safely managed, transported, stored and disposed of, with a view to protecting human health and the environment. 

To deliver SDG12, it is crucial to implement policies that support the shift to sustainable practices and decouple economic growth from resource use.

Sources: [https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal12](https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal12)
[https://sdgs.un.org/topics/chemicals-and-waste](https://sdgs.un.org/topics/chemicals-and-waste)

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12. Responsible consumption and production

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

**Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts**

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The science is clear: our climate is heating rapidly. The average global temperatures have increased by 1.2 degrees Celsius since 1880, particularly in the late 20th century. The concentration of atmospheric CO2, the GHG that contributes more than 2/3 to global warming, is at its highest level ever. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) steadily points out that human activities have warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land, producing widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere. 

Without transformative action starting now and within this decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions deeply and rapidly in all sectors, the 1.5°C target will be at risk and with it the lives of more than 3 billion people. 
According to IPCC, warming beyond 1.5 degrees could have irreversible and irreparable consequences. However, effective and equitable adaptation and mitigation actions can significantly reduce vulnerability and contribute to climate resilience. To limit global warming to well below 2, preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels, countries came together to hold themselves accountable under the Paris Agreement. 

Failure to act leads to intensifying heat waves, droughts, flooding, wildfires, sea-level rise, and famines. Emissions should already be decreasing now and will need to be cut almost by half by 2030 - a mere seven years from now. 


To combat climate change and its impacts by 2030, urgent and transformative action is needed to meet the commitments under the Paris Agreement across mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Sources: [https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13](https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13)
[https://sdgs.un.org/topics/climate-action-synergies](https://sdgs.un.org/topics/climate-action-synergies)

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13. Climate action

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Cycle strategies aim to cycle and reuse materials at their highest value: they maximise the volume of secondary materials re-entering the economy, ultimately minimising the need for virgin material inputs and therefore also narrowing flows. Of course, virgin materials will always be needed to a degree: all materials degrade and can’t be cycled infinitely, use energy, and require blending with virgin materials to maintain strength and functionality.

Cycle

Industries

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The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

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**These 17 Goals recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.**

The SDGs build on decades of work by countries and the UN, and especially on the Millennium Declaration adopted in September 2000 at UN Headquarters in New York which let to the elaboration of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce extreme poverty by 2015.

In 2015, the Paris Agreement was signed. A major blueprint came out of this: The Sustainable Development Goals: 17 overarching goals—and 169 targets—that governments are aiming to meet by 2030. Significant progress has been made in terms of poverty, health and inequality, but there's still a way to go. This is where the circular economy comes in: by circulating resources multiple times, the circular economy tackles issues of scarcity and allows all to access what they need—without overburdening the earth. If it's implemented in a holistic way—affording attention to social considerations and the fair distribution of resources— it also offers a pathway for achieving the SDGs; and the link between the two is ever-growing. To read more about the link between the SDGs and the circular economy, click [here](https://www.circle-economy.com/blogs/how-the-circular-economy-can-help-us-reach-the-sustainable-development-goals).

It is the Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) which provides substantive support and capacity-building for the SDGs and their related thematic issues. TheDSDG plays a key role in the evaluation of UN systemwide implementation of the 2030 Agenda and in advocacy and outreach activities relating to the SDGs. In order to make the 2030 Agenda a reality, broad ownership of the SDGs must translate into a strong commitment by all stakeholders to implement the global goals. DSDG aims to help facilitate this engagement.
Alongside this, the annual High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development serves as the central UN platform for the follow-up and review of the SDGs.
In addition, the UN Secretary-General presents an annual SDG Progress report, which is developed in cooperation with the UN System, and based on the global indicator framework and data produced by national statistical systems and information collected at the regional level.

To read more information: [https://sdgs.un.org/goals](https://sdgs.un.org/goals)

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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NGK INSULATORS, LTD. (hereinafter “NGK”) announces that it has started a carbon dioxide (CO2) capture demonstration at its headquarters area to achieve carbon neutrality through the NGK Group’s business activities. In the next fiscal year, NGK will also install a methanation system to engage in Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU). 
NGK has installed a CO2 capture system next to its ceramic products plant in the headquarters area, and from September, has begun a demonstration to capture CO2 from a portion of the exhaust gas from the firing kiln. The system was made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and captures about 0.1 tons of CO2 per day. In December 2024, NGK plans to install system made by IHI Corporation to realize “methanation,” a process that reacts captured CO2 and hydrogen to produce methane, the main component of city gas, and to demonstrate CO2 recycling by capturing and reusing CO2 emitted in the firing process.

One approach to achieve carbon neutrality is CCUS, or the capture, utilization, and storage of emitted CO2, but the high cost makes it a challenge to implement. In addition, the exhaust gas from ceramics firing kilns tends to be more expensive than that from thermal power stations, where many CO2 capture demonstrations have been conducted, as the CO2 concentration is lower, and capture is less efficient. By starting CCU demonstrations as early as possible using technologies that are already in practical use, NGK aims to establish system specifications and operating conditions suitable for its firing kilns and implement energy management, such as utilizing unused low-temperature waste heat, to apply efficient CCUS at a reasonable cost.

In the NGK Group Environmental Vision, formulated in April 2021, the NGK Group has set the target of achieving net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. The Group has developed its Carbon Neutrality Strategic Roadmap to realize this target, and is promoting technological innovations such as CCUS to accelerate the achievement of net zero. In addition to this demonstration, it has begun the development of CCUS-related products such as monolithic reactors for synfuel. To achieve net zero CO2 emissions, NGK will continue to promote the development of technologies that utilize clean energy in the production of ceramics and will contribute to the realization of a carbon-neutral society.


Nagoya

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NGK INSULATORS, LTD. is a leading manufacturer specializing in ceramic products and advanced technologies that support sustainable living. The company focuses on creating solutions for energy, environment, and communication sectors. NGK is particularly known for its innovations in lithium-ion batteries, sodium-sulfur batteries, and ceramic substrates, which are essential for various applications, including renewable energy storage and semiconductor manufacturing.
The organization emphasizes sustainability and aims to harmonize its business activities with environmental preservation. NGK is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and actively engages in initiatives that contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Their dedication to technological advancement and environmental responsibility positions them as a key player in promoting a sustainable future.

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NGK INSULATORS, LTD.

<p>NGK INSULATORS, LTD. has initiated a carbon dioxide (CO2) capture demonstration project at its headquarters, aiming to achieve carbon neutrality through its business activities.&nbsp;The company has installed a CO2 capture system near its ceramic products plant to capture emissions from the firing kiln. Additionally, NGK plans to implement a methanation system in the next fiscal year to further engage in Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU).</p>