• *ENEOS and its Group companies

For information on our structure, see Environmental Management.

The Group has identified biodiversity risks as a material ESG issue and worked toward the target “understanding risks at manufacturing sites” in fiscal 2022. We utilize the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT), available to the general public, to understand risks at our manufacturing sites. Thus far, we have investigated the risks at a total of 27 sites¹, including overseas sites. As a result, we have verified that there are no protected areas within a five-kilometer radius of our manufacturing sites that fall under the categories of strict nature reserve, wilderness area, national park, or natural monument or feature (see table below for categories Ⅰa, Ⅰb, Ⅱ, and Ⅲ).
We will review the results of risk assessments every three years. In addition, in the event that new protected or conservation areas are identified due to the expansion of a site or other factors, we will obtain detailed information from external organizations and assess the impacts on our operations.
The results of these efforts are reported to the Executive Council and the Board of Directors at least once a year.
In fiscal 2023, we explored further identifying risks at our manufacturing sites and decided to work on “understand the degree of dependence and impact on natural capital.” To this end, in fiscal 2024, we plan to conduct a survey of our main business sectors using ENCORE², an online tool available to the general public.

1. 1ENEOS: 17 (11 in Japan, 6 overseas), ENEOS Xplora: 3 (1 in Japan, 2 overseas), and JX Advanced Metals: 7 (6 in Japan, 1 overseas).
2. 2Exploring Natural Capital Opportunities, Risks and Exposure: A tool to help organizations investigate their exposure to nature-related risks and understand their dependencies and impacts on nature.

The ENEOS Negishi Refinery is one of Japan’s largest oil refineries, with an area of 2.2 million square meters and a circumference of around 12 kilometers. The area in which it is located has a network of ecosystems with a diverse array of organisms inhabiting an expansive greenbelt that includes Sankei-en and Negishi Forest Park. The Negishi Refinery carries out activities for the conservation of biodiversity utilizing the greenbelt (approximately 60,000 square meters), a hub for the area’s ecosystem network, at the center of the premises.
Ecosystem surveys were begun in fiscal 2013, and in surveys to date, the presence of over 150 types of living organisms has been confirmed.
In fiscal 2018, we began holding interactive events and using goat grazing to weed the greenbelt areas, further enhancing these areas with the expansion of these efforts. Since fiscal 2019, we have been stepping up maintenance and management of the green areas.
The Negishi Refinery was granted certification by ABINC¹ in February 2020. The refinery was certified as a Nationally Certified Sustainably Managed Natural Site in October 2023 and registered as an Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECM²) site in August 2024.

The ENEOS Sakai Refinery is located in the Sakai-Semboku Coastal Industrial Zone in the inner part of Osaka Bay. Osaka Bay is an enclosed sea area, and the inner part of the bay has a water quality that makes it difficult for living things to thrive, as nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus flowing in from the land tend to stagnate, resulting in red tides.
In fiscal 2022, the refinery began working to create seaweed beds along its coastal area so that a variety of creatures can live in the waters. By creating seaweed beds, we can expect multi-dimensional effects such as improving water quality through the absorption of nutrients and the supply of oxygen, increasing places for the spawning and growth of marine life, and accumulating blue carbon through the photosynthesis of algae.
In 2024, the refinery joined the Members of the Osaka bay Blue carbon ecosystem Alliance (MOBA) (established by Osaka and Hyogo prefectures) and will continue working with neighboring organizations to advance this activity.

Group companies are involved in forest stewardship activities that contribute to the preservation of biodiversity.
ENEOS implements forest stewardship activities called ENEOS-no-Mori at six locations across Japan in partnership with local governments and the National Land Afforestation Promotion Organization (NALAPO).
Since 1998, ENEOS Xplora has implemented a forest stewardship project called ENEOS Xplora Nakajo Forest on and around the site of its Nakajo Field Office in Niigata Prefecture.
JX Advanced Metals is working to maintain and improve the natural environment by continually engaging in afforestation activities such as tree planting and thinning, mainly at the sites of its closed mines.

The JX Advanced Metals Group believes that there is great potential to contribute to the conservation and restoration of biodiversity through the appropriate management of its closed mines as ecosystems. Most of the closed mines are forested areas, which play a part in the function of local ecosystems as water source cultivation and habitats for flora and fauna.
The group has therefore begun to assess the ecosystems of the watersheds where its closed mines are located. Going forward, after formulating an ecosystem management plan that systematically outlines the ecosystems to be achieved at its closed mines and the efforts to be made toward that end, it will begin full-scale management of the ecosystems at these closed mines.
In fiscal 2023, the JX Advanced Metals Group assessed its closed mines in terms of biodiversity and selected the Hitachi Mine and Yoshino Mine as model sites based on assessment results and other factors. At both mines, it conducted environmental DNA surveys* to understand the fish fauna in the watersheds in which the mines are located.

• *Environmental DNA: A designation for in vitro DNA released from fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals.
  Environmental DNA survey method: Extraction and detection of environmental DNA from water collected at the applicable sites. Detection methods can be broadly classified into those that target only a single species and those that detect specific taxonomic groups (e.g., fish) collectively.

Oil tankers from Japan bound for oil-producing countries carry ballast water (seawater) as weight to maintain stability for unloaded voyages. However, this ballast water contains microorganisms and plankton from Japanese waters that are carried to the waters of oil-producing countries, where, if released, they can disturb the balance of local ecosystems.
Since 2004, the Group has replaced this ballast water while still at sea, and installed water treatment systems^* for ballast water on its new vessels in an effort to avoid disturbing the ecosystems of the coastal waters of oil-producing countries. In fiscal 2022, we completed installation of ballast water treatment systems on all of the Group’s 15 tankers.
Furthermore, we release ballast water from ships using methods compliant with international treaties.

• *Systems that keep the level of aquatic organisms in ballast water within certain standards prior to release.