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Carbon neutrality (CN) means a state of net zero emissions of greenhouse gases, including CO?.
Getting from where we are now to a carbon neutral society is a shared global goal, and much expectation lies on the automobile industry, a leader in CO??emissions.
Aisin is accelerating its efforts to achieve carbon neutrality through initiatives in terms of both production and products in order to ensure a sustainable future for generations to come.

One such effort is the "CO?-free Products" Project, which aims to reduce CO? emissions during our production process. As the project’s first success, Aisin has achieved CO? free production of the eAxle electric drive unit that is adopted in the Toyota MIRAI and Lexus UX300e.

Electric drive unit “eAxle”—the heart of electric vehicles

What is CO?-free production?

To achieve carbon neutrality, it is important to reduce environmental burden of the entire process from procurement of raw materials for products and services to manufacturing, disposal, and recycling. CO?-free production is an effort to reduce to net zero greenhouse gases emitted during production within Aisin’s manufacturing plants. Aisin’s CO?-free production is not just limited to emissions from processing and assembly processes – it also includes company offices.

[Steps towards achieving CO?-free production]

1. Determine the carbon footprint, i.e. the amount of energy used in (CO? emissions) from the relevant processes/activities.

2. Reduce CO? emissions as much as possible by promoting energy-saving activities and introducing renewable energy including solar power.

3. Purchase carbon credits to offset remaining CO? emissions and achieve net-zero CO? emissions during production.

A carbon credit is a certificate of the amount of greenhouse gases reduced or absorbed through the introduction of renewable energy and energy-saving equipment, and/or forest conservation. It is possible to offset remaining CO? emissions by purchasing carbon credits.

When a company purchases carbon credits, the funds will be circulated, leading to the creation of more carbon credits. More specifically, the money paid by Aisin to purchase carbon credits will be used, for example, for appropriate forest management and the introduction of renewable energy/energy-saving equipment, leading to reduction of CO? emissions in society as a whole.

Aisin Group’s concerted efforts

CO?-free production of eAxle was achieved through a collaboration of eight production bases–Aisin’s six plants in Japan, and the plants of Aisin Takaoka and Aisin Keikinzoku, which are Aisin Group companies.

In the production line, compound robots have been introduced that are capable of handling three to five processes with one unit. This reduces the number of items of equipment, leading to a reduction of power consumption. Also, the floor area of the production line has been decreased to reduce the use of lighting and air conditioning. Proper equipment maintenance is carried out to reduce rework and defects caused by equipment failure, thereby reducing wasteful power consumption. In addition, solar power generated by solar panels installed at the production bases are being utilized.

Starting with this product, Aisin Corporation will further expand CO?-free products.
We will accelerate our efforts to achieve CO?-free production of electric drive units by 2025, all electrification products by 2030, and all products by 2050.