Conserving Biodiversity

Recognizing the essential nature of the many blessings of biodiversity, the Daigas Group in April 2010 established the “Daigas Group Biodiversity Promotion Policy,” revised from the Osaka Group Biodiversity Promotion Policy in March 2018, to serve as a guideline for addressing biodiversity issues both inside and outside Japan through its business activities. The Group is committed to helping build a society harmonious with nature that can conserve biodiversity and enjoy the bounties of nature into the future, and will undertake efforts that promote the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use.

The Daigas Group has long been striving to conserve biodiversity through various measures, including protecting rare native plants growing on the LNG terminal sites, reusing soil excavated during gas piping works, building multi-level gardens at the experimental residential complex NEXT 21,* and planting trees in Japan. Since we formulated the Daigas Group Biodiversity Promotion Policy in April 2010, we have made positive efforts in line with this policy and actively provided information thereon. Our efforts to conserve biodiversity, shown in the figure below, have been made under the guidance of the Hyogo prefectural government and other government bodies, research institutes, outside experts, and external consultants. We also exchange information with various research groups, including the Japan Business Initiative for Biodiversity (JBIB) to make progress in our efforts.

Based on its Green Purchasing Guidelines (formulated in 2000, revised in 2022), Osaka Gas works with business partners to promote green purchasing: prioritized procurement of biodiversity-friendly goods and construction works that have less impact on the environment.

In the Daigas Group, every new investment and development project, whether in Japan or abroad, follows an environmental impact assessment at the planning stage when required by law. We survey the water environment, flora and fauna on land, and ecosystems to assess environmental impacts and take necessary measures to achieve a sustainable society.

We have set environmental targets in line with our environmental management system (EMS) and the Group Medium-Term Management Plan 2023, both of which are aimed at the complete implementation of the Daigas Group Environmental Policy, a pledge by the Executive in Charge of ESG Promotion. These environmental targets also include paying due consideration to biodiversity in business activities.

Biodiversity initiatives at major manufacturing and business sites are as follows.

To remain stable during an ocean voyage while not loaded, LNG tankers hold water in their ballast tanks. Seawater drawn at their ports of departure is often used as ballast water and discharged in exchange for load at their ports of arrival. This has aroused growing concern that marine life in ballast water may have adverse impacts as alien species on the local ecosystems at those ports of arrival.

At present, Osaka Gas operates eight LNG tankers for LNG transportation. Osaka Gas manages ballast of LNG tankers it uses in accordance with regulations of the country where the port of call is located. In addition, the eight tankers are equipped with water-processing facilities that meet the conditions set under the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments stipulated by the International Maritime Organization (enacted in September 2017). We aim to limit the impact of ballast on ecosystems by, for example, replacing ballast taken on at a Japanese port with water from the open ocean before releasing the ballast in a foreign port.

The Daigas Group works to reduce the amount of excavated soil and waste asphalt generated as a result of gas pipe installation, which contributes to reduce impact on the ecosystem. Ways to achieve this include the Vermeer method, which requires soil excavation of only two points, and the shallow pipe installation method.

Osaka Gas Urban Development Co., Ltd. is a real estate company and is engaged in the development and management of office buildings and condominiums / rented apartments. In addressing “co-existence with the environment,” one of its “five focuses” for urban and property development, Osaka Gas Urban Development Co., Ltd., is pursuing a planting plan that takes biodiversity into consideration.

The planting of native seedlings of “Chimakizasa,” a species of bamboo grass called Sasa, were introduced to the garden of The Urbanex Kyoto Matsugasaki, which was completed in March 2014. Chimakizasa has been recognized as an endangered plant in Kyoto City as a result of excessive eating by wild deer, whose population in the city has been increasing in recent years. All of the 10 bamboo grass plants that were planted in the garden of the “Urbanex Kyoto Matsugasaki” were donated by the Chimakizasa revival committee, a local team formed to increase numbers of the plant, with members being mainly residents of Sakyo Ward, Kyoto City and researchers from Kyoto University.

At the “Urbanex Kobe Okurayama”, completed in February 2016, Osaka Gas Urban Development has planted Japanese blue oaks, gooseneck loosestrife and other local seeds / seedlings with a support from the Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo. Signs describing plants names and their characteristics have also been put up so that local residents, too, can learn the importance of biodiversity. These combined efforts, including the active use of native seedlings, earned the 2016 Good Design Award.

Since FY2019, Osaka Gas Urban Development Co., Ltd. has transplanted native seeds and seedlings from green spaces at Osaka Gas facilities to the planting areas of condominiums it has developed. Examples of these properties completed in FY2021 are Scenes Osaka Honmachi and Scenes Otemachi. In this way, we share our in-house know-how in conserving biodiversity across the Daigas Group. Osaka Gas Urban Development will continue to standardize biodiversity-friendly planting plans as specifications and work on such plans at the condominiums it develops.

In February 2021, Scenes Tsukaguchi, a condominium in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture, developed by Osaka Gas Urban Development Co., Ltd., acquired the 10th Ikimono Kyosei Business Establishment ^*2 certification organized by the Association for Business Innovation in harmony with Nature and Community (ABINC)^*1.
The ABINC certification aims to foster harmony between nature and human beings in business activities. ABINC conducts a third-party assessment of biodiversity-conscious initiatives to create, manage and use green spaces, and it certifies eligible business sites as “Business Sites in Harmony with Nature.” Osaka Gas Urban Development constructed Scenes Tsukaguchi while implementing biodiversity-conscious initiatives in cooperation with experts, including those from the Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo. On the condominium site, native plant species, such as the bamboo-leaf oak and the sawtooth oak, were planted to create green spaces in consideration of local vegetation. These green spaces were designed to create a network with other small green spaces dotted nearby and help birds and butterflies find places to inhabit. In addition, seedlings thinned in the planting management process on land owned by the Daigas Group were transplanted to the condominium site to help preserve the genes of plant species native to the Rokko mountains.

Scenes Tsukaguchi also won Good Design Award 2020 organized by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion. Following Good Design Award 2016, this was the second time that Osaka Gas Urban Development had won the same award. The 2020 award came to the company in recognition of its success in facilitating interactions between the condominium and the neighborhood and creating a linkage between residents and the local community by designing the condominium to be open under the concept of “Re:CONNECT,” and in fostering communication between people from different areas or age groups in the living environment abundant with rich natural features by building three gardens with different themes on the condominium site.

(1) Creation of an ecosystem network
Located next to Kamisakabe West Park with an area of about 27,000 m² (6.7 acres), Scenes Tsukaguchi is in a downtown neighborhood with relatively thick forest. The condominium site with many flowering or food plants grown is playing a role in providing a network of habitats for birds and butterflies with other small green spaces dotted within a radius of a few kilometers.

(2) A high percentage of native plant species grown
On the condominium site, native tree species, such as the bamboo-leaf oak and the sawtooth oak, are planted in accordance with the Daigas Group Biodiversity Reference and studies on local vegetation. While green spaces with 50% or higher of native species would achieve the maximum score according to the biodiversity standard, native species account for 83% of medium-size and tall trees and for 63% of herbs grown on the Scenes Tsukaguchi site.

(3) Consideration for water circulation
It is said that a heavy, intensive downpour beyond the capacity of drainpipes, which has recently become more frequent than before, will deteriorate water quality. Scenes Tsukaguchi is equipped with catch basins that enable water to penetrate into soil and with passages paved with permeable concrete in order to reduce the impact of rainwater on drainpipes in due consideration of water circulation.

(4) Cooperation with experts
The green space plan and the management policy for Scenes Tsukaguchi were formulated in consideration of biodiversity in cooperation with experts, including those from the Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo, and BO-GA K.K. Even after the completion of the condominium, a relationship of cooperation still remains so that the condominium management company can seek advice from experts through Osaka Gas Urban Development.

(5) Consideration for the conservation of genetic diversity
Seedling thinned in the planting management process on Daigas Group-owned land in the Rokko mountains were utilized for the green spaces on the condominium site. After being raised at the Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo, over about one and a half years, the seedlings were transplanted to the green spaces on the condominium site with the aim of helping preserve the genes of plant species native to the area.

The Kyoto Research Park (KRP) is a large-scale business hub consisting of 18 buildings. As a place for attempts at innovation, including new business and R&D, it currently has 500 tenant companies and organizations.

Kyoto Research Park Corp., which runs the KRP, strives to offer an “arena for attractive interaction.” From a tangible perspective, it has established offices, laboratories, conference rooms, and data centers. From an intangible perspective, it plans various events, exchange meetings, and workshops. In the KRP No. 9 complex of the Kyoto Municipal Institute of Industrial Technology and Culture, which opened in October 2010, tree-planting is being carried out that considers biodiversity and that adheres to the history of the land.

In the district where KRP is located, remains have been discovered of the homes of aristocrats of Japan's Heian Period (794 to 1185). To respect its link with history, the KRP has established a classical garden. Plants mentioned in the famous novel “Tale of Genji” have been used to create a garden fashioned after the house where Genji, a character in the novel, lived. Plants representing the four seasons include double-flowered cherry trees, Japanese Judas trees, maple trees, and a plum tree as the main symbol tree.

Among the trees native to the region are mulberry trees, which are intricately tied to Kyoto's traditional industries.

In October 2016, Wing 9 of Kyoto Research Park received a Green Building certificate from the Development Bank of Japan for its friendly design to the environment and society.

In February 2021, KRP Building No. 10 was completed. Comprising office spaces on the first to seventh floors, a restaurant area on the first floor, and a basement parking area, Building No. 10 is a complex featuring a Kyoto-style design. Miyako Somagi,* lumber produced in Kyoto City, was used in some common areas to promote the local consumption of local specialties, reduces the environmental impact of the building, and contributes to preserving forests in a sound manner. In the green spaces on the building site, designed to be friendly to biodiversity, plants mentioned in The Tale of Genji, such as the Japanese kerria (yamabuki), balloon flower (kikyo), and yellow patrinia (ominaeshi), add beautiful seasonal colors to the site. Along the passage between Wing (Building) No. 9 and Building No. 10 are many planting areas combined with benches and counters, providing people with places to enjoy greenery. Moreover, endangered plant species, including the fragrant eupatorium (fujibakama), which is one of the “seven fall herbs” long loved in Japan, are also raised on the building site to help conserve those species.