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Simultaneously Acquiring Two Different Environmental Labels Using a Building LCA That Includes Facilities and Operations for the First Time in Japan

－ HAZAMA ANDO Tohoku Branch Building Receives Carbon Footprint of Products and EcoLeaf Certification －

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Jun. 01, 2023

HAZAMA ANDO CORPORATION (“HAZAMA ANDO” or “the Company”) further expanded upon its previously established building Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method for the HAZAMA ANDO Tohoku Branch Building (provisional name), currently under construction in Aoba-ku, Sendai. By broadening the assessment scope, the Company simultaneously acquired the EcoLeaf environmental labe（Note1） and the Carbon Footprint for Products (CFP) environmental label（Note2）. In addition to the building itself, the Company applied LCA under official rules to the building’s facilities and operations, thereby enabling the acquisition of the EcoLeaf environmental label for a building for the first time in Japan.

Figure 1: Two Different Environmental Labels Simultaneously Acquired for the First Time in Japan

Figure 1: Two Different Environmental Labels Simultaneously Acquired for the First Time in Japan

The Company is committed to promoting initiatives intended to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in an effort to realize a carbon-free and recycling-oriented society. The results of this move, however, go beyond achieving carbon neutrality for the entire supply chain involved in buildings to enable various environmental impact assessments that consider environmental aspects besides GHGs.

1. HAZAMA ANDO’s Evolved LCA: Features and Application Method

HAZAMA ANDO broadened the assessment scope of its LCA to include every type of work on the building and the entire life cycle, including facility construction and operational stages, as something that had previously been considered difficult to achieve. In order to do so, the Company revised its Product Category Rule (PCR)（Note3） registered under the SuMPO Environmental Label Program.

As a result, the Company enabled an LCA based on official rules to be applied beyond embodied carbon（Note4） and to include the entire life cycle of the building.

Moreover, HAZAMA ANDO’s LCA complies with ISO, thereby enabling the provision of environmental information in accordance with the diverse range of goals held by all manner of stakeholders, as is demanded of companies listed on the Prime Market, in the form of evidence data for information disclosure under TCFD, CDP, SBT, and other schemes.

Figure 2: Expanded to Include the Evaluation of Material Accumulation Calculation for Facility Construction and Calculation during Operations

Figure 2: Expanded to Include the Evaluation of Material Accumulation Calculation
for Facility Construction and Calculation during Operations

2. Development History and Future Direction

In order to establish a fair, highly reliable assessment method using the Company’s existing LCA method, which combines a high level of expertise in compliance with ISO14040/14044, HAZAMA ANDO applied the IDEA（Note5） inventory database for LCA and the LCA Assessment Tool (for IDEA)（Note6） . This approach enabled the Company to establish a comprehensive environmental impact assessment scheme that combines a variety of environmentally hazardous substances in addition to carbon dioxide（Note7） .

Like CFP, EcoLeaf is an environmental label that examines and verifies third-party calculation results made in accordance with ISO, thereby guaranteeing the accuracy of the results.

In contrast to CFP, which only assesses climate change impact, however, EcoLeaf goes beyond climate change to assess and disclose information on ozone layer depletion, acidification, photochemical oxidants, and eutrophication using official indexes.

Figure 3: Various Environmental Impact Assessments Considering Multiple Environmental Aspects

Figure 3: Various Environmental Impact Assessments Considering Multiple Environmental Aspects

This building simultaneously received the Net-ZEB and ZEH-M Oriented certifications（Note8） .

HAZAMA ANDO included facility construction and outdoor structure construction within the calculation scope, and assessed the operational stage in terms of operational carbon（Note9） .

Facility construction applies the accumulation calculation method for facility materials, while the Company jointly established a high-precision LCA method based on the same official rules as those for buildings with KANDENKO CO., LTD. and TAISEI ONCHO CO., LTD.

Figure 4: Calculation Results for the Material Manufacturing Stage (Facility Construction) (Example)

Figure 4: Calculation Results for the Material Manufacturing Stage (Facility Construction) (Example)

Going forward, HAZAMA ANDO will promote integration with the LCA Support System（Note10） developed by the Company in an effort to realize significantly shorter LCA calculation times and lower costs. This move is intended to better support customer decarbonization and environmentally-friendly initiatives.

  1. EcoLeaf Environmental Label
    The EcoLeaf environmental label quantitatively discloses the environmental impact over the entire life cycle of the subject as part of the SuMPO Environmental Label Program administered and managed by the Sustainable Management Promotion Organization (SuMPO).

  2. Carbon Footprint of Products (CFP) Environmental Label
    Similar to the EcoLeaf environmental label, the CFP environmental label quantitatively discloses the impact on climate change over the entire life cycle of the subject as part of the SuMPO Environmental Label Program.

  3. Product Category Rule (PCR)
    PCR, or Product Category Rule, is the standard rule pertaining to the method for calculating and disclosing values for environmental impact for each product category. This applies to both EcoLeaf and Carbon Footprint of Products. See the following for the revised PCR in this case.
    Visit here.

  4. Embodied Carbon
    Embodied carbon is often used to refer to the amount of CO2 emitted over the entire life cycle of the building itself, and includes CO2 emitted during material manufacture, construction, repair, renovation, demolition, and disposal from among the processes throughout the life cycle of the building.

  5. IDEA
    A highly comprehensive inventory database for assessing environmental impact developed and managed by the Research Institute of Science for Safety and Sustainability at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

  6. LCA Assessment Tool
    A tool for assessing environmentally hazardous substances using IDEA and developed by the LCA Subcommittee under the Research Committee on Global Environment at the Architectural Institute of Japan.

  7. Comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment
    By comprehensively examining carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), sulfur oxide (SOx), and nitrogen oxide (NOx), among others, this approach enables various assessments targeting ozone layer depletion, acid rain, air pollution, and eutrophication, for example. Jointly researched with Associate Professor Kensuke Kobayashi of the Hiroshima Corporation for Higher Education, Prefectural University of Hiroshima.

    See theHAZAMA ANDO press release dated April 13, 2021. (Japanese Only)

  8. See theHAZAMA ANDO press release dated November 21, 2022. (Japanese Only)

  9. Operational Carbon
    Operational carbon is defined as the amount of CO2 emitted from energy use, etc., during building operations, and was included in the most recent assessment.

  10. See theHAZAMA ANDO press release dated March 16, 2023. (Japanese Only)