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Blue Value™ / Rose Value™

Blue Value™ — Environmental Contributions

Earth blue

Instead of green, which is associated with nature and ecology, blue represents something much bigger—the earth.
It is also our corporate color and signifies harmony with the global environment and our contributions to society.

The Goal of Blue Value™

The Mitsui Chemicals Group, whose Corporate Mission is “harmony with the global environment,” lists “a circular society in harmony with the environment” as one of its ideal future society and aims to realize this through its business activities. In our VISION 2030, we have established a basic strategy to bolster circular economy initiatives to transform our business structure through efforts such as building circular economy-based business models and rolling out circular economy-compatible products by transitioning to alternative raw materials and fuels. We seek to contribute to the realization of a low-carbon, circular society that coexists with nature by addressing challenges like climate change and the circular economy, alongside business growth.

As a tool to track progress, we have defined the environmental contributions of our products and services as Blue Value™, certifying those that meet our defined criteria through our assessment and review processes. By maximizing our contributions throughout the entire product life cycle through expanding and providing Blue Value™ products and services, we hope to achieve corporate growth for the Group and realize our ideal future society.

How We Assess Blue Value™

For impact assessment, we use a proprietary method based on LIME2^*2, one of the environmental impact assessment methods based on life cycle assessment^*1.

When certifying Blue Value™ products and services, we assess their environmental contributions from three perspectives: “Reducing CO₂,” “conserving resources” and “coexisting with nature.” These contributions are assessed as objectively as possible from two aspects: “Approach to social challenges” and “our reasonable involvement.”

*1 Life cycle assessment (LCA):

A technique to quantitatively assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product’s life, from raw materials, to manufacturing, processing, use, and disposal.

*2 LIME2 (Life-cycle Impact assessment Method based on Endpoint modeling):

Damage assessment-type life cycle environmental impact assessment method based on environmental conditions in Japan.

Approach to Social Challenges

(1) Scope of Evaluation

In the Blue Value™ initiative, we have established three contribution categories (certification item)—“Reducing CO₂,” “conserving resources,” and “coexisting with nature”—based on the Group’s material topics, such as “product design based on full life-cycle considerations,” “climate change,” and the “circular economy.” These categories are derived from the impact areas of LIME2, a life cycle impact assessment method.

(2) Scenarios

When applying for certification, a scenario is created to determine how comparative assessments will be conducted within the specific supply chain relevant to the product or service. The review board confirms the appropriateness of the selected comparison targets by considering factors such as current technology and market conditions, including general products on the market, our own existing products, and approaches when there are no suitable comparison products.

(3) Evaluation Criteria

For the three contribution categories, we have established actions aimed at helping solve social challenges (decision item) from the perspectives of material use, energy consumption, waste emissions and other factors. These criteria define the types of data required to demonstrate environmental contributions and the information necessary to verify trade-offs. Based on this, the review board assesses whether the Group’s products and services sufficiently contribute to solving social challenges for the targeted contribution categories for certification. They also assess whether the actions taken result in any negative impacts in other areas, while considering the environmental impact across the entire life cycle of the products and services.

Additionally, if a product or service is deemed likely to be used to promote any socially harmful impacts, it is considered inappropriate for certification as a Blue Value™ product or service. In such cases, regardless of the individual contribution content, certification is avoided.

Examples of uses where certification is avoided

Tobacco (due to health concerns)
Fertilizer coatings (identified as a source of microplastics, which negatively impact the environment), etc.

(4) Simplifying the Assessments

In some cases, it can be challenging to gather all the necessary information to assess the environmental impact of downstream industries that use our products and services. In the Blue Value™ assessment process, we allow for the assessment based on certain approximations and assumptions to simplify calculations. The review board ensures that these approximations and assumptions are applied appropriately.

Blue Value™ Contribution Categories and Actions Aimed at Helping Solve Social Challenges

Contribution categories (certification item)	Impact areas (LIME2)	Actions aimed at helping solve social challenges (decision item)
Contribution categories (certification item)	Reducing CO₂	Global warming Ozone layer depletion	Change to materials with lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity Reduce use of raw materials Change to renewable raw materials Improve energy efficiency of equipment and machinery Change to energy sources with lower GHG emissions among other actions
Conserving resources	Resource consumption Land use Waste	Reduce use of chemical raw materials (fossil resources), mineral resources, etc. Change to chemicals derived from renewable resources among other actions
Coexisting with nature	Acidification Urban air pollution / indoor air pollution Photochemical oxidants Toxic chemical substances Ecotoxicity Eutrophication	Avoid use of toxic materials Reduce emissions of hazardous waste among other actions

Contribution categories (certification item)）		Actions aimed at helping solve social challenges (decision item)
	Impact areas (LIME2)
Reducing CO₂		Change to materials with lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity Reduce use of raw materials Change to renewable raw materials Improve energy efficiency of equipment and machinery Change to energy sources with lower GHG emissions among other actions
	Global warming Ozone layer depletion
Conserving resources		Reduce use of chemical raw materials (fossil resources), mineral resources, etc. Change to chemicals derived from renewable resources among other actions
	Resource consumption Land use Waste
Coexisting with nature		Avoid use of toxic materials Reduce emissions of hazardous waste among other actions
	Acidification Urban air pollution / indoor air pollution Photochemical oxidants Toxic chemical substances Ecotoxicity Eutrophication

Our reasonable involvement

We evaluate the extent to which the Group’s products and services contribute to our approach to social challenges identified in the first stage of assessment. This evaluation considers not only the Company’s direct contributions, but also aims to visualize the broader impact across the supply chain, including processing by customers and the use of the final products.

Overview of Recent Review Results

In FY2023, 17 products and services received Blue Value™ certification. New certifications included chemicals derived from bio-based hydrocarbons, which obtained ISCC certification, and resin materials made from recycled raw materials. Additionally, certain products that reached the review period for certification renewal, such as lightweight and strong automotive materials that help to improve fuel efficiency, were re-certified.

On the other hand, 10 products and services were not certified. For example, products claiming to conserve resources through the manufacturing of chemicals using plant-derived bio-based raw materials were deemed inappropriate for certification due to a lack of information on the impact of land use associated with bio-based raw materials. Similarly, products for which there were claims of improving vehicle fuel efficiency through weight reduction by using composite materials were not certified due to the absence of data on the changes in environmental impact at the disposal stage. In both cases, the inability to confirm the overall performance across the entire supply chain led to the judgment that these products were not suitable for certification. There were also cases where the products were judged inappropriate because the assessment scenario set unfair comparison targets relative to the current market and technological conditions.

By applying this two-step assessment—considering both the approach to social challenges and our reasonable involvement, while also taking into account prerequisites and trade-offs—we strive to evaluate as objectively as possible whether a product or service truly contributes to solving social challenges. Additionally, we base our reviews on the advice and views from external experts regarding the validity of certification in terms of the impact of social contribution throughout the entire supply chain.

External Expert (Blue Value™ Advisor)

In the Blue Value™ products certification process, we design assessment methods and criteria for review based on advice from Professor Norihiro Itsubo of the School of Creative Science and Engineering at Waseda University. We also ask him to present his opinion on the levels of contribution made by the products in question prior to the review board’s examination.

Decarbonization and a circular economy are central to solving the world's problems, as well as to corporate growth strategies, and businesses need to promote cross-industry eco-innovation. Blue Value™ helps visualize the reduction in environmental impact of products from a product life cycle perspective. This is extremely important information for quickly achieving a carbon neutral and recycling-oriented society. Mitsui Chemicals has adopted the sales revenue ratio of Blue Value™ products as a key performance indicator for its long-term business plan targets, which contributes to the rapid spread of eco-products. So, I strongly support its activities.

Professor,
School of Creative Science and Engineering,
Waseda University

Dr. ITSUBO Norihiro

*Each affiliation is from the time when the article was created.