Preserving biodiversity

We revised our environmental policy in 2017, adding items for biodiversity and establishing our "Biodiversity Action Guidelines." We will be mindfully avoiding or minimizing our impact on biodiversity within all of our business activities, and aim to maintain the ecosystem and achieve the sustainable use of natural resources in areas along our railway lines.

To support biodiversity in areas along our rail lines, since 2008 we have been actively contributing to the creation of a society that fosters biodiversity by making donations to the Osaka Biodiversity Conservation Fund.
In 2023, we also endorsed the "Osaka Declaration of Support for Biodiversity" and the "Keidanren Declaration on Biodiversity."

When purchasing products for our business activities, we prioritize those with as little environmental stress as possible. Since FY2009, we have been setting targets every year for products purchased online (such as office supplies purchased via the Internet from the PC, etc.) and offline (office supplies ordered by the person in charge of materials in the Accounting & Finance Department) as our green purchase.
In FY2020, we conducted a questionnaire with 100 out of our approximately 300 business partners to monitor the state of their environmental initiatives and for continuous communication. Approximately 25% of our business partners did not have an environmental policy nor a responsible or managing division, so we have requested for their cooperation in green procurement.

In FY2020–FY2021, we conducted a questionnaire with 100 of our approximately 440 business partners who supply us with railroad materials and equipment, to monitor the status of their environmental initiatives and to facilitate ongoing communication. Approximately 25% of our business partners did not have an environmental policy or had not yet determined the department in charge or the department with primary responsibility, so we encouraged them to enhance their environmental activities.

In FY2022, we incorporated our initiatives into the newly established Nankai Group Material Procurement Policy.
Click here to see the Nankai Group Material Procurement Policy and our response to risk assessments and supply chain issues.

In principle, training for purchasing staff takes place once a year to provide education on basic knowledge, including important items of the Nankai Group Material Procurement Policy. In addition, as part of our participation in sustainability initiatives, we endorsed the “Partnership Building Declaration” promoted by the government and economic organizations, and announced it in April 2022. We are promoting cooperation and coexistence with suppliers in the supply chain with the aim of building new partnerships.

The "Parks Garden" situated on the rooftop of "Namba Parks" (11,500 m2) offers approximately 500 species and 100,000 medium to tall trees, which are home to a variety of bird and insect life. It is a unique place within the city of Osaka that contributes to biodiversity. The "Parks Garden" has been featured as an example of"creating new liveliness through greenery" in the Ministry of the Environment’s "Case studies of collaboration between developers and local communities: Realizing SDGs through development projects." Furthermore, "Parks Garden" was ranked No. 1 in the "Otherworldly Green Rooftop Gardens," a feature in the NIKKEI Plus 1 article published on June 4, 2022 in the Nikkei Keizai Shimbun.
For more information about Parks Garden, click here.
http://www.nambaparks.com/parks_garden.html

In 2009, we signed a Green Partner Agreement with Osaka Prefecture, targeting the entire areas along our railway lines to promote greenery and the preservation of nature. We have been promoting environmental preservation activities ever since, including in Kyousei no Mori (Sakai City) and the biotope at the Tanagawa District (Misaki Town, Sennan County).
In March 2014, our company, Osaka Prefecture, Misaki Town, and the Research Institute of Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries, Osaka Prefecture also signed the Osaka Biodiversity Partner Agreement.

Osaka Prefecture has been reorganizing 100 ha of Sakai City’s coastal Sakai 7-3 District (approximately 280 ha), which is the final industrial waste treatment district, positioning it as “Kyousei no Mori (a forest for living in harmony).” Since FY2008, we have been taking part in a tree-planting festival (March) and grass-cutting event (September) for forestation, and have been making donations using our shareholder benefits system. We also hold a Kyousei no Mori Offsetting Event to offset the carbon emitted by the participants and staff of the two events as they travel (total of five tons from the two events). Nankai Electric Railway’s credits can be used to offset the carbon.
In FY2022, 150 people participated in the event, offsetting one ton of carbon emissions.

Tanagawa Biotope* is a space in Ikiiki Park Misaki, which is managed by Osaka Prefecture and other parties, that aims to recreate a lush natural environment. Once a month, the employees of our company and Osaka Prefecture, and Misaki Town engage in environmental preservation activities there, such as taking care of the plants and pond, and observing creatures in the biotope. As shown in the photo, the place was quite barren in 2005, but turned into a lush biotope by 2013 after some work was done on it.
In FY2023, forest nature walks were held in the biotope in November. The nature observation events, which are held several times a year, included hiking in the Tanakawa Biotope.

*Tanagawa Biotope: a biotope (a space that preserves the original ecosystem of living things) within Ikiiki Park Misaki, the site that provides the earth and sand for the second phase construction of Kansai International Airport