Environmental Management

We at KDDI Group conduct internal environmental audits as required by ISO 14001. Auditors are selected by the Sustainability Planning Department.
These audits target the offices of KDDI and its group companies, focusing on three areas: [1] Integration of company-wide challenges into environmental objectives [2] Compliance with environmental laws and regulations [3] Operation of the Environmental Management System (EMS) Self-checks using checklists and audits by auditors are conducted continuously. These initiatives provide opportunities to improve energy performance by monitoring, measuring, analyzing, and evaluating energy usage. Specifically, at telecommunications facilities, attention is given to the power consumption of rectifiers, and the utilization rate of each rectifier is checked. Units are reduced as appropriate, taking safety margins into account, to identify and implement opportunities for improving energy performance.

KDDI collects environmental data on energy, waste, water, and other topics as well as supervises and evaluates the trends in each data set within our framework of promoting environmental activities. To ensure the reliability of collected environmental data, we have obtained third-party assurances. When verifying this data, verification organizations provide us with opportunities to obtain advice on reducing burdens related to energy, waste, water, and so forth. For data for which we have obtained assurance, please see the following.

We promote reuse activities that regenerate and effectively use retired telecommunications facilities. We also conduct material recycling that turns unneeded equipment and structural materials into resources. We will continue our commitment to reuse and recycle communication equipment, including base stations, retired due to regular upgrades.

As part of its efforts to conserve the global environment, KDDI and OKINAWA CELLULAR TELEPHONE COMPANY have adopted paper shopping bags with reduced plastic usage for approximately 4.2 million bags used annually at au Style shops, au Shops, and UQ Spot shops. For plastic shopping bags, materials containing 50% recycled content are used. By utilizing recycled materials derived from previously used plastic, the companies contribute to reducing the production of new plastic.

There are growing concerns around water resources because of increasing global population and decreasing water availability due to climate change. According to the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), water resources continue to decline at a pace exceeding natural replenishment rates due to factors like climate change, long-term overuse, and pollution. As a result, the importance of efficient water use by businesses is ever-increasing. The KDDI Group is committed to contributing to the global environment by reducing water consumption in its business activities and by offering products and services that promote water efficiency.

Initiatives

Below are examples of initiatives that use water efficiently for cooling by leveraging regional characteristics and recycling mechanisms.
Our data center in Toronto, Canada, has introduced a lake water cooling system that utilizes cold water drawn from the bottom of Lake Ontario. This system efficiently cools the facility by using the lake water as chilled water for air conditioning. This method reduces the power consumption of air conditioning equipment, thereby cutting CO₂ emissions. Moreover, the waste heat generated by the data center is reused to warm drinking water for the city of Toronto. It is an environmentally friendly initiative that "borrows" only the coldness of the water while minimizing its impact on water resources.
Additionally, the Sakai Data Center in Osaka, Japan, which opened in January 2026, will introduce high-spec GPU servers that pursue computational efficiency to meet the surging demand for AI. To suppress the rapid increase in power consumption and heat generation associated with higher chip density, we have adopted a Direct Liquid Cooling (DLC) system that cools the servers directly with water, instead of conventional air conditioning methods. By leveraging the property of water to efficiently transfer heat, we are building a state-of-the-art infrastructure that cools the enormous amount of heat with high efficiency and low power consumption by directly removing heat with water recirculating inside the servers.

We believe that enhancing the environmental awareness of all employees and encouraging them to better understand environmental issues are essential to promote our environmental activities.

KDDI has acquired the Eco ICT Mark established by the ICT Ecology Guideline Council (Note 2) to work toward improving environmental consciousness and reducing environmental impacts.

We formulated the KDDI Green Procurement Guidelines to promote purchasing of more environmentally conscious products and business equipment (communication devices, air conditioning systems and power supply facilities) with high energy-saving performance. The Guidelines target the devices defined in the latest Ecology Guideline for the ICT Industry specified by the ICT Ecology Guideline Council.
We also apply the KDDI Group Sustainable and Responsible Procurement Guidelines to our business partners and follow up on their response toward environmental management, using the Responsible Procurement Surveys.

KDDI has introduced an Internal Carbon Pricing (ICP) system, under which the Company assigns an internal price to carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and uses it as a criterion for evaluating capital investments and energy-related projects.
In addition to promoting energy efficiency and low-carbon investments, the ICP system is designed to incorporate climate-related risks and opportunities into business decision-making and investment evaluations. It also supports the development of medium- to long-term strategies and financial planning aimed at achieving carbon neutrality.
By implementing the ICP system, KDDI seeks to foster greater environmental awareness among all employees and further accelerate investments in energy-saving and renewable energy initiatives that contribute to the realization of carbon neutrality.

The scope of application will be gradually expanded going forward.

We are working on LCAs that assess environmental impact by calculating CO₂ emitted through all processes related to products and services, including manufacture, use, disposal and recycling. (Note 4) Since fiscal 2008, we have regularly conducted LCAs for the "au" and "au Hikari" brands every three years. We conducted LCAs in fiscal 2021.

Environmental Impact of "au"

CO₂ emissions per "au" user decreased 10.8% from the previous assessment. Despite an increase in smartphone battery capacity, overall CO₂ emissions from cell phones have decreased as a result of lower smartphone manufacturing costs and increased purchasing demand for lower-cost products.

Environmental Impact of "au Hikari"

CO₂ emissions per "au Hikari" user increased 20.8% from the previous assessment. On-premises equipment and network-side equipment were replaced with high-performance 10 Gigabit service-compatible equipment, and overall CO₂ emissions increased in line with the increase in power consumption.