A research team led by Professor Norihiro Itsubo of the Department of Environmental Management, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Tokyo City University has developed a method "LIME3" to analyze environmental impacts in the world, such as human health effects and extinction of biological species.The evaluation results can be displayed in monetary value, and can also be used as a material for determining the amount of "ESG (Environment, Society, Corporate Governance) Investment" that invests in companies that are active in consideration of the environment and society.
As the global environmental impact becomes more serious, in order to select environmentally friendly products and invest preferentially on companies that operate in consideration of the environment and society, the environmental impact of corporate activities on the world is quantified. I needed a method to evaluate it.Therefore, the research team of Professor Itsubo and others developed "LIME3", a method for analyzing environmental impacts in the world.For the first time in the world, we have made it possible to convert various adverse effects of corporate activities on the environment into monetary value.Another feature is that it covers evaluations in developing countries that are vulnerable to changes in the environment.
For example, when evaluating the electricity usage of each country using "LIME3", the environmental impact up to 1kWh (electric energy per hour) power generation is 1 yen in Japan, while it is 4 yen in China (Japan). The monetary value is high at 18 yen (4 times that of Japan) in India.Since China and India have a large amount of coal-fired power generation, it is thought that this was due to the large emissions of NOx and SO25, which are the causative agents of CO7 and fine particles (PM2), and the large population.On the other hand, Sweden, Switzerland, and Canada, which use a lot of renewable energy such as hydroelectric power, have lower monetary value than Japan because they emit less CO2.5, NOx, and SO2 and have less environmental impact.In Germany and Denmark, the impact of land on the use of biomass power generation will be relatively large, and the monetary value will be high.
Currently, "LIME3" is being used by multiple companies such as Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. and Taiheiyo Cement Co., Ltd. at the "LIME3 Utilization Study Group" study group sponsored by the LCA Japan Forum.In addition, an increasing number of companies are actively working on disclosure of environmental information such as responding to "ESG investment", and it is expected that the contribution of companies' ESG activities will be shown by using the "LIME3" method in the future.
