Responding to climate change
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
Recognizing that climate change is causing increasingly severe and frequent extreme weather events such as floods, giant typhoons, and landslides, and that these events will have a significant impact on business activities, the Tobu Group promotes each business as a Materiality, “Reduction of environmental impact through further improvement of environmental advantage, etc.”
In this regard, the Company has endorsed the recommendations of the “Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD),” established by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), and we have been disclosing information accordingly. Going forward, we will continue promoting various initiatives to reduce environmental impact, while also enhancing the accuracy of information disclosure related to “governance,” “risk management,” “strategy,” and “indicators and targets” based on the TCFD recommendations.
Climate change countermeasures
“Physical risk” verification
Based on the recommendations of the TCFD, we analyzed the extent to which the financial impact (damage) of station buildings, tracks, electrical equipment, and rolling stock related to the Railway Business would be affected by flooding as a water catastrophe risk associated with the increase in extreme weather events.
The impact on revenues was also analyzed if operations were disrupted by the disaster.
As a result of comparing "sustainable society" with "regionally divided society,” it was found that the amount of damage is less in "sustainable society."
Therefore, we recognized that the realization of a sustainable society and limiting the temperature increase to less than 2°C was important for the Company’s business and from the perspective of reducing the flooding risk.
To prepare for climate change risks such as torrential rains and typhoons, we have taken measures to prevent and mitigate losses.
Measures to reduce damage to railway facilities
We are implementing disaster-prevention and disaster-mitigation measures (repair and reinforcement) against natural disasters.
- Measures to reinforce slopes and piers
- Measures to prevent flooding of equipment/devices
- Measures to assess the situation in a timely manner (Installation of anemometers, rain gauges, river monitoring cameras, etc.)
Securing customer transportation and recovery system at the time of a disaster
When operations are suspended due to a disaster, in cooperation with bus companies and others along the route, we promptly provide substitute transportation as an alternative means to ensure that our customers can get around.
In terms of the recovery system, we will also utilize a strong value chain that includes not only Tobu Railway, but also Group companies and cooperating companies, in order to quickly resume operations. In addition, a structure is in place to respond quickly to emergencies by conducting drills that simulate disaster situations during normal times.
Alternate transportation by bus (training)
Stopping between stations and measures to avoid damage (planned suspension)
When a typhoon is approaching and there is a risk that wind and rain may affect the safe operation of trains, we give advance notice and implement a “planned suspension” of train services to avoid stoppages between stations and damage.
Every effort is made to ensure customer safety, mitigate damage, and return to normal operations as soon as possible.
Measures to prevent flooding of vehicles in detention lines (evacuation of vehicles)
In preparation for the risk of climate change, we are taking measures to prevent water damage to the cars on the storage lines by evacuating the cars on the storage lines that are expected to be flooded to elevated sections.
To enable a timely response in the event of an emergency, we regularly conduct drills on flood damage prevention, and further improve the knowledge and skills of each and every employee to raise safety awareness.
Evacuation of vehicles