EARTH FOOD CHALLENGE 2030 | Sustainability

In April 2020, NISSIN FOODS Group established its environmental strategy, EARTH FOOD CHALLENGE 2030. EARTH FOOD CHALLENGE 2030 is the NISSIN FOODS Group’s long-term environmental strategy. The Group aims to realize a sustainable society and raise corporate value by promoting environmental measures at an even higher level.

Specifically, the Group will focus on the two issues of “Limited Resources” and “Climate Change”. To address issues of limited resources, the Group aims to “Source Sustainably,” “Conserve Natural Resources” and “Create a World without Waste.” The Group will set targets for each of these themes and take on the challenge of effectively using resources through sustainable procurement, waste reduction and other means.

To address the issue of climate change, the Group aims to “Manufacture with Green Electricity,” “Develop with Green Ingredients” and “Complete with Green Packaging” and has set CO₂ reduction targets for this challenge. The Group will tackle a range of initiatives including supplementing the electricity used in our business activities with renewable energy and converting the raw materials used in packages and ingredients into those with a lower environmental impact.

The Group aims to source sustainably
through the use of certification schemes and its own assessment.

Targets

Sustainable palm oil procurement ratio: 100%

Key Actions

Use of RSPO-certified palm oil

NISSIN FOOD PRODUCTS has been using palm oil certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which is produced and processed with due consideration given to deforestation prevention, biodiversity preservation, and human rights, and other factors, at all domestic factories that manufacture CUP NOODLES since February 2020. As of April 2026, RSPO-certified palm oil accounts for 52.3% of the palm oil used by the NISSIN FOODS Group. (This figure is 100% for domestic instant noodles.) In the future, in addition to the procurement of RSPO-certified palm oil, the Group aims to procure palm oil that is assessed to be sustainable under the Group’s own assessment, with the goal of achieving a sustainable procurement ratio of 100%.

Procurement of Sustainable Palm Oil

The Group aims to reduce the resources
it uses across all its business activities.

Targets

Overall water use

12.3㎥
per million yen of sales

(IFRS-based sales)

Key Actions

Appropriate monitoring and management of water risks

In addition to reducing the amount of water required in the manufacturing processes of products, the Group reuses water for operations such as cleaning equipment with water originally used for cooling. In addition, we use AQUEDUCT* to assess water risks at our factory locations. Based on the results of this analysis, we have established a system to conduct additional investigations, including interviews with factory managers and on-site visits to factories determined to be at high risk.

*A map provided by the World Resources Institute (WRI), an international environmental NGO, showing water risks in regions around the world.

In addition to maintaining its food waste recycling ratio
in its manufacturing,
the Group also promotes waste reduction in its sales and distribution processes.

Targets

Waste recycling ratio

99.5%

*1 Resource recycling rate in the production processes at factories of Group companies in Japan.

Total waste reduction

50%

*2 Waste generated during the sales and distribution stages in Japan, compared to FY 3/2016.

Key Actions

Reducing Food Loss Across the Value Chain

The NISSIN FOODS Group is working to recycle food residues, which account for a large portion of its waste, into animal feed and fertilizer. We are also working to reduce sludge through improvements to wastewater treatment facilities and to recycle mixed waste. In addition, we are reducing food loss by extending product shelf lives and improving sales forecasts. In the sales and distribution processes, we donate products approaching their best-before dates to food banks and other organizations.

Reducing Waste

The Group aims to increase the renewables’ share
of total electricity use in its manufacturing processes.

Targets

Scope 1+2 (CO₂ emissions of reporting company and its subsidiaries and affiliated companies)

42% reduction

*1 Compared to 2020; overall NISSIN FOODS Group targets (including overseas subsidiaries)
*2 May 2023 Target Revised

Key Actions

Expanding Renewable Energy Procurement

Since March 2020, 50% of the electricity used at the Tokyo Head Office of NISSIN FOODS HOLDINGS has been supplied by waste-to-energy electricity derived from renewable energy sources. Instant noodle containers with oil residue after consumers finish eating, are generally disposed of as burnable waste and incinerated. By introducing waste-to-energy electricity, which utilizes energy generated through incineration, at the Tokyo Head Office, the Group is promoting the effective use of resources.
The Group will continue focusing on renewable energy capital investment and procurement in the future.
In addition, we are expanding our procurement of renewable energy by installing solar panels and introducing environmentally friendly equipment at manufacturing sites in Japan and overseas, as well as by promoting corporate off-site PPA, under which electricity generated by renewable energy facilities located off our premises is procured from retail electricity providers.

The Group aims to reduce CO₂ emissions
by the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) calculation method.
* LCA determines the environmental impacts of products,
processes or services, at every stage from procurement through production, disposal and recycling.

Targets

Scope 3 (CO₂ emissions of suppliers and other business associates)

25% reduction

*1 Compared to 2020; overall NISSIN FOODS Group targets (including overseas subsidiaries)
*2 May 2023 Target Revised

Key Actions

Use of plant-derived ingredients

The feed and water necessary for livestock production and the methane gas emitted from cow belches and excretion have an enormous environmental impact. Plant-derived proteins which have a lower environmental impact are attracting attention. The Global Innovation Research Center has developed meat alternatives such as “Soy Meat” and the Group would like to be able to replace all ingredients originating from livestock with plant-derived ingredients in the future.
The Group also continues its research on Cultured Meat as a food ingredient with a low environmental impact. Cultured Meat is meat derived from cells obtained through tissue cultivation rather than from the body of livestock and has enormous potential as a meat substitute. In 2019, we became the first in the world to successfully produce a large, three-dimensional muscle tissue in the form of a diced steak using bovine muscle cells.*1

*CO₂e is short for CO₂ equivalent and, for any quantity and type of greenhouse gas, CO₂e signifies the amount of CO₂ which would have the equivalent global warming impact. (Source: Japan Center for Climate Change Actions)
*1The above research achievement resulted from a joint research project with The University of Tokyo (August 2017 to the end of March 2025). The project was selected as an exploratory research project under the Japan Science and Technology Agency’s (JST) “Moonshot Research and Development Program” in FY 3/2019 and advanced to a full-scale research project in FY 3/2021.

The Group aims to reduce its usage of petroleum-based plastic.

Targets

Scope 3 (CO₂ emissions of suppliers and other business associates)

25% reduction

*Compared to 2020; overall NISSIN FOODS Group target (including overseas subsidiaries)
*May 2023 Target Revised

Key Actions

Introduction of Biomass ECO Cups

Since December 2019, NISSIN FOOD PRODUCTS has switched the containers used for CUP NOODLES to the Biomass ECO Cup, which has a lower environmental impact.*1
The Biomass ECO Cup achieves a biomass content of 81% by replacing a portion of the petroleum-derived plastic used in the container with plant-derived biomass plastic. Compared with the ECO Cup, it nearly halves the amount of petroleum-derived plastic used per cup and reduces CO2 emissions across the container’s entire life cycle by approximately 16%.*2

*1 As of FY 3/2022, NISSIN FOOD PRODUCTS’ CUP NOODLES brand cups have already been switched to biomass ECO cups.
*2As of 2018.

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