Project Purpose and Background

Team

Inoca Corporation, Hase Tora Spinning Co., Ltd., and aiESG Inc.

Challenge

The wastewater treatment facility at Hase Tora Spinning Co., Ltd. in Hashima, Gifu, has been in operation for 50 years and is due for renovation, which would require substantial investment. Conventional wastewater treatment that simply makes water transparent may not be optimal for local nature and organisms that depend on nutrients.

Vision

Rather than over-purifying wastewater under uniform, strict standards, we will design appropriate wastewater management that has a positive effect on local ecosystems. This approach aims to reduce unnecessary renovation costs while improving biodiversity and corporate value.

Implementation

This initiative aims to build a model for sustainable manufacturing by connecting factory operations, laboratory work, and data analysis to assess and create value from environmental impacts.

1. Field implementation and data generation

• We use the dyeing and spinning factory and its wastewater facilities as a real-world field to assess the impact of business activities on the surrounding environment.
• We quantify the effects on nearby ecosystems and receiving waters using Nature Standards, an environmental indicator technology.

2. Laboratory simulation and validation

• We accurately reproduce the ecosystems surrounding the factory in a laboratory.
• Through simulations and validation experiments, we clarify how different wastewater flows affect biodiversity.

3. Visualizing environmental impact with AI and advanced technologies

• We combine satellite imagery, AI, biodiversity databases, and other advanced technologies.
• We quantify changes in natural capital and environmental impacts and visualize them in an intuitive format.

4. Creating economic value and introducing impact finance

• We calculate the economic value of environmental improvements and build consensus with local stakeholders such as municipalities and regional banks.
• We incorporate evaluation methods and impact finance mechanisms involving financial institutions to establish a sustainable ecosystem.

Future Development and Scale-up

Packaging and business model development

We will package the model of wastewater control, natural capital quantification, and collaboration with regional banks and municipalities, and scale it to other manufacturers and factories through revenue-sharing and other approaches.

Global development

Based on successful examples from small and mid-sized manufacturers in Japan, we aim to expand a nature-positive manufacturing model across Asia, Africa, and other regions.