In September 2022, Asahi Kasei Europe became a member of a pioneering joint project on blockchain technology for the ISCC PLUS certification. Led by the Dutch software provider Circularise and the Japanese trading company Marubeni, this project aims at enhancing the efficiency of the certification process and the integrity of the certified data.

In order to achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 and to contribute to a carbon-neutral society, the Asahi Kasei Group is currently enhancing activities around the utilization of bio-based and recyclable materials, as well as renewable energy sources. To ensure full reliability and transparency, the company is accelerating the certification of its more sustainable materials, also responding to the changing needs of the customers. The ISCC PLUS certification is one leading global certification scheme that links the supply chain from raw materials, such as biomass feedstock and recycled materials to finished products through mass balance management. This helps to guarantee full transparency of the final products to the end user. With both reliability of the certification and efficiency of the certification process increasingly growing in importance, Asahi Kasei Europe decided to participate in the above-mentioned pilot project. Test results confirm confidentiality and reliability of blockchain technology.

Akira Nishizawa, managing director of Asahi Kasei Europe, commented, “We aim to contribute to a sustainable society through our business. As a supplier of plastics, fibers, and synthetic rubber, the ISCC PLUS mass balance certification is becoming more important for us to advance this strategy.”

In addition to the project leader Circularise, 10 companies across the entire supply chain participated in this project, including chemical manufacturers, trading companies, and consumer electronics manufacturers. The mass balance management of ISCC PLUS certification was operated on Circularise’s software system, and the companies conducted trial runs, testing the effectiveness of the system, as well as the material traceability and data verification.

The results of the trials confirmed that in addition to the system efficiency, the utilization of blockchain technology ensures full confidentiality in the data transmission process across the entire supply chain, appropriate mass balance management, and full data reliability. 

Nishizawa concluded, “Many of our products are currently in the process of obtaining the ISCC PLUS certification. This still takes much effort and time. A more efficient certification process is needed to achieve a sustainable society, and we have found that digital technology can play a major role in this process.”

For more information, visit: www.asahi-kasei.com.