The "Center for the Realization of Nature Positive* Growth Society" project led by Tohoku University, which is also the representative institution of the ANEMONE Consortium** in which NYK participates, has been selected by the Japan Science and Technology Agency for the COI-NEXT.

COI-NEXT is an industry-academia co-creating system in which universities and other organizations take the lead in formulating a vision for future society and promote research and development to realize the vision. The organizations create an independent industry-academia-government co-creation center that will generate results on a sustainable basis.

Since June 2022, NYK has been participating in the ANEMONE Consortium and conducting joint research about environmental DNA*** with Tohoku University and Hokkaido University.
The "Center for Realization of Nature Positive Growth Society" project aims to realize a new society while enriching nature through collaboration among industry, government, academia, and the private sector, based on the self-management of nature by local people, utilizing information about nature obtained from large-scale environmental DNA observations. This project is a major step toward expanding the environmental DNA observation network.

NYK will contribute to the collection, accumulation, and utilization of biodiversity information through seawater sampling.

In February 2021, NYK released the “NYK Group ESG Story,” which aims to further integrate ESG into the company’s management strategy and promotes activities that contribute to the achievement of the SDGs through business activities. In March this year, NYK released the updated “NYK Group ESG Story 2022,” which introduces initiatives for integrating ESG into the Group’s management strategies set forth in the "NYK Group ESG Story" and provides a partial explanation of the Group’s sustainable growth strategy from a long-term perspective.

This initiative for protecting the marine environment is a most important theme for the NYK Group, which desires to give back to the sea.

The NYK Group will continue to embody its corporate philosophy of contributing to the realization of a better global society by proactively addressing social issues as a good corporate citizen.

* Nature Positive
Activities and ways of thinking to increase the natural environment to prevent biodiversity damage

** ANEMONE Consortium
An organization that aims to realize a society in harmony with nature by utilizing ANEMONE, a large-scale observation network of environmental DNA. It was established in June 2022 with Tohoku University at the core, and 13 other entities including corporations, NPOs, and academic societies as founders.

*** Environmental DNA
Environmental DNA refers to DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) derived from living organisms that exists in the environment such as water and soil. Organisms leave traces of their DNA in the environment along with dung and mucus. In recent years, technology (environmental DNA technology) for knowing the types of organisms living there by extracting and analyzing biological DNA from water and soil collected in the field has greatly developed. The environmental DNA technology requires far less workload at the survey site than traditional biological survey methods that rely on capture and direct observation. Therefore, environmental DNA technology is attracting attention as an epoch-making method for realizing multi-point and high-frequency biological surveys, which was not easy with conventional survey methods.

<The NYK Group ESG Story>
A guideline detailing concrete efforts to integrate ESG into management strategies of the NYK Group. Details: https://www.nyk.com/english/news/2021/esg-story_01.html

<The NYK Group ESG Story 2022>
Details: https://www.nyk.com/english/news/2022/20220324_01.html