With the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, the Japanese government has made a commitment to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 46% relative to the 2013 level by 2030.
Japan currently emits a total of over 1.2 billion tonnes of GHG emissions per year, but it plans to reduce this figure to virtually zero by 2050.
While this effort to become carbon neutral will give rise to substantial industrial, economic, and social changes in Japan, it will also enable significant growth opportunities.
For this reason, the whole country needs to get behind the effort.
The Ministry of the Environment is promoting various initiatives aimed at generating demand for carbon neutrality, involving the creation of new regions and a shift in lifestyles. More specifically, to maximize the use of renewable energy potential, it has proposed the use of renewable heat, unused heat, and carbon-neutral fuel technologies, in addition to energy-saving measures for houses and buildings, and the use of EVs, PHEVs, and FCVs that can serve as storage batteries.
In the residential sector, development of ZEHs (net Zero-energy Houses) systems is advancing.
A ZEH is a house that effectively consumes zero (or less) energy each year through the application of renewable energy technologies such as solar power.

In addition, new detached homes, apartment buildings, and non-residential facilities in Japan are required to ensure energy-saving performance and install solar power systems.
Technologies to meet these requirements include LCCM® (Life Cycle Carbon Minus) housing, high-rise ZEH-M (ZEH-Mansions), and ZEB (Net Zero Energy Buildings).
In response to these national trends, Misawa Homes developed and marketed the world’s first “Zero-energy Home®” and continues to actively propose housing aimed at achieving carbon neutrality.

*LCCM is a registered trademark of the Institute for Built Environment and Carbon Neutral for SDGs (IBECs).

(Fig.) Overview of the Decarbonization Roadmap

To promote homes that contribute to carbon neutrality, in April 2023, Misawa Homes launched "SMART STYLE Roomie", a standardized ZEH detached home. "SMART STYLE Roomie" was launched as a new generation of standardized homes based on the concept of “a sustainable home for family enjoyment that connects to the future.” The design is packed with professional “recommendations” for achieving high standards of both living comfort and environmental performance, while also offering the flexibility to meet the demands of changing and diversifying lifestyles. With a “full-height” design featuring high ceilings and large openings, as well as a solar power system, and excellent thermal insulation, all "SMART STYLE Roomie" houses meet ZEH standards. On top of this, the AI-based management of LinkGates, an IoT “life service” for homeowners, enables comfortable living with a remarkable sense of openness, along with outstanding environmental performance, achieved by increasing the rate of self-consumption of renewable electricity.

In recent years, climate change and its growing impacts, such as rising average temperatures and more frequent heavy rainfall, have become a serious problem for Japan. For instance, in 2022, heavy rain in August, followed by Typhoons No. 14 and No. 15, caused extensive damage in quick succession. Over the past 100 years, Japan’s annual average temperature has risen by 1.30°C, exceeding the global average increase. This warming trend over the past century has been driven by rising levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, along with recurring natural phenomena such as El Niño, which occur in cycles spanning several to several dozen years.
At the same time, there are fears that a massive earthquake may occur at any time. A 2023 expert report estimated the probability of a Nankai Trough “megaquake” (of magnitude 8 or 9) occurring within 30 years to be 70 to 80% (compared to a 60 to 70% estimate 10 years ago). The estimated probability of an earthquake of magnitude 7 or so directly below the southern Kanto region has remained steady at 70% since 2014, but increasing seismic activity is expected in this area over the coming years.

Against this backdrop, Japan has been working unceasingly to make its buildings more resistant to earthquakes. For example, the proportion of earthquake-resistant residences has increased from about 75% in 2003 to approximately 87% in 2018. Targets have been established for the earthquake resistance rates of homes and other buildings, with systematic efforts underway to promote earthquake resistance through enhanced support and guidance. Misawa Homes is also focused on building disaster-resistant homes and continues its sustained efforts to provide safe and secure living environments.

(Source) Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

In September 2023, Misawa Homes launched “MISAWA UNIT MOBILITY ‘MOVE CORE’,” a trailer house designed to address social issues both in normal (“always”) and emergency (“what if”) situations through the use of technologies for housing industrialization. The “MISAWA UNIT MOBILITY ‘MOVE CORE’” is a high-quality trailer house constructed using Misawa Homes’ unique wooden panel bonding method. It is structurally similar to a detached house, with excellent heat and sound insulation. The house design also employs various new concepts, such as lifestyle ideas informed by Misawa Homes’ unique knowledge as a home manufacturer and a dry interior that makes the space highly adaptable to frequent changes in use. As a result, the trailer house can be used in a variety of ways. In “always” mode, it can serve as accommodation, a cafe, or “workation” space, while in “what if” mode, it can be quickly converted to become a high-quality emergency shelter for people in need. In both “always” and “what if” situations, the use of “MISAWA UNIT MOBILITY ‘MOVE CORE’” for various purposes contributes both to carbon neutrality, by promoting wood construction and wood materials, as well as to helping overcome social challenges, such as disaster response and recovery.

As of January 1, 2024, Japan’s total population stood at 124.09 million, a year-on-year decline of 660,000 (0.53%). It was the 14th consecutive year of decline. While there were 14.24 million people under the age of 15, a decline of 324,000 year-on-year, over the same time the proportion of people aged 75 and older grew by 737,000 to 19.97 million, corresponding to 16.1% of the total population.
In connection to this accelerating trend of falling birthrate and aging population, it is worth considering the “Basic Law on Measures for Society with Decreasing Birthrate” enacted in July 2003, which stipulates the purpose, basic principles, basic policy direction, and responsibilities of the national government, local public bodies, businesses, and citizens in the face of a continuing birthrate decline. Additionally, the “Law for Measures to Support the Development of the Next Generation,” which was enacted at around the same time, requires local public bodies and companies (with 101 or more full-time workers) to formulate action plans to support the development of the next generation. In particular, the law aims at boosting efforts to address the difficulties that children and young people face in achieving social independence, including the issue of NEETs and shut-ins (hikikomori). In this environment, Misawa Homes is dedicated to finding solutions to the challenges associated with a declining birthrate and aging population from the perspective of housing and community development, by providing housing and multi-facility services that reduce the burden of housework, raising children, and nursing care.

(Source) Annual Report on the Aging Society 2023

Misawa Homes won two awards at the 17th Kids Design Awards, one for a detached house and the other for a daycare facility. The award-winning detached house is “SMART STYLE Roomie,” a standardized house launched in April 2023, developed specifically for millennial, dual-income working families with children. The focus of the living, dining, and kitchen (LDK) areas is a “communication hub” consisting of the dining and kitchen spaces. This helps to promote a close family connection and rich communication between parents and children, centered around “food.” The award-winning childcare facility is “Coby PreSchool Tsutsumino,” a certified kindergarten constructed in Noda City, Chiba Prefecture. The design of the building and garden/play area were inspired by the concept of a “forest,” to stimulate the senses of children and foster their creativity and spontaneity.
Misawa Homes has now won a Kids Design Award in 17 consecutive years since the awards were established in 2007. Through proposals for living spaces that nurture creativity, Misawa Homes is committed to contributing to safe and secure living environments for children and to creating a society that supports parents in raising children.

According to the Comprehensive Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services 2021 (JBO3) released by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan has experienced continuous biodiversity loss over the past 50 years. The assessment indicates that both the scale and quality of ecosystems have declined due to the reduction of farmland, forests, and wetlands, as well as other environmental changes. It is noted that there is a gradual decrease in the variety and populations of species that inhabit and grow within these environments. Furthermore, to achieve the long-term vision for biodiversity by 2050 —“living in harmony with nature”—a comprehensive societal transformation across economic, social, political, and technological domains is deemed essential.
In addition to addressing the causes of biodiversity loss and conservation and the challenges of conservation and regeneration, the Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 (GBO5) issued by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) in 2020, asserts that in order to realize the 2050 vision of “living in harmony with nature,” coordination is needed between various fields such as climate change mitigation and sustainable production and consumption. The Japanese government has also approved a “National Biodiversity Strategy 2023-2030,” a new basic road map for the conservation and sustainable utilization of biodiversity in Japan in accordance with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted at the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The private sector is also expected to contribute to biodiversity conservation. Misawa Homes is contributing to biodiversity conservation in a variety of ways, such as procuring forest-certified timber, promoting the planting of trees and vegetation in the outdoor landscaping and gardening of its projects, and environmental conservation activities in the forests of Misawa Homes.

(Fig.) Biodiversity loss is at a critical stage (Living Planet Index)

(Source) WWF / ZSL, 2022³

As a company that benefits from forest resources, Misawa Homes is proudly engaged in forest environment conservation activities in various regions of the world.
The Misawa Homes Forest Matsumoto initiative in Nagano Prefecture has been running since 2014, making use of the “Forest Foster Parent Promotion Project” promoted by Nagano Prefecture, which is aimed at sustainable forest development. Although we suspended the activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2023, after a four-year hiatus and amid growing interest in efforts to achieve carbon neutrality, we resumed our forest improvement activities together with local group companies, partner companies, and community groups.

In March 2021, the Japanese Cabinet approved its Basic Housing Policy (National Plan), with the goal of ensuring stability and promoting improvement in housing and home life. The plan aims at achieving higher quality of living through better housing by adapting to shifting social changes and increasingly diverse values. The plan calls for improvements to the existing markets for purchasing and renting housing, to offer people greater flexibility in choosing homes that suit their family or household structure, lifestyle, health status, and other factors. Furthermore, in line with broad technological trends, the housing sector is accelerating its digital transformation (DX) efforts in the housing sector, particularly in contracts and transactions, and in production and management.
To create safe housing and residential areas, Misawa Homes is developing hazard maps and distributing disaster risk information. We are also promoting flood control measures for housing and residential areas, through a combination of hardware and software measures. Along with this, we are working to reduce dense urban areas that are dangerous in the event of an earthquake, and to make housing and residential areas more resilient. We are also working to quickly secure emergency housing for people affected by disasters, focusing on the use of existing housing stock. At the same time, we are promoting the accumulation of private rental housing stock with long-term usability and trying to improve the rental housing market.
In this environment, there is a growing need for community development that goes beyond housing, integrating healthcare, workplaces, and residences in close proximity, and enhancing the overall value of neighborhoods. Responding to these shifts in housing and living environments, Misawa Homes is striving to create housing that is capable of responding flexibly to changes in people’s preferences with a long-term perspective, taking into account not only high durability but also shifts in family and household structures, and lifestyles.

(Fig.) Hazard map portal website

(Source) Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

Implementing work style reforms is a crucial challenge in all corporate activities. A significant factor driving this need is Japan’s severe labor shortage. As the country’s working-age population continues to decrease, maintaining the previous scale of workforce is no longer feasible. Therefore,
it is essential to improve productivity with a limited workforce and to create work environments that are both rewarding and attractive.
Creating an attractive workplace initiates a virtuous cycle that leads to securing talent, which then leads to better business performance and higher profits. Companies and workers also need to address the decline of Japan’s working-age population, due to the falling birthrate and aging population, as well as the need to balance work with childcare and nursing care. In this kind of environment, improving productivity through investment and innovation is not enough. It is also essential to expand job opportunities and create a workplace culture that allows employees to fully exercise their ambition and abilities. Women’s employment is another key focus. In July 2022, it became mandatory for large companies to disclose the gender pay gap among their employees, in line with a partial revision
of “The Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace.” Efforts to promote employment of the elderly are also being made. In addition to expanding the employment of the elderly at companies and securing diverse employment and job opportunities in local communities, there are efforts to support companies and elderly workers. The Misawa Homes Group is tackling these social challenges through its business activities. We are committed to promoting work style reforms and health management to help cultivate an environment in which the company and all employees can grow together.

In 2018, Misawa Homes began conducting employee health management, to create a vibrant workplace environment where employees can enjoy a long and vigorous career. In FY2023, the Chief Health Officer issued a message pledging to keep improving the company’s health management efforts. As part of these efforts, we organized walking events, measures to encourage employees to quit smoking, and health seminars for female employees. In recognition of these efforts, the company was included in the “Excellent Health Management Corporation 2024 White 500,” a list of the top 500 companies (out of 3,523 entries) in this field.
The company was also awarded three stars by the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare under the “eruboshi” certification scheme, in recognition of its excellence in promoting the advancement of women. To promote women’s participation and advancement, Misawa Homes is working to reform systems and enhance measures in four main areas: “raising awareness,” “employment support,” “workplace and environment,” and “career development.”
Misawa Homes will continue striving to create a vibrant workplace in which all employees are able to work energetically; to become a company in which everyone pursues their work happily and enthusiastically; and to provide an environment that allows all employees and their families to build a bright future.