Summary
Japan certified 571 hectares of Honda’s Takasu Proving Ground in Hokkaido as a sustainably managed natural site. The designation recognises biodiversity plans and conservation activity alongside the facility’s vehicle testing work.
Honda said on October 30, 2026, that 571 hectares of its Takasu Proving Ground in Hokkaido had been certified as a Nationally Certified Sustainably Managed Natural Site under Japan’s Act on Promoting Activities to Enhance Regional Biodiversity. The area is about 70% of the 789-hectare site, excluding areas with facilities such as test courses.
The certification recognises a managed natural area within a working vehicle test facility. Takasu, operated by Honda R&D, continues to support research and development while carrying out biodiversity conservation activities.
A working test site with a conservation area
Takasu opened in 1996. Its courses reproduce different road conditions and use Hokkaido’s cold climate for winter vehicle testing. Honda says the certified area is the largest at a single Honda operation and makes Takasu the first Honda R&D facility to receive the designation. It is the third Honda-related site to be certified, after Mobility Resort Motegi in 2023 and the Saitama Factory Automobile Plant in 2024.
Honda says it preserved forest areas equivalent to 60% of the site and planted 35,000 trees. Its ongoing work includes a green-space management plan, tree planting and water-quality management. Access is limited to authorised personnel, and a roughly 3-metre-high fence keeps large mammals out for safety reasons. Honda says these site-management practices also limit external disturbance and support habitats for wild plants and animals.
A Japanese elm–Manchurian ash woodland has been set aside for conservation with minimal human intervention. Other measures include removing invasive, non-native species, protecting rare species and conducting regular patrols and ecosystem monitoring. Honda also works with the local community through activities including facility tours.
A 2025 survey recorded 1,245 species of flora and fauna at the site, including 58 rare species, according to Honda. The company says it monitors species such as the mountain hawk-eagle and black woodpecker. The species count is an inventory from that survey; Honda describes monitoring as ongoing.
How Japan’s certification fits into biodiversity targets
Japan’s law, which took effect in April 2025, provides for certification of areas where organisations have set and are implementing plans to maintain, restore or create biodiversity. The responsible ministers are the ministers for the environment, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and land, infrastructure, transport and tourism. Under the scheme, areas certified for maintaining existing biodiversity-rich environments are registered in the World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures, or OECMs. These are areas where conservation is achieved through private-sector efforts or where management for another purpose contributes to protecting nature.
The programme is part of Japan’s contribution to the global “30 by 30” target: conserving at least 30% of the Earth’s land, freshwater and oceans as healthy ecosystems by 2030. That target is among those in the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in December 2022. Honda has participated in Japan’s 30 by 30 Alliance for Biodiversity since April 2022.
The Takasu certification shows how a site used for research and vehicle testing can also be managed for biodiversity. Honda says it plans to pursue certification for more of its Japanese operations and use experience gained there to develop conservation work at sites outside Japan.