Systems for Enacting Corporate Sustainability

In order to advance sustainability-oriented management and operations, Sojitz has established a Sustainability Committee with the president of Sojitz serving as its Committee Chair, as well as a dedicated Corporate Sustainability Department.

The Sustainability Committee's activities include establishing company-wide sustainability-related policies and goals, constructing frameworks for their implementation, and monitoring various measures that utilize the ISO 14001 environmental management system standard.

Additionally, the Finance & Investment Deliberation Council is checking individual proposals for their relevance in terms of environmental or social risks and sustainability.

Sustainability Committee Members (Current as of June 18, 2024)

Committee Chair
  • President, COO
Members
  • Chairman, CEO
  • CFO
    Executive Management of Corporate Departments
    COO, Corporate Planning Department
  • Managing Executive Officer,COO, Human Resources Department
  • Executive Officer, COO, PR Department, IR Office, Corporate Sustainability Department
Observers
  • Full-time Audit and Supervisory Member
  • General Manager, Legal Department
  • General Manager, Corporate Planning Department
Secretariat
  • Corporate Sustainability Department

Systems to Promote and Implement Sustainability

Systems to Promote and Implement Sustainability Image

Deliberation by the Sustainability Committee

In addition to discussing areas of focus and future courses of action for the company in the mid- and long-term, including Materiality (Key Sustainability Issues) and related sustainability goals, the Sustainability Committee also deliberates on concrete policies concerning responses to environmental and social (human rights risks), climate change countermeasures, biodiversity policies, ESG disclosures and response to evaluation by society, environmental ISOs, social contribution activities, and other topics.

Key matters approved

Managing Environmental & Social Risk

Risk Management by the Sustainability Committee / Reports Submitted to the Board of Directors (Supervisory Body)

Sojitz Group classifies and defines the many risks associated with our businesses according to our Basic Code of Corporate Risk Management( Risk Management ), and we establish a risk management policy and management plan for these risks each year, based on a resolution by the Board of Directors. Among these risks, countermeasure policy and initiatives regarding environmental and social risk (including risk related to climate change) are deliberated by the Sustainability Committee. These policies and initiatives may then be put into action following a report to the Management Committee and Board of Directors.

Conducting Scenario Analysis

One of the ways we confirm climate change risk is by conducting sequential analysis of the business fields believed to present the greatest risks to Sojitz Group's corporate strategy, business activities, and financial planning. We then analyze the financial impacts of these risks. In particular, we conduct scenario-based assessments of our coal interests and power generation businesses, as these are important business areas in our portfolio and ones at high risk of impact from environmental regulations.

Imagining and analyzing the impact on our company based on multiple potential scenarios has enabled us to develop a forecast for how we can respond to changing conditions in the future. For all scenarios, we came to the conclusion that any impact on our business would be limited.

New Investment Projects

In addition to examining a project’s business plan, deliberation on all business investments and loans require projects to be analyzed and evaluated for risks to the environment (including climate change-related risks) and risks to society (such as the risk of impacting local residents and labor safety-related risks). A project’s value must be confirmed from a sustainability perspective prior to resolution.

Establishing Action Plans for Departments and Offices

The policies and items resolved by the Sustainability Committee and reported to the Management committee and Board of Directors are made known to employees not only through the company intranet, but also through regularly held briefing sessions with each department, organized by the Sustainability Committee secretariat.

Items resolved by the Sustainability Committee are established by each department and office at the beginning of the period. These consist of 1) environmental impact of business activities around the world, and an analysis of related laws and regulations; and 2) goal setting and action plans to mitigate these environmental impacts, including those related to climate change. These items are reviewed by each department and office every six months, and the results of these reviews are evaluated by the Sustainability Committee and reported to the Management Committee at the beginning of the following year.

The progress business divisions make towards achieving these climate change-related goals is also reflected in each organization’s performance evaluation.

Compliance Initiatives

Sojitz has established the Sojitz Group Compliance Program to outline steps for ensuring thorough compliance, and the Sojitz Group Code of Conduct and Ethics as an action guide for employees. Sojitz also works to promote thorough understanding of compliance by distributing a booklet of case studies and a hotline card to all executives and employees to supplement the Code manual. Moreover, as thorough understanding of compliance requires steadily and consistently reinforcing policies, Sojitz conducts a variety of training programs for Group employees and officers such as e-learning and compliance training.

In addition, to prevent corruption, Sojitz has established the Sojitz Group Anti-Corruption Policy and the Sojitz Group Anti-Corruption Guidelines, and is also implementing corresponding regulations at overseas Group companies and bases.

About Compliance, see this page for details.
About Human Rights, see this page for details.