- Overview of Sanyo Chemical’s Sustainability Management
- Position and relationships of the Sustainable Management Committee and the CSR Promotion Management Committee
- Recognition of the importance of the role and responsibilities that we should fulfill
- Formulation and background of our Human Rights Policy
- What we are currently focusing on the most
- Promotion of communication with stakeholders
- What we would like to achieve in the future
- Request for your understanding and cooperation
Overview of Sanyo Chemical’s Sustainability Management
Since its founding, the Sanyo Chemical Group has conducted corporate activities based on its company mission, “Establish a better society through our corporate activities.” As a result, using the chemical technology that we have cultivated, we have developed a wide range of products that make society and people’s lives more comfortable and convenient, and we are proud to have contributed to establishing a better society.
However, in response to the recent rise in environmental awareness, we have become more aware that a wide range of products that we offer should contribute to the pursuit of comfort and convenience, and at the same time, that we should contribute to the realization of a sustainable society through corporate activities by reducing the environmental impact throughout the supply chain.
Also, from the perspective of corporate sustainability, we have become aware that we need to change our existing decision-making structure and personnel system to more transparent ones that will help improve employee engagement.
Against this background, we established the Basic Sustainability Policy in FY2022 to show our new management stance of aiming to achieve sustainable growth into the future by improving both economic and social value while collaborating with stakeholders.
Position and relationships of the Sustainable Management Committee and the CSR Promotion Management Committee
We currently have the Sustainable Management Committee, which reports directly to the Board of Directors and is chaired by the President, and the CSR Promotion Management Committee, which reports directly to the Management Council and is chaired by the General Manager of the General Affairs Division.
The Sustainable Management Committee considers the process of creating economic and social value for the sustainable growth of the Group as a whole. In particular, regarding the environment, society, and governance, the committee is responsible for deliberating and deciding on policies and company-wide measures to resolve material issues (materiality) that should be addressed as a priority, and for developing these policies and measures into specific measures for related departments.
Meanwhile, the CSR Promotion Management Committee aims to link the implementation of the CSR guidelines (CSR activities) to effective activities. In particular, with regard to the achievement of carbon neutrality, which is one of our material issues, we have positioned the reduction of GHG emissions as the most important issue, and are working to create systems and mechanisms to plan and implement specific initiatives to achieve this goal. The activities of the CSR Promotion Management Committee are reported to the Sustainable Management Committee once a year.
Recognition of the importance of the role and responsibilities that we should fulfill
When it comes to issues such as sustainability and CSR, which are important to corporate activities and for which it is difficult to produce results easily, we need to pay attention to the fact that if we place too much emphasis on “form,” such as how to present our efforts to the public and how our efforts are seen by the public, our activities will often lack effectiveness and substance, as symbolized by the term “greenwashing.”
Accordingly, for our sustainability and CSR initiatives, we need to be careful not to focus solely on “form.” We constantly monitor our initiatives to determine whether they are effective and substantial, make course corrections if they are not so effective or substantial, and disclose their progress as appropriate.
Formulation and background of our Human Rights Policy
As stated in the Top Message, we formulated and disclosed the Human Rights Policy in March 2023 to ensure not only that we do not commit direct human rights violations, but also that we do not overlook indirect involvement.
Please refer to the “Respect for Human Rights” page on this website for details.
What we are currently focusing on the most
The six items that we have identified as material issues are all important issues that we should focus on. Among them, I would like to highlight the following two items here.
The first item is to achieve carbon neutrality and improve the quality of life (QOL) through the development of new products and new businesses. Specifically, we are currently focusing most on the development of new battery materials that contribute to lighter storage batteries, and on the creation of new businesses in the fields of agriculture and diagnostics/regenerative medicine. We believe that these initiatives will truly improve both our economic and social value.
The second item is related to the reduction of GHG emissions. We have set a goal of halving GHG emissions in Scope 1 and Scope 2 by FY2030 compared to FY2013, and we are focusing most on efforts to achieve this goal. Specifically, believing that it is important to identify as many initiatives as possible that we can implement, from those with large reduction effects to those with small reduction effects, and to implement them one by one to accumulate results, we are working to create systems and mechanisms for their implementation.
Promotion of communication with stakeholders
As stated in our Basic Sustainability Policy, collaboration with stakeholders is an essential factor for us to aim for sustainable growth into the future. Moreover, in order to collaborate with stakeholders, we need them to understand the overall picture of our Sustainability Management. “Understanding the overall picture” here refers to understanding not only what we are doing but also our ideas and basic policies behind such action. We believe that it is important for us to communicate with stakeholders so that this purpose can be attained.
This sustainability website has been updated based basically on the above idea. We sincerely hope that this idea of ours will be conveyed to all of our stakeholders, even if only to a slight degree.
What we would like to achieve in the future
As mentioned at the beginning, we take pride in having developed a wide range of products that make society and people’s lives more comfortable and convenient, and in having contributed to establishing a better society based on our company mission since our founding. This pride comes from the following. Although we are a small business, as a manufacturer of performance chemicals with unique functions, we have boasted a high profit margin while supporting the Japan’ manufacturing industry behind the scenes, and have shone as a highly profitable company that is known to those in the know.
We hope that our corporate activities will be consistent with societal sustainability, that we will become a company that can continue to shine, and that this will be understood by our stakeholders.
Request for your understanding and cooperation
We have contributed to and will continue to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society through a wide range of products that we create using the unique and unparalleled technology that we have cultivated. We believe that this will in turn ensure our sustainability. We would like to convey this belief to all of our stakeholders and ask for their understanding.
We would be more than happy if you could take a closer look at this updated sustainability website and deepen your understanding of the Group.
We appreciate your continued understanding and support for us.
Director, Managing Executive Officer
In charge of Sustainability, General Manager of Corporate Planning Division
