We have traditionally positioned “Safety, Health and the Environment” as key concepts supporting our management foundation, and have established the “Safety & Environmental Protection Headquarters” to promote initiatives to secure employee safety and health as well as to preserve the environment. Members of the headquarters consist of the General Manager and co-head as well as division heads in charge of supervising business sites and others who are appointed by the General Manager, in addition to the secretariat. The executive in charge of safety and environment (Director) is appointed by the President and Representative Director to serve as the General Manager of the Safety & Environmental Protection Headquarters, overseeing the headquarters as the individual bearing the highest responsibility regarding safety, health, and the environment. The Safety, Environment & Quality Assurance Department serves as the secretariat.
The primary role of the headquarters is (1) to determine the medium-term management plan, the annual basic policies, and priority HSE issues, (2) to assess and evaluate performance through audits, (3) to maintain, review, and improve the Environmental Management System (p. 20), and (4) to instruct all departments and major affiliated companies on how to secure the management resources necessary to establish, implement, maintain, and continually improve this Management System. As a general rule, the Safety & Environmental Protection Headquarters Meeting is held once a year in December to decide on such matters as our group’s annual basic policies for the next fiscal year.
When establishing and reviewing the medium-term management plan, the annual basic policies, and priority issues regarding HSE, the secretariat creates a draft proposal in a way that reflects on outcomes of HSE activities undertaken in the preceding fiscal year and takes into consideration the social environment surrounding HSE issues. The draft is examined at the Safety and Environmental Managers Meeting attended by managers in charge of safety and the environment from each department and then approved at the Headquarters Meeting. After the draft is ruled on by the General Manager of the headquarters, it is finally reported on to the Management Committee. If the Management Committee has instructions or opinions that should be reflected in the draft, the General Manager of the headquarters once again reviews and approves the final version.
The Board of Directors receives reports from the business executives and provides oversight on environmental issues, including climate change.
As for the environment, our stakeholders are highly concerned about global environmental problems, such as climate change, ocean plastic waste, and biodiversity loss. The Group is also promoting various relevant initiatives but recognizes that at present the highest priority is reducing CO₂ emissions while fulfilling its mission of ensuring a stable energy supply.
To achieve this, the Group, which aims to be an advanced ESG management company, revised its Medium-term Management Plan in May 2021, outlining its efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and, as a waypoint, establishing a goal of reducing the Scope 1+2 emissions of major Group operations by 4.0 million tons compared with fiscal 2017 by 2030. In addition, along with reducing Scope 1+2 CO₂ emissions, we are working to reduce Scope 3 emissions throughout the entire value chain while accurately assessing the needs of customers.
Meanwhile, we will continue striving to prevent environmental pollution, thoroughly ensure compliance, and reduce the Group’s environmental impacts and risks. The Safety & Environmental Protection Headquarters is working to resolve these kinds of environmental issues confronting the Group by conducting environmental audits, collecting and managing environmental data, raising and enhancing environmental awareness among employees, and disclosing information. We disclose information regarding environmental initiatives and activities, which are closely related to human rights, to stakeholders as appropriate.
General Manager of Safety & Environmental Protection
Headquarters, Director and Managing Executive Officer
Noriaki Sakai
※As of October 29, 2021
Our Environmental Management System is presented in the diagram on the right. It is based on a combination of the groupwide PDCA cycle, utilized by the Safety & Environmental Protection Headquarters, and the individual PDCA cycles utilized by each business department.
The Safety & Environmental Protection Headquarters formulates a medium-term management plan for the entire Company and identifies annual basic policies and priority issues based on that plan. In line with these annual basic policies, each business department develops its own action plan.
Each business department operates a PDCA cycle in which it executes business activities based on its action plan, periodically evaluates and reviews these activities, and identifies matters that must be improved and reflected in the action plan for the next fiscal year. Meanwhile, the secretariat for the Safety & Environmental Protection Headquarters carries out an annual evaluation and review of group-wide operations of the Environmental Management System. Matters requiring improvement are discussed at Headquarters Meetings in conjunction with reviews carried out by each business department to ensure continuous improvement. Furthermore, a total of 34 business departments and affiliate companies within the Group (21 in Japan, 13 overseas) acquired ISO 14001 certification as of June 30, 2021.
