On the Protected Planet website managed by the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), we confirm the proximity of our main business bases to areas where biodiversity needs special attention.
We have confirmed the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categories of protected areas lying within a 10-km radius of each of our main business bases, as detailed below and determined that none of these areas are designated a Strict Nature Reserve or Wilderness Area (Ia, Ib).
To avoid impacting biodiversity through its business activities, the Group complies with the strict emission standards set by national and municipal governments and strives to avoid causing environmental pollution.

In line with our Environmental Protection Policy, which enshrines the importance of biodiversity, each relevant department is engaged in initiatives to conserve biodiversity.

In addition, the latest Global Risk Report (2020) issued by the World Economic Forum suggests that the threat to biodiversity constitutes a major environmental risk second only to climate change risk, while a special report compiled by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) argues that biodiversity conservation and climate change response must go hand in hand and are not independent of each other. Accordingly, we consider biodiversity conservation initiatives to be of greater importance than ever before.

Environmental Protection Policy

As discussed earlier, we have long been engaged in biodiversity conservation. Currently, we are striving to integrate our conventional initiatives with biodiversity conservation measures required under the recent global standards. In this way, we are striving to move forward in this field while ensuring no issues are left unaddressed.
Specifically, we have organized our biodiversity conservation initiatives using the following methods.

1. (1) Accurate assessment of our business value chains regarding their impact on biodiversity
2. (2) Assessment of the proximity of our main business sites to specific regions requiring protection from the perspective of diversity conservation
3. (3) Prioritization of our initiatives in light of results of the above assessments (1) and (2) with an eye to achieving the following objectives
   • Minimizing the negative impact of our operations
   • Exerting a positive impact through our operations
   • Collaborating with local communities

The primary areas in which our business value chains affect biodiversity are presented in the following diagram. Also, referring to the Protected Planet, a website managed by the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), we have confirmed the proximity of our main business sites to regions requiring particular attention in terms of biodiversity conservation.