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Sustainability Report 2020 2020 Sustainability Report Top Message “Let not short-term gains tempt your mind, seek only enduring In May 2020, Mitsui & Co. announced the Medium-term Management prosperity by embracing grand aspirations.” These words from the first Plan 2023 with the main theme “Transform and Grow.” We identified president of the former Mitsui & Co.*, Takashi Masuda, represents our sustainability management and evolution of ESG as the foundations to foundation. His words urge us to avoid becoming overly focused on support sustainable growth under our “Transform and Grow” strategies. near-term profit. Rather, we must realize growth by creating businesses We also revised our sustainability-related policy structure in order to that contribute to society’s long-term development. provide further clarity on our basic philosophy and policies, and ensure In May 2020, Mitsui released a revised version of its Mission, Vision, the effective implementation. In addition, we identified “climate Values, our corporate management philosophy to coincide with the change,” “business and human rights,” and “circular economy” as our announcement of the Medium-term Management Plan 2023‒ priority issues. Transform and Grow. Revised for the first time in 16 years, the new In relation to the climate change, Mitsui has become the first sogo Masami Iijima philosophy puts Takashi Masuda’s message front and center and Tatsuo Yasunaga shosha (general trading company) to adopt the goal of achieving net- Representative Director, includes a vision whereby “As challengers and innovators, we create Representative Director, zero emissions, as its vision for 2050. As a part of the roadmap toward Chairman of the Board of Directors and grow business while addressing material issues for sustainable President & Chief Executive Officer achieving that goal, we aim to halve our GHG impact compared with development.” the 2020 level under our vision for the year 2030. We have also When preparing the new plan, we set goals for respective frontline introduced an internal carbon pricing system to enhance the medium- operations by keeping firmly in mind the Materiality that we had to long-term resilience of business that has high GHG emissions. previously revised in 2019 and which is the base of our business We have always identified the respect for human rights as our activities. More specifically, we discussed the aspects of our Materiality fundamental value in the Mitsui & Co. Group Conduct Guidelines. on which each type of day-to-day work and activity should focus. Furthermore, to provide greater clarification, we formulated a Human In 2015, the United Nations identified priority tasks and set out a Rights Policy, which we announced in August 2020, together with concrete plan of action for humanity, the earth, and global prosperity other reforms. with the adoption of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 With regard to the circular economy, we are considering and related targets. The SDGs are embedded in Mitsui’s Materiality. I believe implementing a variety of initiatives on top of the traditional 3Rs that by placing Materiality at the core of a broad range of businesses and (reduce, reuse, recycle) approach. The initiatives include the activities we can help address the issues listed in the SDGs. introduction of designs and raw materials that reduce resource inputs, Efforts to realize a sustainable society are becoming ever more the promotion of sharing as a way to improve utilization rates for important due to the unprecedented speed of social change being products and services, the extension of product life spans through driven by the emergence of COVID-19. In adapting to this dramatic maintenance, repurposing, and other methods, and the creation of change, Mitsui will leverage the wide-ranging network that it has mechanisms that enable uses of items previously classified as waste. developed over a long history as a general trading company. Moreover, In the uncertain times generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is we will reform the mindset of each employee and achieve growth by especially important to renew our awareness towards our mission, drawing on its “Challenge and Innovation” DNA to create businesses values, and visions, and to go back to our roots as we start to move that help address social issues. forward toward transformation and growth. * Legally speaking, there has been no continuation between the former Mitsui & Co. and the current As in the past, we will continue to use the Sustainability Report and Mitsui & Co. various other media and opportunities to provide reliable and highly transparent information about our thoughts and future direction to our stakeholders including our customers, business partners, and shareholders, as the basis for further dialogue. 1 Contents Top Message 1 Respect for Human Rights 61 Environment Editorial Policy 3 Supply Chain Management 65 Executive Summary 33 Creating New Value 69 Message From the Chairperson of the Sustainability Committee 4 Environmental Management 34 Human Resources Management 70 Corporate Mission, Vision, Values 5 Climate Change 40 Social Contribution Activities 99 Sustainability at Mitsui & Co. and the Management Framework 6 Water Resources 45 Mitsui & Co.’s Stakeholders 9 Circular Economy 46 Governance Participation in Initiatives 12 Environmental Pollution 47 Executive Summary 105 Mitsui & Co.’s Materiality 15 Biodiversity 48 Integrity and Compliance 106 49 Identification and Review of Materiality 16 Environmental Performance Data Corporate Governance and Internal Control 111 Mitsui & Co.’s Approach 18 Risk Management 113 Secure sustainable supply of essential products 18 Social Executive Summary 54 Enhance quality of life 21 Response to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) 116 Create an eco-friendly society 24 Sustainable Supply of Resources, Energy, Materials, Food and Products 55 Material Issues of Mitsui & Co.’s Materiality in Association 117 Develop talent leading to value creation 27 Supplying Food and Products with Ensured Safety and Security 56 with Initiative Themes and the GRI Standards Enhancement of Quality of Life and Social Infrastructure 57 Build an organization with integrity 30 Evaluation by Society 118 Healthcare and Aging Society 59 Independent Practitioner’s Assurance Report 120 Increasingly Diverse Consumer Demand 60 Link buttons Cover Photo: Mitsui & Co. has identified Mitsui’s material issues (“Materiality”) with the aim of meeting 2020 Sustainability Report Link to website the expectations of a variety of stakeholders and realizing a better tomorrow for the earth and people around the world. The images shown on the cover are mainly from the Report’s “Our Stories” pages, introducing Mitsui’s initiatives for each Materiality. Link to related information 2 Editorial Policy We publish our Sustainability Report with the aim of delivering an explicit message to our stakeholders Scope of Coverage Mitsui and major consolidated subsidiaries and associated companies. The scope that Mitsui & Co. commits to creating new values through a wide range of business activities, and in the Sustainability Report of coverage for numerical data is provided individually in appended notes. contributes to societal and corporate sustainability. As an annual report that complements the Integrated Report, our Sustainability Report 2020 emphasizes comprehensiveness and continuity, and provides Covered Period The Sustainability Report 2020 mainly covers our initiatives carried out in the detailed environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information. period from April 2019 to March 2020 (the fiscal year ended March 2020, “FY2020”), In accordance with Mitsui & Co.’s Materiality, which was revised in April 2019, the Sustainability Report as well as part of our policy and initiatives for the fiscal year ending March 2021. 2020 reports on our activities in line with the ESG factors, and introduces our actual cases of value creation toward finding solutions to societal issues, as “Our Stories.” We set “Sustainability Management; Evolution Independent Practitioner’s The star (“★”) indicates that the sustainability information concerned has been of ESG” as one of the six corporate strategies for achieving the Medium-term Management Plan 2023— Assurance given limited assurance, for the purpose of increasing its reliability, by Deloitte Transform and Grow, which we announced in May 2020. From the perspective of potential impact on Tohmatsu Sustainability Co., Ltd. in its independent practitioner’s assurance report. our business and growing demand from society, we have identified climate change, circular economy, and business and human rights as three key issues which we prioritize in promoting initiatives. The Publication Date August 2020 (Previous publication date: August 2019; next publication scheduled Sustainability Report 2020 also provides our current initiatives on these three key issues. for August 2021) Sustainability Guidelines • GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) Sustainability Reporting Standards Our Sustainability Report has been prepared in accordance with the Core option Media Reports Contents of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards. Booklet PDF HTML Sustainability The Sustainability Report is prepared to cover detailed non-financial In addition to presenting the material issues of Mitsui & Co.’s Materiality in Report ESG-related information of Mitsui. The report is aimed at our multi-stakeholders association with initiative themes and the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards and is published
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