Material Issues and Promotion Framework | Sustainability

We aim to be a corporate group that continues to contribute to society through our Group Philosophy and Group Policies.
Featured here are our basic approach to sustainability, our sustainability promotion system, the material issues that the group is addressing, and each related sustainability target.
We are also promoting the spread of sustainability awareness among our employees.

Basic Approach to Sustainability

Through the practice of the Corporate Philosophy and Group Policies, we will contribute to a sustainable society while building the foundation for sustainable growth of the Kewpie Group.

Sustainability Promotion System

Chaired by the director in charge of sustainability, the Sustainability Committee promotes the formulation of policies and plans as well as initiatives toward the achievement of the sustainability targets.
We are working to instill and establish groupwide material issue targets and initiatives examined in subcommittees and cooperative projects.
In cooperation with the Risk Management Committee, we will respond to climate change and strengthen our business foundation.

Material Issues for Sustainability

The Kewpie Group has designated the following issues as our material issues for sustainability aiming to contribute to the realization of sustainable societies and continuous Group growth.

Contributing to food culture and health
Effective use and recycling of resources
Deal with climate change

In order to respond to a changing society, we believe it is necessary to raise sustainability awareness and perspectives among as many employees as possible and encourage them to engage in a broad range of sustainability activities. To this end, we revised our material issues based on the management policies of the Medium-term Business Plan, which was newly formulated for fiscal years 2021 to 2024.
We have set indices (Sustainability Targets) for each of these priorities to use them in our business practices.

Process for Selecting Material Issues

We have identified the social issues that the Kewpie Group should engage in through our business by performing a risk and opportunity analysis of our value chain, as well as a risk and opportunity analysis of the effects of social change, while referring to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs*1). Next, we evaluated the size of stakeholder expectations and the size of the Kewpie Group’s social impact for each of these social issues. Through this process, we determined which themes to engage in and set them as the Kewpie Group’s Material Issues for Sustainability.
Referring to international sustainability standards GRI, ISO26000, SASB, and various ESGs in assessing importance, this incorporates the concept behind our long-term Kewpie Group 2030 Vision.

Identification of Social Issues to be Addressed by the Kewpie Group

Risks and Opportunities Analysis of our Value Chain

Risks and Opportunities Associated with Changes in Society

Area	Changes in Society	Risks and Opportunities
Society	Super-aged society Spread of COVID-19 Increasing numbers of nuclear households and single-parent families Increasing poverty/widening inequality Spread of divergent worldview	Increased awareness of healthy dietary lifestyles Fewer opportunities for dining out Insufficient food-related communications Loss of interest in food knowledge and experiences Growing awareness of human rights
Global Environment	Climate change, Paris Agreement Increase in natural disasters and unforeseen events Destruction of forests, water resource loss Degradation in crop quality and yields	Decarbonization of society, ethical consumption Marine plastic pollution Realization of a recycling-oriented society Lack of food resources, reduction of food waste Increasing awareness of global environmental protection

Identification of Material Issues for Sustainability

※1Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, are a collection of 17 global goals forming a common international agenda for sustainable development, with a target date of 2030.

Sustainability Targets: Achieving our 2030 Vision

The Sustainability Targets are each linked to the Material Issues for Sustainability and are indices for the activities that the Kewpie Group will engage in.
They were revised from the targets announced in 2019 to reflect the social situation we now face in FY2021.
In terms of “Effective Use and Recycling of Resources,” we have added the reduction and reuse of plastic waste as a target to our existing initiatives.
In terms of “deal with climate change,” our efforts to contribute to and carry out appropriate countermeasures aimed at mitigating the climate crisis led to adjusting our targets. This will be done by revising our manufacturing processes, formulating plans to use renewable energy, promoting modal shifts, and coordinating with agricultural goods procurement.
Through our Group Philosophy and Group Policies, our entire value chain will work together to strive to achieve these sustainability targets.

Sustainability Targets and Performance

Material Issues	Initiative Theme		Indicators	FY2021 Results	FY2021 Target	FY2024 Target	FY2030 Target
Contributing to food culture and health	Contribution to extending healthy life expectancy	Health Initiatives	As a food partner for every person: Contribute to achieving a vegetable intake target of 350 grams per day Promote a boost in egg consumption in order to contribute to increasing protein intake
Contributing to food culture and health	Mental and physical health support for children	Contributing to Society through Food	Number of children's smiles via our activities (Cumulative since FY2019)	177 thousand children	At least 200 thousand	At least 400 thousand	At least 1 million
Effective use and recycling of resources	Unused portions of vegetables (cabbage, etc.)	Effective Use of Resources	Effective utilization rate	40.0%	At least 30％ effectively used	At least 50％	At least 90％
	Curtailment of food loss (Reduction of product waste)	Effective Use of Resources	Reduction rate in volume of product waste (compared to FY2015)	11.6%	At least 25％	At least 35％	At least 50％
	Reduction and reuse of plastic waste	Effective Use of Resources	Reduction rate in volume of plastic waste (compared to FY2018)	―	―	At least ８％	At least 30％
Deal with　climate change	Reduction of CO₂ emissions	Initiatives on Global Warming	Reduction rate in CO₂ emissions (compared to FY2013)	10.5%	At least 7.5%	At least 20％	At least 35％

Promoting Awareness Among Employees

We believe the creation of a sustainable society and sustainable corporate growth requires each and every employee to understand and empathize with our ideas and policies.

In-House Bulletins

We use publications such as integrated reports and books on communication to educate employees. We also disseminate information on sustainability via in-house tools such as the Kewpie Group newsletter “iQP” and the sustainability email newsletter “NewS.”

Kewpie Group Official Blog

Launched in March 2007 to communicate our social and environmental initiatives to the public, Kewpie Group Official Blog (formerly known as the CSR Blog) aims to make the concept of sustainability resonate with each and every employee through articles written by employees actually working within the group.