Sustainability Management
Group Sustainability System
We have established the Group Sustainability Committee with the CEO, President and Representative Director of Meiji Holdings at its helm.
Accordingly, we are promoting sustainability activities following the directions of this Committee. The Committee meets twice annually. It monitors the progress of activities to achieve KPIs in the Meiji Group Sustainability 2026 Vision and establishes sustainability policies. The Committee shares outcomes of activities conducted by each operating company and reports twice annually to the Board of Directors. We have established a Sustainability Secretariat that meets monthly and its members are sustainability staff from Meiji Holdings and the operating companies. In FY2019, we established the Group Human Rights Meeting and the Group TCFD Committee alongside the Group Environmental Meeting, which is linked to the Sustainability Secretariat. We strengthened our systems for considering concrete measures and launched a number of initiatives including scenario analysis based on TCFD recommendations and conducting human rights due diligence.
Additionally, in October 2019 we established the Sustainability Management Department at Meiji Holdings in order to further accelerate our sustainability activities across the Group. As well as this, in June 2020 we appointed a Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) as the top person responsible for sustainability in Meiji Group. Under the leadership and supervision of the CSO, we will promote integration of our business and sustainability activities.
Establishment of the ESG Advisory Board
In FY2021, we evolved the dialogue with outside experts, which had been held once a year, and established the ESG Advisory Board, which meets twice a year.
Recognizing the ever-accelerating pace of corporate sustainability activities, the Meiji Group has set a new target of Meiji ROESG®* and is working to further strengthen its activities. At the same time, in the final year of the 2023 Medium-term Business Plan, we aim to be recognized as one of Japan's leading sustainability companies.
The main purpose of establishing the ESG Advisory Board is to grasp the demands and expectations of diverse stakeholders and appropriately respond to them as we strive to contribute to the sustainable development of society and become a trusted corporate group through our business activities.
We aim to further invigorate the sustainability activities and improve performance of the Meiji Group as a whole while exchanging opinions between external experts and internal member including CEO and CSO.
| Experts |
Takeshi Kamigochi Mari Kogiso Peter David Pedersen |
|---|---|
| Internal Members |
Kazuo Kawamura Jun Furuta Shinji Matsuoka Yuhei Matsumoto Youichirou Yamagata |
Experts profile
Takeshi Kamigochi
Member of the Board, Executive Officer, Senior Vice President & COO, J-OIL MILLS, INC.
Mr. Kamigochi has been involved in global management in the consumer goods business and distribution channels at Unilever Japan K.K., Walmart Japan K.K., and Sunstar Suisse S.A.
He gained experience in finance and supply chain functions, followed by 12 years of experience as CEO at three companies.
He also has more than 15 years of experience in overseas posts, including the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Switzerland.
Since July 2021, he has served at J-Oil Mills, Inc., developing strategies for structural reform and growth. Since July 2023, Mr. Kamigochi has been leading the promotion of the Medium-Term Business Plan in his current position.
Mari Kogiso
Co-CEO, SDG Impact Japan
Mari is an impact investing leader with extensive background in sustainable finance and social entrepreneurship. Mari cofounded SDG Impact Japan in 2021 and developed the ESG engagement fund to promote sustainable conduct of Japanese medium and small sized public companies. In 2017, she led the establishment of the Asia Women Impact Fund ($100 million) at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, the first gender lens investment fund in Japan. Previously Mari held several senior positions at the World Bank Group in Washington DC and Tokyo including the representative of MIGA (the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency) in Tokyo. She also served as the global head of diversity and human rights of Fast Retailing Group, and Japan Representative of Dalberg, She currently serves as an outside auditor of Mitsubishi Corporation, an expert advisor on JICA’s Overseas Investment Review Committee; and a member of the Advisory Board of the CIO office, Nikko Securities.
Mari holds a BA in Economics from Tokyo University and an MA from the Fletcher School, Tufts University.
Peter David Pedersen
Representative Director, Next Leaders' Initiative for Sustainability (NELIS)
Born in Denmark in 1967, Mr. Pedersen has lived in Japan over 30 years.
He has been involved in sustainability management since 2000, and has assisted many Japanese companies with their sustainability strategies. Since 2015, Mr. Pedersen has served as representative director of the Next Leaders' Initiative for Sustainability (NELIS), which fosters young next-generation leaders around the world. He was named outside director of Meiji Holdings Co., Ltd. in June 2022, and he serves concurrently as an outside director at Marui Group Co., Ltd.
Informing Employees
We believe it is extremely important for our employees to understand our sustainability policies and activities. Sustainability is one of the regular topics in domestic and overseas group newsletters, including introductions of key terminology and examples of timely, relevant sustainability activities are.
Additionally, in April 2020 we began a sustainability-focused E-learning program for employees in Japan, at a pace of one session every two months.
Also in April 2021, we installed the Meiji Brand Promotion Leaders system, selecting leaders from each workplace to embody our new group slogan "Now ideas for wellness" and spread further understanding of our sustainability activities.
Furthermore, in April 2022, we launched the Meiji Sustainable College as a comprehensive framework for various initiatives (online courses, e-learning, sustainability communications, etc.) as part of promoting a sense of ownership. Through these initiatives, we will further strengthen our efforts to make sustainability the norm for each and every one of our employees.
Our internal company magazine "Meiji Journal" for overseas employees