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About Meiji

At a Glance

At a Glance

Get to know Meiji at a glance – from our core business to our most important numbers.

Food

Our Nutrition Initiatives

Our Nutrition Initiatives

Our goal is to improve the lives of people of all ages around the world through nutrition, from infants to older adults, and we are dedicated to achieving this goal.

Pharmaceuticals

R&D

Medical needs are always diversifying – here's how Meiji is responding.

Sustainability 2026 Vision

The basis of "the Meiji Group's Approach to sustainability" is to fulfill sustainability by putting the Group Philosophy into practice on a day-to-day basis in mainstay businesses and by remaining a corporate group society needs. Each Meiji Group employee will advance activities based on the Corporate Behavior Charter to meet stakeholders' expectations and continue fulfilling social responsibilities.

The Meiji Group’s Mission in Sustainability Activities

Toward the Meiji Group’s Next 100 Years, Designing a Future Where Everyone Around the World is Happy and Healthy.

The Meiji Group will mark the 110th anniversary of our founding in 2026. We must reconstruct our foundations with a view to the next 100 years to further enhance the Group’s corporate value. Currently, society is at a major turning point. Companies are required to not only expand their business scale but also contribute to solving social issues through their business activities. We will once again review the significance and role of our business activities in society and strengthen activities unique to the Meiji Group that originated from the idea of solving social issues.

The Meiji Group Sustainability 2026 Vision

As Food and Health Professionals, We Contribute to Addressing Social Issues through Our Business Activities, and to Realizing a Sustainable Society for People to Live Healthy, Peaceful Lives.

The Meiji Group Sustainability 2026 Vision is broken down into three themes: Healthier Lives, Caring for the Earth and Thriving Communities, plus the shared theme: Sustainable Sourcing. Here, we identify and set materiality issues and KPIs. Based on this framework, shown in the figure, we promote specific sustainability activities and address social issues.

Figure: Meiji Group Sustainability 2026 Vision
Themes Domains

Healthier Lives

Health and Nutrition

Quality and Safety

Caring for the Earth

Climate Change

Circular Economy

Water

Biodiversity

Thriving Communities

Human Resources

Society

Sustainable Sourcing

 

Collaboration with UN agencies and relevant organizations Engagement in SDGs Meiji Group Sustainability 2026 Vision

 

Meiji Group Sustainability 2026 Vision

Creating our Vision

When laying out our sustainability vision, we took a long-term view and set out the activities we believed that Meiji Group should engage in. Our Group Sustainability Committee will evaluate our progress with the KPIs we have established, and publicly disclose this information.

STEP 1Identify issues and select activities

Select activities tailored for the Meiji Group considering business initiatives, community requests and sustainable development goals (SDGs).

STEP 2Identify materiality and set the KPIs

Set the KPIs. Confer with experts outside of the company regarding the selected activities, identify materiality (material issues).

STEP 3Obtain approval from management

Sustainability secretariat and the Group Sustainability Committee discusses, and the Board of Directors makes a decision.

Progress of Sustainability 2026 Vision

2017

  • Began discussions to establish vision
    Mr. Peter David Pedersen, Mr. Hidemi Tomita

2018

  • Established vision
  • Identify materiality
  • Revised how the vision's activities in each area are related to the SDGs

2019

  • Joined UN Global Compact
  • Discussions with outside experts
    Mr. Peter David Pedersen
  • Established Sustainable Management Department at Meiji Holdings
  • Revised human right policy and procurement policy, and established a new marketing policy

2020

  • Established Water Resources Policy, Plastic Policy, and Social Contribution Activities Policy
  • Established Long-Term Environmental Vision "Meiji Green Engagement for 2050"
  • Discussions with outside experts
    Prof. Takeshi Mizuguchi at Takasaki City University of Economics
    We exchanged opinions on medium-term management targets for sustainability activities and information on the wide-ranging sustainability activities unique to the Meiji Group that span food to pharmaceuticals.

2021

  • Newly established the Farm Animal Welfare Policy and the Diversity and Inclusion Policy
  • Newly established the Meiji Group ESG Advisory Board, holding meetings twice a year
    External Experts
    Takeshi Kamigochi
    Senior Managing Executive Officer, Vice General Manager, Oil & Fats Business Unit, J-OIL MILLS, INC.

    Mari Kogiso
    CoCEO, SDG Impact Japan

    Peter David Pedersen
    Representative Director, NPO NELIS

2022

  • Newly established the Guidelines for Employment of Foreign Workers, the Pollution Prevention Guideline, and Soybean Procurement Guideline
  • Meiji Group ESG Advisory Board held twice a year
    External Experts
    Takeshi Kamigochi
    Director, Senior Managing Executive Officer General Manager, Oil & Fats
    Business Unit, J-OIL MILLS, INC.

    Mari Kogiso
    CoCEO, SDG Impact Japan

    Peter David Pedersen
    Representative Director, NPO NELIS
  • Sustainability meetings for overseas group companies started

Approach to Sustainability Activities under the 2023 Medium-term Business Plan

The 2023 Medium-term Business Plan sets out the concept of realizing both profit growth and sustainability activities. The significance of sustainability has thus increased in business management. We will strengthen our activities so that by FY2023, the Meiji Group will become a company that is highly evaluated internally and externally as an advanced sustainability company in Japan.

Outline of Activity Plan

Figure: Outline of Activity Plan

Structure of the Meiji Group' Sustainability Activities

There is a wide range of sustainability activities. We have organized them into initiatives that exhibit the Meiji Group' uniqueness and initiatives that form the foundation of corporate activities. In particular, we consider that the domain unique to the Meiji Group is centered on "Healthier Lives." Japan faces the issues of a declining population and aging society with a decreasing birthrate, and extending healthy life expectancy is a critical social issue. The Meiji Group aims to contribute to solving these social issues with our Food and Pharmaceutical businesses and to realize both economic value and social value.

Figure: Structure of the Meiji Group's Sustainability Activities

Approach toward SDGs

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of the 17 goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015 for the year 2030. In our endeavors, we have identified 13 primary goals that will contribute to society in the Meiji Group' business activities. Recognizing that FY2021 marks the beginning of "the Decade of Action"* to address the SDGs, we are working to achieve the SDGs through the Meiji Group Sustainability 2026 Vision.

*In January 2020, the United Nations defined the decade up to 2030—the deadline for the achievement of the SDGs—as "the Decade of Action" and called for countries around the world to accelerate and expand their initiatives.

Figure: Major SDGs that the Meiji Group aims to achieve See how our sustainability themes link to the SDGs