The Meiji Group signed on to the United Nations Global Compact1 in 2019, supporting the Ten Principles related to human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption. We pursue sustainability management through a wide range of initiatives.
In 2021, we adopted a new slogan -Now Ideas for Wellness. This slogan appeals to the unique value offered by Meiji and our business in food and pharmaceuticals.This slogan expresses our desire to be a sustainable company that solves global social issues through the lens of health.
Putting this slogan into practice, we established Meiji ROESG®2 as our top management goal under our 2023 Medium-Term Business Plan, which we launched in FY2021. Our aim is to deepen sustainability management by evaluating the value created by the Group in terms of ROE (economic value) and ESG (social value).
Our ESG evaluations improved significantly in terms of non-financial value (social value)—the result of greater efforts under 2023 Medium-Term Business Plan. In the future, we will need more concrete strategies for linking sustainability activities to improved ROE. We recognize that the health value the Meiji Group provides is indispensable to solving socials issues which include new nutritional profiling system to promote nutritional value in food. Our health value also includes the domestic development of vaccines and domestic manufacturing of antibacterial agents, for which the COVID-19 pandemic revealed their needs. We believe these sustainability activities will lead to higher ROE.
FY2023 represents the final year of our 2023 Medium-Term Business Plan. We intend to evolve Meiji ROESG®2 as we become a company whose sustainability story contributes solutions to social issues. The Meiji Group will work as one in cooperation with our stakeholders in Japan and overseas to create a future society in which people around the world live healthy, happy lives.
June 2023