Sustainability Policy and Materiality
Sustainability Policy
Companies can only operate in a sustainable and healthy society. A globalized, diversified and complex society has many challenges, and the various impacts of these challenges cannot be considered separately from corporate activities. We believe that in order to continue our corporate activities and develop sustainably with our stakeholders, it is imperative that we actively address these challenges and continue to contribute to their resolution.
We believe that contributing to the resolution of social issues through our corporate activities is what is required of us by our stakeholders in order to realize our mission of “To inspire the world with entrepreneurship” and our group vision, and we are promoting sustainability activities.
In our sustainability activities, we have set our group's mission and vision as our basic policy, and we are actively promoting activities with the aim of achieving sustainable growth of the group, improving corporate value, and realizing a sustainable society.
Sustainability Promotion Structure
We formed the Sustainability Committee in January 2022 as an update to the CSR Committee that was established in 2016. As a voluntary advisory body to support the decision-making of the Board of Directors, the Committee is actively working towards the sustainable growth of the Group, enhancing corporate value, and realizing a sustainable society.
The Sustainability Committee holds regular meetings every three months, where active discussions and considerations are particularly focused on sustainability activities and the setting of sustainability-related KPIs, as well as on the disclosure of non-financial information.
The Committee includes members such as employees under the age of 30 representing future generations, female managers, individuals responsible for each materiality, and external advisors, all contributing to vigorous discussions from various perspectives.
Furthermore, subcommittees have been established under the Committee to promote initiatives related to materiality within the Group, working towards solving issues and achieving KPIs.
Materiality Identification Process
The Septeni Group has been promoting sustainability activities by regularly reviewing the materiality we identified in 2016. However, in response to the revision of our Group philosophy in October 2022, we have renewed our materiality.
In identifying the materiality, we extracted social issues mainly from international guidelines, and made a comprehensive judgment based on two axes: “expectations of stakeholders towards the Septeni Group” and “importance to the Septeni Group's business.” We identified 29 issues with particularly high priority, categorized them into four major categories according to the ESG framework, and created a draft.
Based on the draft, we collected opinions several times at the Sustainability Committee, Group Management Meeting, and Board of Directors. The Sustainability Committee compiled the opinions from various places and created the final draft. At the Board of Directors, we confirmed the connection with Group's philosophy, including the revised vision, and the appropriateness as an important matter for the group.
By addressing the four materialities we have identified, we aim to achieve our group's vision and realize our mission of “To inspire the world with entrepreneurship.”
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STEP 1
Identification of issues
Identified social issues based on SDGs, ISO26000, and other international standards
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STEP 2
Confirmation of priority issues
We comprehensively assessed the identified social issues based on their importance to the Group's business and the expectations of stakeholders towards the Group, categorized them according to the ESG framework, and created a draft of materiality.
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STEP 3
Collection of opinions at multiple meetings
Based on the draft, we conducted multiple rounds of opinion collection at the Sustainability Committee, Group Management Meeting, and Board of Directors.
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STEP 4
Identification of Materiality
The collected opinions were compiled and the final draft was created at the Sustainability Committee. At the Board of Directors, we confirmed the connection with the Group's philosophy, including the vision, and the validity as an important matter for the Group.
| Materiality | Subcategory of Materiality | KPI | Target | Target Achievement Timing |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E | Response to Climate Change | Reduction of GHG emissions and disclosure of information in accordance with TCFD recommendations | Scope 1 & 2 emissions | 70% reduction | 2030 |
| S | Enhancement of Corporate Value by Empowering People Who Create a New Era | Human resource development with reproducibility through digital HR | Operation and accuracy improvement of HR value chain*1 | Continuous implementation | Annually |
| DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) | Ratio of female managers | 30% | 2030 | ||
| Understanding of unconscious bias | 100% | 2030 | |||
| Democratization of entrepreneurship | Number of people actively participating in events that nurture entrepreneurship*2 | Year-on-year increase | Annually | ||
| Participation rate of employee stock ownership plan | Year-on-year increase | Annually | |||
| Realization of a “Nameraka” Society Through Creativity and Technology | Value creation leading to a “nameraka” society | Providing value and opportunities to society through business and services | Increase in recipients of value | 2030 | |
| G | Building an Advanced Governance System to Support Discontinuous Growth | Efforts for discontinuous growth | Co-creation of supervision and execution | Realization of innovation board*3 | 2024 |
| Efforts for risk reduction | Ensuring and improving the effectiveness of the board of directors | Continuous implementation of executive sessions Continuous implementation of effectiveness evaluations |
Annually | ||
| Discussion of succession planning | Continuous implementation | Annually |
- *1 HR strategy designed as a consistent service from recruitment to onboarding to development, based on a talent database accumulated over more than 20 years.
- *2 gen-ten, slogan contests, group sharing meetings, prize essays, Hinerankai Awards, Diversity Month, Diversity Awards, philosophy-related events, cross-functional committees, etc.
- *3 Board of Directors in which the supervising directors utilize their individual expertise to co-create value with the executive side in order to achieve discontinuous growth.
