Basic Approach and Policies
When our founder Fusajiro Kanematsu established the Company in 1889, he personally laid down the following corporate principle: "Let us sow and nurture the seeds of global prosperity." These words represent Fusajiro's intention to sow the seeds (i.e., create businesses) to achieve prosperity of Japan and happiness through economic development. In a modern context, this corporate philosophy expresses our commitment to help achieve prosperity and happiness for people not only in Japan but all over of the world, which is similar to the ideas underlying the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In relation to SDG 13, Climate Action, we have selected and focused on particular businesses and promoted initiatives since our inception to create a business portfolio that does not include thermal power generation, coal, and other carbon-intensive businesses. In addition, all projects--investments, important contracts, significant asset purchases--are implemented in line with the Group's sustainability policy and key issues (materiality). We have thus developed a governance system for management and monitoring to ensure that our Group does not engage in carbon-intensive businesses.
Thanks to these extensive efforts to control our environmental impact, CO2 emissions (Scope 1, 2) from Group operations are extremely small relative to our size. We regard that it is unrealistic and difficult to set further reduction targets based on SBT (Science Based Targets). We will maintain the current governance system to ensure that our emissions do no increase going forward.
On the other hand, we have actively engaged in a forest conservation project, Joint Crediting Mechanism project, and renewable energy-related projects in recent years, through which we aim to achieve a level of credits and avoided CO2 emissions that significantly exceed our Group’s CO2 emissions. As a trading company playing a connecting role in the supply chain, we believe it is our mission to contribute to the reduction of global emissions and decarbonization of the world.
Although this approach does not align with the definitions presented in the SBT and other international standards, it embodies our commitment to always be a company group contributing to Japan and the international community, considering our business structure and model and our aspirations as a trading company.
Disclosure based on Recommendations of the TCFD (Executive Summary)
In June 2021, our Company pledged its support for the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). We will strive to disclose information regarding climate change-related business risks and opportunities in accordance with the TCFD's framework and in a more accessible manner.
Governance
| TCFD recommended disclosure items | Our initiatives (summary) |
|---|---|
| a) Describe the board's oversight of climate-related risks and opportunities |
Monitoring organization Board of Directors |
| b) Describe management's role in assessing and managing climate-related risks and opportunities |
Role of management Discussion and reporting in the Sustainability Management Committee meeting attended by the Chief Officer of Corporate Planning and mainly chief officers from business divisions (executive officers) |
Strategy
Risks and opportunities
Conducted scenario analyses on four businesses: North American beef business, steel tubing business, corn business, kerosene business, coffee business and motor vehicles & parts business, on the basis of climate-related impacts (qualitative aspects) and sales/profit (quantitative aspects) The top priority areas in each of the businesses are as follows
| TCFD recommended disclosure items | Our business | Risks | Opportunities |
|---|---|---|---|
| a) Describe the climate-related risks and opportunities the organization has identified over the short, medium, and long term (short-, medium-, and long-term, 4℃ scenario and below 2℃ scenario） | North American beef business | Rise in feed and pasture prices due to higher average temperature (physical risk) | New opportunities associated with the development/adoption of new technologies (plant-based meat) |
| Steel tubing business | Decline in fossil fuel demand (transition risk) | New opportunities associated with the development/adoption of new technologies (CCUS, EOR) | |
| Corn business | ・Decline in sales due to a fall in meat demand, and an increase in procurement costs resulting from an increase in demand for non-feed uses（transition risk） ・Increase in procurement costs due to higher average temperatures and drought（physical risk） | New opportunities associated with the development/adoption of new technologies (bioplastics) | |
| Kerosene business | Decrease in demand due to tightened regulations（transition risk）Supply chain disruption due to rising sea levels (Physical risks) | Expansion of renewable energy business and selling of low-GHG emission products | |
| Coffee business | Increased procurement costs due to tighter legistration (transition risk) Decrease in sales due to supply chain disruption caused by extreme weather events (physical risk) | Expantion of sustainable coffee sales | |
| Motor Vehicles & Parts business | Increased procurement costs due to higher prices of materials (transition risk) Decrease in sales of small engine vehicles parts due to tighter legislation (physical risk) | increased sales of small ZEV components chaning from consumer preferencees and attitudes | |
| b) Describe the impact of climate-related risks and opportunities on the organization's businesses, strategy, and financial planning |
Impacts Categorize into Large/Medium/SmallQuantitative criteria Large: 1 billion yen or moreMedium: 500 million yen or more to less than 1 billion yen Small: less than 500 million yen |
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| c) Describe the resilience of the organization's strategy, taking into consideration different climate-related scenarios, including a 2℃ or lower scenario |
Analysis results
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Risk management
| TCFD recommended disclosure items | Our initiatives (summary) |
|---|---|
| a) Describe the organization's processes for identifying and assessing climate-related risks |
Identification and evaluation Each business division |
| b) Describe the organization's processes for managing climate-related risks |
Management Sustainability Management Committee |
| c) Describe how processes for identifying, assessing, and managing climate-related risks are integrated into the organization's overall risk management |
Integration (reporting, monitoring and supervision) Each business division → Sustainability Management Committee → Board of Directors |
Metrics and Targets
| TCFD recommended disclosure items | Our initiatives (summary) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a) Disclose the metrics used by the organization to assess climate-related risks and opportunities in line with its strategy and risk management process | Indicators: CO2 emissions and avoided CO2 emissions | ||||||||
| b) Disclose Scope 1, Scope 2 and, if appropriate, Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the related risks | Fiscal Year | the number of companies |
Scope1 | Scope2 | Scope1＋Scope2 | avoided CO2 emissions(*1) |
Scope3(*2) | ||
| The fiscal year ended March 31, 2025 | 106 | 8,398 | 18,530 | 26,928 | 1,151,264 | 4,109,773 | |||
| The fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 | 100 | 8,781 | 17,788 | 26,569 | - | 808,724 | |||
| The fiscal year ended March 31, 2023 | 97 | 9,507 | 18,814 | 28,321 | - | 856,376 | |||
| The fiscal year ended March 31, 2022 | 95 | 9,772 | 19,725 | 29,497 | - | 1,036,996 | |||
| c) Describe the targets used by the organization to manage climate-related risks and opportunities and performance against targets (Unit：t-CO₂) |
Fiscal year | Year | CO₂ emissions （a） |
Avoided CO₂ emissions （b） |
The ratio of avoided CO₂ emissions to CO₂ emissions （b/a） |
Excess amount of avoided CO₂ emissions (b-a) |
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| The fiscal year ended March 31, 2026 | 2025 | 30,000 or less | 800,000 | 26.7 times | （△）770,000 | ||||
| The fiscal year ended March 31, 2031 | 2030 | 30,000 or less | 1,000,000 | 33.3 times | （△）970,000 | ||||
| The fiscal year ended March 31, 2051 | 2050 | 30,000 or less | 1,500,000 | 50.0 times | （△）1,470,000 | ||||
(*1) The calculation of the contribution to avoided CO₂ emissions has began in the fiscal year ending March 2025.
(*2) Scope3 is calculated partially for categories 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 15 (excluding 14 franchises). However, category 1 is calculated for beef, which is considered to have a large impact among the products and services purchased by the company.
Disclosure based on Recommendations of the TCFD (Details)
Governance/Risk management
Execution
Our Group's business operations are promoted and executed by seven business divisions, which are also responsible for identifying and evaluating climate-related risks in their respective business areas.
Management
Our Company's Sustainability Management Committee is made up of mainly chief officers (executive officers) of our business divisions, which are executive organizations, who are well versed in their respective businesses, and the Chief Officer of Corporate Planning (executive officer) who oversees our Group's basic management policy and strategy and the distribution of management resources and who also serves as the committee chair. The Sustainability Management Committee discusses the climate-related risks that are identified and evaluated by the sales divisions. It is also responsible for calculating our Group's CO2 emissions on a regular basis, as well as discussing the factors contributing to increase or decrease of emissions and measures for improvement to ensure comprehensive risk management.
Monitoring and supervision
The Board of Directors receives regular reports from the Sustainability Management Committee and monitors and supervises the comprehensive management of climate-related risks in our Group.
Sustainability Management Committee agendas for FY2025 (climate change-related)
- Sustainability Disclosure (human rights, biodiversity, climate change (CDP) and etc.)
- FY2024 GHG emissions report and increase/decrease analysis
- Monitoring progress of initiatives to avoid GHG emissions and the amount of avoided CO2 emissions
- Monitoring progress of initiative on CSRD (Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive)
Sustainability Management Committee agendas for FY2024 (climate change-related)
- Disclosure of information based on TCFD recommendations
- FY2023 GHG emissions report and increase/decrease analysis
- Selection of businesses for TCFD scenario analysis
- Initiatives to reduce GHG emissions and progress checks
- Monitoring progress of GX projects
- New subsidy scheme for the introduction of electricity derived from renewable energy source
- Review and analysis of CDP climate change 2023 report
Sustainability Management Committee agendas for FY2023 (climate change-related)
- Goal setting for reduced CO2 emissions and information disclosure in accordance with TCFD recommendations
- FY2022 GHG emissions report and increase/decrease analysis
- Selection of businesses for TCFD scenario analysis
- Initiatives to reduce GHG emissions and progress checks
- Summary of executed investments from a sustainability perspective
- Review and analysis of CDP climate change 2022 report
Sustainability Management Committee agendas for FY2022
- Revision and identification of new materiality (key issues)
- Support for the TCFD
- Selection of businesses for TCFD scenario analysis
- Calculation of CO2 emissions
- Report on TCFD scenario analysis progress
Strategy
Basic Concept
We have conducted a scenario analysis on the businesses in our Group that are considered to be significantly impacted by climate change. As a result of the analysis, we believe that even though both risks and opportunities exist in all the scenarios, the impact from opportunities surpasses that from risks. Since the promotion of investment in environment-related business areas is one of the priorities under our medium-term vision, future135,we consider addressing climate change to be a business opportunity.
Selection of businesses for scenario analysis
To evaluate the qualitative impact of climate change on our Group's businesses, we first classified them
into high-risk sectors and non-high-risk sectors as per the TCFD recommendations.
Next, we categorized the impact on our Group from the perspective of sales (quantitative aspect). Of the
four businesses that showed large qualitative and quantitative impact, we selected businesses that
accounted for a relatively large portion of our sales on a consolidated basis (IFRS earnings) for the
scenario analysis as shown below.
Continuing from FY2022 ：
North American beef business, Steel tubing business
For FY2023 ：
Corn business, Kerosene business
For FY2024 ：
Coffee business, Motor Vehicles & Parts business
Selection of climate scenarios
In order to objectively determine the new risks and opportunities brought about by climate change and the resilience of the businesses under review, we used reports by the International Energy Agency (World Energy Outlook 2023, Net Zero by 2050 Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector), the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, and other reference documents to conduct the analysis for 2030 and 2050 assuming the following scenarios:
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4℃ scenarios (current scenarios)
-
Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS)
Scenario in which policies that have already been introduced or announced are implemented -
- Announced Pledges Scenario (APS)
Scenario in which the pledges announced by the world's governments are completely achieved as scheduled -
Business-as-usual (BAU)
Scenario in which fossil fuels continue to be the main source of energy, and greenhouse gas emissions keep increasing
-
Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS)
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Below 2℃ scenarios (transition scenarios)
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Sustainable Development Scenario (SDS)
Scenario in which all net-zero pledges are completely achieved, and broad efforts are made for the short-term reduction of emissions (i.e., scenario that matches the Paris Agreement's goal to limit global warming to well below 2℃) - Net Zero Emissions (NZE) by 2050 Scenario Scenario in which the global energy sector achieves CO2net zero by 2050
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Toward Sustainability Scenario (TSS)
Scenario in which progress is made toward achieving the SDGs on a global scale, and the world's energy demand is satisfied by renewable resources
-
Sustainable Development Scenario (SDS)
Impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities
The (financial) impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities do not apply to the whole Company but are impacts on the profits or expenses of the businesses selected for the scenario analysis. The impacts are classified into three categories (Large, Medium, Small) on the basis of the following quantitative criteria:
(Quantitative criteria)
Large: 1 billion yen or more
Medium: 500 million yen or more to less than 1 billion yen
Small: less than 500 million yen
―: Qualitative evaluation only
Scenario analysis and strategy resilience
- (1) North American beef business
-
For financial impact, revisions were made based on the latest scenarios in the World Energy Outlook 2023 and the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.
Risks
The average temperature during the summer season is expected to rise in North American corn production regions.
Opportunities
There are no direct climate change-related impacts. However, demand for beef is expected to grow due to population increase in all scenarios.
- (2) Steel tubing business
-
For financial impact, revisions were made based on the latest scnerios in the World Energy Outlook 2023 and the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.
Risks
Fossil fuel demand is expected to decline significantly in the below 2℃ scenarios.
Opportunities
The amount of captured CO2 is expected to increase due to CCUS.
- (3) Corn business
-
For financial impact, revisions were made based on the latest scnerios in the World Energy Outlook 2023 and the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.
Risks
A significant decline in demand for corn feed is expected as a result of slowing demand for beef and other meats in the below 2℃ scenario.
Opportunities
Demand is expected for low-GHG emission products such as bioplastics.
- (4) Kerosene business
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- （*）Based on the WEO-2023, the 4℃ scenario assumes an increase in crude oil prices as a result of increased demand, and the below 2℃ scenario assumes a decline in crude oil prices due to decreased demand.
Risks
Fossil fuel demand is expected to decline significantly in the below 2℃ scenarios.
Opportunities
Expansion of the renewable energy business and sales of low-GHG emission products
- (5) Coffee Business
-
In the green coffee bean business, many items were left for qualitative evaluation due to a lack of objective statistical data from public institutions.
Risks
In the below 2℃ scenario, coffee procurement costs are expected to increase due to stricter environmental protection regulations.
Opportunities
In the below 2℃ scenario, environmental awareness among consumers and business partners will increase globally, and demand for sustainable coffee, such as from Datera Estate (※1), is expected to increase.
（※1）The first Brazilian company to obtain Rainforest Alliance certification, which aims to protect tropical rainforests and improve the working environment, and a pioneer in sustainable coffee with a focus on both quality and the environment.
- (6) Motor Vehicles & Parts business
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（※）By 2050, the increase in sales of small ZEV components will outweigh the decline in sales of small engine vehicle components due to the shift to small EV vehicles as a result of stricter environmental regulations.
Risks
Increase in procurement costs due to higher steel product prices could be a major burden
Opportunities
In a motorcycle market that is expected to expand, in addition to parts sales for large vehicles, demand is expected to increase for new technology products (e.g. Carbonfly's carbon nanotubes, ZEV parts,etc.) and environmentally-friendly products (e.g. Datatec's digital tachographs) needed for small EVs to replace small engine vehicles. Sources.
Metrics and Targets
Indicator (CO2 emissions)
As our Group does not own many plants and generates little greenhouse gas emissions other than CO2, we used CO2 emissions as the indicator for evaluating the climate-related risks and opportunities.
Results
(Unit：t-CO₂)
| Fiscal Year | the number of companies |
CO2emissions | Avoided CO2 emissions*1 | CO2emissions Scope3*2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scope1 | Scope2 | Scope1＋Scope2 | |||||
| FY2025 | 106 | 8,398 | 18,530 | 26,928 | 1,151,264 | 4,109,773 | |
| FY2024 | 100 | 8,781 | 17,788 | 26,569 | 808,724 | ||
| FY2023 | 97 | 9,507 | 18,814 | 28,321 | 856,376 | ||
| FY2022 | 95 | 9,772 | 19,725 | 29,497 | 1,036,996 | ||
(*1) The calculation of the contribution to avoided CO₂ emissions has began in the fiscal year ending March 2025.
(*2) Scope3 is calculated partially for categories 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 15 (excluding 14 franchises). However, category 1 is calculated for beef, which is considered to have a large impact among the products and services purchased by the company.
Targets
(Targets for Scope 1, 2)
(Unit：t-CO₂)
| Fiscal year | Year | Target | The ratio of avoided CO₂ emissions to CO₂ emissions (b/a) |
Excess amount of avoided CO₂ emissions(b-a) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (a)CO2 emissions | (b)Avoided CO2 emissions | ||||
| The fiscal year ended March 31, 2026 | 2025 | 30,000 or less | 800,000 | 26.7 times | （△）770,000 |
| The fiscal year ended March 31, 2031 | 2030 | 30,000 or less | 1,000,000 | 33.3 times | （△）970,000 |
| The fiscal year ended March 31, 2051 | 2050 | 30,000 or less | 1,500,000 | 50.0 times | （△）1,470,000 |
(Targets for Scope 1, 2 and Scope 3)
We will reduce CO2 emissions by switching to renewable energy, and will strive to keep CO2 emissions below 30,000 t-CO2 even if the number of our group companies increases.
Furthermore, by expanding forest conservation projects such as REDD+, bilateral credit projects, and renewable energy-related businesses, we aim to increase our contribution to avoided emissions by 1,500,000 t-CO2, equivalent to approximately 50 times the CO2 emissions of our group, by 2050, thereby contributing to GHG reductions in Japan and the international community.
Collaboration with external parties
Industry association: Japan Foreign Trade Council, Inc.
We are promoting initiatives to build a low-carbon and recycling-oriented society as a member of the Global Environment Committee of the Japan Foreign Trade Council,Inc (JFTC), an industry association for trading companies.
We will also continue to support the JFTC’s "Long-term Vision for Climate Change Countermeasures", which aligns with our policies and goals.
Positions Regarding Climate Change Laws and Regulations
Our group supports laws and regulations regarding climate change such as the Act on the Rationalization etc. of Energy Use and the Act on Promotion of Global Warming Countermeasures. We annually submit reports of our energy use, progress against the targets of energy conservation, and emissions of greenhouse gas.