The importance of “environmental management” has been increasing in recent years together with growing ESG investment. Although, generally, several elements of environmental management are published, specific activities for environmental management are based on ISO guidelines and other standards.

Regarding climate change, many companies have calculated the GHG emissions of their products using ISO standard of the carbon footprint （CFP） and the GHG emissions of their organization using “Scope 3 standard”. In addition, several new guidelines showing how to declare carbon neutrality have been recently published.

Moreover, “Avoided Emissions” claims to show that their products can reduce GHGs in society have been increased in the world.

Meanwhile, ISO standards on “economy” and “social” as well as “environment” are now being issued for sustainable development. The development of social LCA has begun, and ISOs regarding the climate change management for financial sectors were published.

Environmental management now usually takes into account the life cycle and is moving toward activities aimed not only at “climate change” but also at “sustainability”. The direction of future developments needs to be closely monitored.

In recent years, as the amount of ESG investment has grown both in Japan and overseas, the implementation of procurement of raw materials with environmental and social considerations, such as the impact on the ecosystems of production sites, labor rights, and the working environment, has become an important factor in corporate procurement activities, and has become one of the factors for evaluating a company.

Against this backdrop, companies, especially those with global operations, are increasingly formulating “sustainable procurement policies （e.g., CSR procurement policies）” that stipulate their initiatives in areas such as environmental conservation, human rights, and labor, and requiring their suppliers to comply with their initiatives in line with these policies. This movement aims to balance the economic aspect of sustainable development of the company’s business with environmental conservation by ensuring the sustainability of the earth’s natural capital, and surveys are being conducted to ascertain the current status of supplier initiatives. This trend toward sustainable procurement is not something that only global companies and major corporations are addressing; it is a story that concerns all companies, including major corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Japan.

In addition to formulating individual policies for environmental and social aspects, companies are required to formulate medium- and long-term goals and plans for their overall sustainability efforts, collect relevant data for information disclosure, and manage progress based on KPIs in order to demonstrate that they are making organizational efforts in the questionnaire survey and other surveys. To achieve these requirements, it is not enough for departments that promote the environment and sustainability, but also for understanding from management, and coordination and consensus building with related departments. In terms of sustainability management, business environment of companies is rapidly changing with the application of new frameworks and regulations on sustainability. It is therefore necessary for companies to share and understand the essence and importance of issues described above throughout the company and throughout the supply chain.

This paper introduces the contents and efforts related to the promotion of corporate sustainability activities, including survey results.

Daito Group’s main business is planning, construction, leasing, tenant introduction, and building management and operation of rental housing, primarily focusing on wooden structures. This commentary provides an overview of the current status of our group’s environmental and sustainability management, as well as introducing our environmental and sustainability education and support activities for both internal and external stakeholders.

Our company （Kayama Kogyo Co., Ltd.）, which performs intermediate treatment of industrial waste, is actively engaged in not only the proper treatment of waste, but also in efforts to decarbonize the world in order to realize a cleaner world. This paper presents our approach to decarbonization during the intermediate treatment of waste, which is an important part of the life cycle of various products. In addition, the report describes efforts to promote life cycle thinking to stakeholders and local elementary school students and summarizes issues to be addressed in the future.

NGP Japan Automobile Recycling Cooperative （NGP）, whose main business lines are in automobile recycling, finds it important to reuse, reduce, and recycle （3Rs）. We not only promote the 3Rs in our business activities and also focus on conveying the importance of the 3Rs to children, who will be responsible for the next generation. This article introduces the production of our environmental education materials that make effective use of wastes and examples of their application.

Ajinomoto AGF is a food company whose main raw materials are agricultural products that are affected by the global environment. In order to achieve the Ajinomoto Group’s goal of reducing environmental impact by 50%, our company has set four materialities: responding to climate change, contributing to a circular economy, sustainable materials sourcing, and forest improvement and water resource conservation. We are now implementing these initiatives. This paper introduces our particular activities related to forest improvement and water resource conservation from four perspectives: understanding our relationship with water, making social value creation visualization with understanding one’s own responsibility, contributing to the improvement in stakeholder engagement, and expanding activities that take advantage of the diverse functions of forests.

This commentary reports on a case of environmental education conducted by a private company, Sagawa Express Co., Ltd.（hereinafter, Sagawa Express）. Sagawa Expressy has initiated educational activities aimed at suppliers of outsourced transportation as part of our efforts to reduce the overall environmental impact of the supply chain. Additionally, our educational initiatives target not only business stakeholders but also local residents and schools, engaging various stakeholders through guest lectures, citizen meetings, forest experience programs, and other activities. This commentary introduces the environmental education initiatives carried out by Sagawa Express in our pursuit of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, nature-positive outcomes, and building a sustainable society.