JSR Group CSR activities have been evaluated by outside organizations. We have earned inclusion into the following ESG indexes and socially responsible investment (SRI) indexes and stocks.
We have been selected as a member of the Morningstar Socially Responsible Investment Index, Japan's major SRI index, since 2009.
* The Morningstar Socially Responsible Investment Index represents 150 domestic companies selected as being exceptionally socially responsible. This stock index does not guarantee future performance nor does it assume any responsibility. Morningstar Japan K.K. and Morningstar, Inc. shall not bear any responsibility for damage that might result from use of the index. Copyright and all other rights rest with Morningstar Japan K.K. and Morningstar, Inc. Copies, reproductions, and citation without permission are prohibited.
Additionally, the JSR Group has continually been ranked in the Global Compact 100 since FY 2013.
| Award Sponsor | Award Name | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Japan Chemical Industry Association | Responsible Care Award for Effort | JSR Optech Tsukuba |
| Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry | Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry General Director's Award for Excellence in Plant Energy Management | JSR Micro Kyushu | |
| 2013 | Chubu Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry | Chubu Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry General Director's Award for Excellence in Plant Energy Management | JAPAN COLORING |
| Commissioner of the Fire and Disaster Management Agency | Fire Defense Award | JSR Micro Kyushu | |
| Commissioner of the Fire and Disaster Management Agency | Fire Defense Award | JSR Optech Tsukuba | |
| Japan Chemical Industry Association | Responsible Care Award | JSR Chiba Plant | |
| 2012 | Japan Chemical Industry Association | Safety Award Grand Prize | JSR Yokkaichi Plant |
Note: Company names current at the time the award was received
Toshihiko Goto
Chief Executive Officer
Sustainability Forum Japan (specified non-profit organization)
On the whole, I evaluate that strategies have been put in place and are being steadily advanced for nearly all items that should be addressed at the present time.
The Top Commitment column speaks of three priority area: the environment, work styles, and safety. In the environment area, the Top Commitment column mentions the problems of GHGs and plastics, which have close ties to your company. With respect to GHGs, I regard the issue to be making a declaration of zero GHGs emission as soon as possible. Taking up the problem of plastics is admirable, and I hope JSR will lead Japanese society on this issue, in the midst of a perception gap between the world and Japan.
On work styles, the column asserts they are important "in achieving productivity" and I think that this is the key of the work style reform. Digitalization, innovation, and AI, as well as a vision of the future, are all intertwined in this.
Last year, I heard about the inauguration of a team composed of young people to forge a vision of the future, with the statement: "[JSR] wants the young generation to take the lead in setting our direction for the next twenty or thirty years." No information on the team's activities or status has been forthcoming since. Perhaps dialog with young stakeholders and the development of data scientists for digitalization are part of this. These efforts are praiseworthy, but I hope once again for clarification of a policy on formulating your vision for the future for the management of strategic risks and opportunities. Also, I discussed this last year too, but chemicals are expected to play a huge role in the development of alternative resources. The development of substitutes for natural rubber has made a massive contribution to biodiversity preservation.
In building a long-term vision of the future, it is important to think about innovation all the way to the social implementation stage, which is a break from Japan's conventional product-out design ideology. Even producers of materials like JSR should have a concept of the end social implementation in mind when developing products. By the way, Innovation is said to arise from the clash of the conventional and the unconventional. I hope the youth initiatives mentioned above will spark such innovation.
The selection of key priority issues is also relevant here. Revising the key priority issue selections from last fiscal year was valid in my view. I hope you will consider one other point: "On issues that are not highly important to JSR but are highly important to society, we will try to use our management resources to lead to some form of business solution."
While redundant, let me add about work styles that diversity management is the key to productivity.
JSR has a two-tier system with risk management. One is "the Risk Management Committee" which handles risks arising in the normal course of business. The other is "major conferences such as meetings of the Board of Directors" which handles huge, uncertain and future risks etc. This is thought to be a reasonable arrangement so far. But when looking at strategic management as described below, I suggest you reconsider this approach, as it also relates to a vision of the future described above.
In July of last year, the G20 adopted a final report on climate-related financial disclosures put forward by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). I look forward to strategic efforts based on scenario analyses of risks and opportunities, and particularly risks divided into transition risks and physical risks.
As I discussed last year, the policy and regulatory transition risks in the automotive industry are no longer risks; they have become reality. At the same time, we have entered an age of even more technology risks and, conversely, opportunities. In the area of strategic risk management, I feel you need to verify the optimum structural approach for your company.
At the present time, direct descriptions of measures toward the SDGs are rarely seen. I do not regard them as individual matters; rather, I think they should be thought about integrally within the context of the detailed descriptions above them.
I applaud your ESG data preparation as fitting for the times. I think, however, that you must tweak this through ongoing dialog and engagement to ensure the data is what users seek. It's no exaggeration to say each investor wants a unique set of information. Because meeting everyone's demands is impossible, it's important to present your core information in a user-friendly format. There will be strong pressure in the coming years to release policies and strategies as ESG information, so reports must either contain qualitative information or have links to qualitative information in appropriate places.
Finally, the separation of the detailed version and the highlight version will be an eternal issue. I would add that the highlight version is very important and requires constant revision in terms of its objectives, target readers, editorial policy, content, media, and other matters.
Chief Executive Officer, Sustainability Forum Japan (specified non-profit organization)
Chairman, Sustainable Management Forum of Japan; Founder , Japan Sustainable Investment Forum (JSIF); Director, Green Finance Organization; Board Member, Global Compact Network Japan, etc.
Serves as chair or member of multiple committees, including ; Convener of the working group to develop a platform for disclosing environmental information; Member of the judging committee for the Environmental Communication Awards; and Head of the Tripartite Roundtable on Environmental Business (TREB) attached to the Tripartite Environmental Ministers Meeting among Japan, China, South Korea (TEMM).
Former Board Member of GRI. Graduate from the Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo.
The JSR Group strives to solve social issues based on the view that CSR is indistinguishable from management, which fulfills our corporate mission - Materials Innovation - We create value through materials to enrich society, people and the environment. We arranged priority issues for the Group along three axes last fiscal year, and this fiscal year we described each priority issue in more detail and made it easier to grasp the current position and goal of each issue. We have also collated ESG data individually, such as giving numerical changes over time, and taken other steps so all stakeholders can more easily understand the ESG data.
We were very pleased to read your comment that strategies have been put in place and are being steadily advanced for all items that should be addressed. Regarding your recommendation to clarify a policy on establishing our vision of the future, we will endeavor to provide a specific establishment policy, such as reporting on the activities of the team of young people we assembled last year to build our vision of the future. And as for your proposal for establishing strategic risk management, we will consider with the relevant departments strategic efforts, based on scenario analyses split into transition risks and physical risks, that should be incorporated into the Group's next new mid-term plan.
CSR Department, JSR Corporation
The JSR Group has been independently reviewed by the Responsible Care Verification Center of the Japan Chemical Association regarding the content found in the online versions of the JSR Group CSR Report 2018.
