Business Partner Selection and Collaboration

When doing business with business partners, we fairly evaluate the quality and supply capabilities of each business partner's products and services, their financial condition, safety measures, environmental conservation, and social contribution based on Suntory Group’s Basic Policy on Sustainable Procurement.
Suntory Group's Basic Policy on Sustainable Procurement was established to further strengthen sustainability with regard to internationally recognized important issues, including the prohibition of child labor and forced labor, respect and support for the right of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, reduction of excessive working hours, and the guarantee of a living wage.
Under this policy, we also established the Suntory Group Partner Guidelines. These guidelines put in place specific compliance items required in each field from human rights and legal compliance to the environment for business partners of Suntory, including suppliers and customers, to confirm the same ethical values are shared between the Suntory Group and its partners. Compliance with these guidelines is a prerequisite for engaging in a business relationship with suppliers, and we require both new and current suppliers to sign off on their compliance with the guidelines. We hold annual policy briefings for our major business partners to inform and seek their understanding.

Collaboration with Business Partners

Suntory Group is promoting pioneering activities in collaboration with diverse partners to reduce GHG emissions and address environmental and social challenges, such as human rights, throughout the value chain.

Stable Procurement of Raw Ingredients

Suntory Group considers the effects of extreme weather events caused by climate change, such as rising average temperatures, droughts, and floods, on essential crops and other raw materials as a significant risk. These conditions could lead to fluctuations in yield and shifts in optimal cultivation areas, greatly impacting production activities.
With this understanding, Suntory Group is identifying risks and opportunities while referring to scenarios from RCP2.6 (scenarios below 2°C), RCP 8.5 (4°C scenario) from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA).
As part of efforts to ensure stable procurement of raw ingredients, we conduct impact assessments of future yield predictions due to climate change based on the source of the raw ingredients, and develop strategies for stable procurement.

For more information on our strategy, see Sustainable Procurement.

Respect for Human Rights in Supply Chains

We strive to respect the human rights of everyone involved in our business through dialogue and cooperation with various stakeholders, including employees, business partners, the local community, and NGOs. For human rights risks in raw ingredients, we have conducted a potential risk assessment in collaboration with Verisk Maplecroft, a global risk consulting company, for our major ingredients using general country and industry data.
As a result, we have begun a risk assessment tracing back through the supply chain for the coffee beans where potential risks have been identified.
Additionally, we are a member of Sedex, the world's largest supplier ethical information sharing platform, and we conduct impact assessments using Sedex’s SAQ*. These SAQs evaluate the potential social risks in the supply chain by focusing on child labor, forced labor and other human rights issues as well as considerations toward the work environment and occupational safety.

• *SAQ:Self-Assessment Questionnaire

For more information, see Respect for Human Rights.