Suntory Group's Corporate Philosophy
Being true to our purpose “To inspire the brilliance of life, by creating rich experiences for people, in harmony with nature,” we will practice our values of Growing for Good, “Yatte Minahare,” and Giving Back to Society.
The Suntory Group’s Vision on Sustainability
As a multifaceted beverage company, we are dedicated to realizing a sustainable society where enriching people’s lives and conserving the natural environment go hand in hand. We deeply respect the blessings of nature on which our products rely, and engage in a range of activities to ensure sustainable use of natural resources and a healthy natural water cycle. In addition to delivering products and services that enrich peoples’ lives, we strive to ensure that our business growth contributes to a sustainable society across our entire value chain.
Suntory Group’s approach to sustainability and the 7 sustainability themes to which we are contributing are outlined in the Suntory Group Sustainability Vision. Being strongly aware of the interdependence between nature and people, we are implementing various initiatives together with our stakeholders, to realize a world where nature and people live in harmony.
The world faces a wide variety of environmental and social issues, such as water shortages and loss of biodiversity from the changing climate, pollution and increasing waste, poverty, and human rights violations.
Companies are now expected to actively work on realizing the common global objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).* As a global business, Suntory Group remains deeply committed to tackling global issues with sincerity and will continue striving to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society.
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*The Sustainable Development Goals are goals adopted at a UN Summit in September 2015 that the whole world should tackle by 2030
Suntory Group Sustainability Vision
Materiality
To promote sustainable management that takes into account the changes which can be anticipated in the macro environment over the mid to long term, Suntory Group has identified its materiality, and this materiality is reflected in our sustainability strategy.
In 2023, Suntory Group reviewed the results of the materiality analysis that had been performed in 2017. This time, the materiality analysis was based on the double materiality concept, and sought to identify and evaluate the impact on both the company’s business and the people and the environment.
The 7 themes outlined in the Suntory Group Sustainability Vision were collated mainly from the 10 key issues identified as constituting Suntory Group’s materiality. Both the materiality and the Suntory Group Sustainability Vision were approved following discussion by the Board of Directors.
Materiality Identification Process
Materiality Matrix
Using the process outlined above, we identified 10 key materiality items for Suntory Group. Focusing on these items, we collated 7 main sustainability themes that Suntory should address.
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Climate Action |
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Raw Ingredients |
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Human Rights |
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Health |
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Enriching Life |
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Suntory Group’s Mid- to Long-term Targets
Suntory Group is committed to addressing the wide range of challenges that the world is facing today, and will continue our efforts to realize a sustainable society.
In particular, we have set mid- to long-term targets and are implementing world-leading initiatives for water sustainability, as well as for the pressing issues of reducing GHG emissions and plastics usage.
Promoting Structure
The Global Sustainability Committee (GSC) is responsible for sustainability management and is chaired by the Chief Sustainability Officer, with Executive Officers from each business serving as vice chairs. Committee members include the Directors in charge of each functional division, the heads of Group companies inside and outside Japan, and the heads of functional divisions. The GSC discusses the Group’s sustainability strategies and confirms progress on priority themes (water, climate action, raw ingredients, containers and packaging, health and human rights). Progress on environmental and social activities as well as business risks and opportunities are reported to the Board of Directors on a quarterly basis. In addition, the Board of Directors are provided with the opportunities to hear advice from the third party experts on sustainability management. Additionally, the targets used to determine executive compensation include a sustainability component.
Suntory Group's Environmental Management Promoting Structure
Stakeholder Engagement
We pursue our business activities while engaging with a wide variety of stakeholders. We will make clear our responsibilities to our stakeholders and communicate with them in various ways so that we can continue making contributions to realizing a sustainable society. We aim to incorporate feedback we receive and societal needs into our company activities and continuously work to build highly trustworthy and collaborative relationships with stakeholders.
Opportunities for Communication with Stakeholders
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| Customers | We value close communication with customers, placing top priority on the customer. We sincerely listen to consumer opinions and requests and, through detailed communication, work to develop and improve upon products and services for our business activities. |
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| Business Partners | We build relationships of trust with all our business partners through fair and equitable transactions, endeavoring to provide a safe and healthy working environment and complying with related laws and regulations, while working together to realize a sustainable society. We will also deliver even better products and services to consumers. |
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| Employees | We believe that people are the most important foundation of our business. By allowing each employee to maximize their individuality and capabilities and continue to grow, we will increase the value of the entire Suntory Group and continue to grow to even greater heights. |
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| The Local Community | We seek to coexist with local communities and co-create value by understanding and communicating the impact that our business activities have on the community. We will work to resolve social issues through our business activities and contribute to the development of a sustainable society. |
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| Global Environment | We recognize that the global environment constitutes an important foundation of our business and is a shared societal resource. Ingraining this concept in every part of the Group, Suntory is striving to build a prosperous and sustainable society by preserving and regenerating nature, reducing environmental impacts, and passing on a sustainable global environment to future generations. |
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For past stakeholder dialogues, please refer to Dialogue with Society archive.
