Suntory Group’s Sustainability Initiatives
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Suntory Group’s Sustainability Initiatives

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Suntory Group’s Sustainable Management

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.

Our Purpose — The goals of the Suntory Group's business and our corporate direction: “To inspire the brilliance of life, by creating rich experiences for people, in harmony with nature.” Our Values — The values we embrace to achieve our purpose: ・Growing for Good: We keep growing, as individuals and as a corporation, towards a better world. By continuing to grow, we expand our capacity to improve society. ・“Yatte Minahare”: We refuse to fear failure, refuse to give in or give up, and stay relentless in our quest to innovate new values.・Giving Back to Society: We give back from what our business earns, not only by reinvesting in our company, but by caring for our customers and partners and contributing to society.

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 material issues that we should address 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 and will continue striving to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society.

  • *
    The Sustainable Development Goals are goals adopted at a UN Summit in September 2015 that the whole world should tackle by 2030

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 as well as people and the environment.
The Suntory Group Sustainability Vision is structured around 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 Identification Process consisting of five steps. STEP 1: Overview of sustainability issues. Reference materials: SDGs; Sustainability information disclosure standards (SASB, ESRS, GRI); TCFD and TNFD; Main ESG assessment bodies; Benchmarking in relation to other companies in the industry. STEP 2: Preliminary identification of sustainability issues. Identification approach: Importance to the food and beverage sector; Importance in terms of Suntory Group business philosophy. STEP 3: Identification of the risks and opportunities associated with each issue / Impact assessment. When performing impact assessment, for each materiality item, in addition to factors that could be expected to affect the whole of the non-alcohol and alcoholic beverage sector, we also take into account factors that apply specifically to the Suntory Group, including: 1:Information relating to the main countries in which we do business, and main countries that we procure materials from; and 2: Information relating to our key raw ingredients. Assessment perspective — External impacts: 1: Scale; 2: Scope; 3:Irrecoverability; 4: Likelihood. Financial impacts: 1: Size of financial impact; 2:Likelihood. Stakeholder engagement implemented at the time of assessment: Consumer surveys in markets that are important from a business strategy perspective; Dialogue with NGOs and experts; Dialogue with employees. STEP 4: Discussion with senior managers. STEP 5: Approval by the Board of Directors.

Suntory Group Sustainability Vision

The Suntory Group Sustainability Vision organizes the material issues that Suntory Group should address using the process outlined above.

Suntory Group Sustainability Vision: “To Create Harmony with People and Nature.” As a multifaceted beverages company whose products rely on the blessings of nature, Suntory Group is committed to working with stakeholders to protect and nurture the natural environment, and to create a society in which all life can flourish where the origins of our resources are protected for years to come. Materiality related to NATURE: - Water / Nature: Water (water stewardship and conservation management), Raw Ingredients (responsible sourcing in the supply chain), Containers and Packaging (sustainable packaging), - Climate Action: GHG (GHG emission reductions across all business activities). Materiality related to PEOPLE: - Health: Promote responsible drinking, responsible marketing, positive impact on health through products and services, - Human Capital: Promoting talent development, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, - Human Rights: Respect human rights throughout the value chain,
Material Issues Initiatives

Water/Nature

Climate Action

Water

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    Water stewardship and conservation management

Raw Ingredients

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    Responsible sourcing in the supply chain

Containers and Packaging

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    Sustainable packaging

GHG

  • ●
    GHG emission reductions across business activities

Health
  • ●
    Promote responsible drinking
  • ●
    Responsible marketing
  • ●
    Positive impact to health through products and services

Human Capital

  • ●
    Promoting talent development
  • ●
    Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Human rights

  • ●
    Respect human rights throughout the value chain

Suntory Group’s Mid- to Long-term Targets

Suntory Group is committed to addressing the wide range of challenges that the world faces 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.

Roadmap showing the Suntory Group's mid- to long-term targets “SUNTORY GROUP OUR TARGETS” across three timeframes: 2030, 2040, and 2050. [2030 Targets] ·Reduce GHG emissions from our direct operations by 50%*3, ·Reduce GHG emissions across our entire value chain by 30%*3, ·Reduce the water intensity of production at our plants by 35% globally, ·Shift all plastic bottles used globally to sustainable bottles*2, ·Achieve total participation of over 5 million people in the awareness raising program for water and activities to provide safe water, ·Replenish more than 100% of water used at half or more of our plants to the water source through water resource cultivation activities, ·Identify important raw materials with high water consumption*1 in areas with high water stress and cooperate with suppliers to improve water use efficiency for their production. [2050 Targets] ·Reduce the amount of water used in our plants*2 in the world by 50%*4, ·Achieve GHG emissions throughout the value chain to be net zero, ·Preserve water resources and the ecosystem to cultivate more water than is used by our plants worldwide, ·Share the Sustainable Water Philosophy broadly in communities, ·Realize sustainable water use at primary raw material farms. (Notes: *1 Coffee, barley, and grape *2 Recycled materials or 100% Bio-based material *3 2019 emissions as base line *4 Reduction per unit production based on the business fields in 2015)

See SUNTORY GROUP: OUR TARGETS (PDF file: 791KB)Open PDF in a new tab or in an application.

Promotion 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 material issues. 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 is provided with opportunities to hear advice from third party experts on sustainability management. Additionally, the targets used to determine executive compensation include a sustainability component.

Suntory Group’s Environmental Management Promotion Structure

Organizational chart showing the Suntory Group’s Environmental Management Promotion Structure. At the top: Suntory Holdings Board Meeting. Below it, the Global Sustainability Committee (GSC), which reports to the Board. To the right of the GSC: the Global Risk Management Committee and the Global Alcohol Responsibility & Sustainability Committee, both linked to the GSC. The following three organizations are shown as counterparts of the GSC: ·Suntory Beverage & Food Sustainability Committee, ·Suntory Global Spirits Corporate Responsibility Committee, ·Each Group Company.

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.

Stakeholder engagement diagram showing the Suntory Group's engagement with five stakeholder groups — Customers, Business Partners, Employees, Community, and Global Environment — with two-way communication maintained with each.

Opportunities for Communication with Stakeholders

For past stakeholder dialogues, please refer to Dialogue with Society.