Yakult Group Materiality

We have identified six material themes to achieve sustainability as a further step in realizing our mission of contributing to the health and happiness of people around the world based on our belief that “in order for people to be healthy, everything around them must also be healthy.” To identify these themes, we established a cross-departmental working group that mapped various issues from environmental, social, governance and operational perspectives along two axes: “Impact for the Yakult Group” and “Importance for the sustainability of the planet and society.” Additionally, matrix analysis was conducted by placing items along each axis at positions ranging from “extremely important” through “important” to “moderately important.” We also referenced reports from groups like the IPCC* and World Economic Forum (WEF) and worked with NTT Data Management Consulting, Inc., to identify six themes that we believe are extremely important for the Yakult Group and for the sustainability of people and the planet.

Using these six themes, we will establish strategies and plans that work toward improving the sustainability of not only our own Group but also of the planet and society to make our corporate philosophy and goal of uniting “People and Planet as One” a reality. Additionally, to respond to a changing society, we will explore periodically reviewing our materiality while soliciting opinions from stakeholders.

* IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which releases an evaluation report on climate change every five to six years.
In its 2018 special report, “Global Warming of 1.5ºC”, it detailed the ramifications of a 2ºC rise in global temperature and pointed to the importance of taking immediate action to limit this rise to below 1.5ºC.

Identifying material themes

Six material themes to achieve sustainability

To realize our corporate belief of “in order for people to be healthy, everything around them must also be healthy” and achieve sustainability, we identified three social themes to prioritize within the value chain: innovation, value co-creation with communities, and supply chain management. We also analyzed factors such as climate change scenarios and water risk to identify three environmental themes: climate change, plastic containers and packaging, and water.

Innovation

Evolve into a healthcare company, further pursue the potential of bacteria, provide new products and services, use resources effectively, and others

Value co-creation
with communities

Connect closely with local communities, deliver information on health, provide safe and reliable health products and services, and others

Supply chain management

Maintain sound relationships with business partners, promote CSR procurement, ensure stable procurement of raw materials, and others

Climate change

Reduce GHG emissions (decarbonize), proactively shift to renewable energy, introduce energy-saving practices, and others

Plastic containers
and packaging

Convert to fully-recyclable containers and packaging, reduce environmental impact by changing container materials, and others

Water

Use sustainable water resources, reduce water consumption, and others

The Yakult Group’s contributions to the SDGs

The Yakult Group’s corporate activities are broadly related to all 17 SDGs, but based on our materiality we have identified the following eight goals as being most closely connected to our business. Moving forward, the entire Yakult Group will continue contributing to achieving the SDGs.