Materiality

Incorporating Materiality (Key CSR Issues) into Group Business Strategy

To reflect CSR issues in our business strategy, the GS Yuasa Group analyzes and assesses the impact on business and the impact of our business on society and then clarifies the Group's materiality for items that need to be addressed. Regarding the specified materiality, as necessary we have set targets relating to our business strategy and, to achieve those targets, have formulated concrete activity plans and key performance indicators (KPIs) to gauge progress in achieving the goals.

Materiality is periodically revised by the GS Yuasa Group CSR Committee in accordance with evolving stakeholder needs/expectations and social issues. When incorporating materiality into business strategy, the CSR Committee formulates plans that will lead to enhanced stakeholder satisfaction through the strengthening of our corporate infrastructure and enhancement of corporate value.

The GS Yuasa Group aims for enhanced management of financial and non-financial operations, as well as for sustainable corporate and social growth through execution of business processes that incorporate materiality in the Mid-Term Management Plan.

Overview of CSR issues impacting sustainable growth in our Fifth Mid-Term Management Plan

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CategoryTopicCSR Issues Relating to
Sustainable Growth		Details of Main Plans and Targets
E Contribute to
sustainability of
the global environment
  • Development and global sales of
    environmental considerations products
  • Reduction of environmental burden of
    business activities
  • Group-wide CO2 emission reduction
    target:
    6%/3 years
  • Group-wide water use reduction
    target:
    8%/3 years
  • Ratio of environmental considerations
    products to overall sales: 35%
S Respect for
human rights
and contribution to
society
  • Respect for human rights
  • Enhancement of productivity and
    motivation through human resources
    development
  • Enhancement of work environments and
    occupational health and safety
  • Products and information sharing
    that is reassuring to consumers
  • Contribution to the addressing
    of societal issues with
    responsible procurement and
    reduction of procurement risks
  • Enhance human rights education and
    human rights risk management
  • Nurture autonomous-minded human resources and
    establish groundwork for utilizing diverse
    human resources
  • Promote measures to
    improve work-life balance
  • Achieve group-wide quality improvement
G Promotion of fair,
transparent, and swift
group-wide governance
  • Respect for international norms and
    compliance with laws of respective countries
  • Protection of intellectual property
  • Thorough management of
    confidential information
  • Swift and appropriate
    management decision-making
  • Promote compliance education,
    preparation of legal information
  • Contribute to elimination of
    counterfeit goods and
    bolster patent infringement
    prevention activities
  • Management that is mindful of
    the corporate governance code

CSR issues relating to sustainable growth are categorized as E (environment), S (social) or G (governance).

Materiality Specification Process

Step 1: Identify risk and opportunity in CSR

For key challenges in the Mid-Term Management Plan, we identify risk in CSR (that hinders the resolution of these issues) and opportunity in CSR (that promotes the resolution of the issues). When identifying these risks and opportunities, our actions are based on international guidelines related to CSR.

Step 2: Specify significant risk and opportunity in CSR

We evaluate and assign a score to the scale of the CSR risk and opportunity identified in Step 1 in consideration of the impact on business (possibility of occurrence x scale of impact on business), which enables us to specify risks and opportunities as key business challenges. Next, we evaluate the impact of our Group's business activities on society relative to these core business risks and opportunities based on the number of related CSR themes and social importance. We then specify risks and opportunities that will be key CSR domains.

Matrix of key CSR domains

graph:Matrix of key CSR domains

Step 3: Determine materiality

We order the core CSR risks and opportunities evaluated in Step 2 and then determine materiality in consideration of the response method to the risks and opportunities. In order to ensure the appropriateness of materiality, where necessary we also incorporate feedback from stakeholders through dialogue with outside experts.

Materiality and Response Plan

Materiality determined by the GS Yuasa Group and summaries of its response plans are shown in the table below.

With respect to materiality shown in the table, we will conduct operation and management based on the measurable target management and management criteria, make ongoing improvements and perform effective maintenance and management. The details of the formulated plans will be reviewed and revised as necessary according to the status of changing circumstances and other factors.

When carrying out the Mid-Term Management Plan, the first year of which is fiscal 2019, we formulated new materiality response plans to address CSR issues relating to sustainable growth under the relevant plan. After summarizing the fiscal 2018 materiality response plans and reviewing the materiality, we established materiality response plans for fiscal 2019 and later.

Summary of Materiality Response Plans
(fiscal 2019–2021)

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MaterialityActivity outlineScope of
application*		KPI
(key performance indicator)
Thoroughly fulfilling
our CSR and
ensuring compliance		 Provision of legal information and
promotion of compliance training		 Domestic
  1. Number of times compliance
    education information disseminated annually
  2. Number of compliance
    training implementation topics
Overseas
  1. Progress ratio of plans
    for overseas deployment of
    domestic compliance training system
  2. Status of achievement of
    legal violation risk response plan
Respect and Protection
for intellectual property		 Thorough avoidance of infringement
third-party intellectual property rights,
promotion of the use of
company intellectual property rights		 Domestic Achievement ratio of patent
use plans in the ASEAN
region and China
Promotion of the enforcement
against infringement products
(expansion of access channels to
overseas organizations, etc.)		 Overseas Achievement ratio of response plan
to intellectual property infringement
(imitation products)
Strict management of
confidential information		 Promotion of security measures
and strengthening of
illegal /inappropriate access monitoring		 Global Cyberattack response ratio
at time of detecting high security alerts
Domestic Information leakage confirmation and
response ratio at time of
large data output
Promotion of information
security training		 Domestic Ratio of employees passing information
security proficiency test
Respect for individuality Promotion of compliance training and
thorough dissemination of
hotline report system		 Domestic Achievement ratio of
human rights training plan
Overseas
  1. Ratio of employees passing
    the harassment training proficiency test
  2. Status of achievement of operational
    improvement plan for
    harassment report system
Comprehensive human rights
risk management		 Domestic Status of achievement of
human rights risk response plan
Respect for Diversity Women’s empowerment Domestic
  1. Number of training sessions held to promote the empowerment of women in our organization
  2. Ratio of women among new graduates
    recruited for
    career-track positions
Human resources
development		 Promotion of human resource
development programs		 Domestic
  1. Achievement ratio of training plan
    to support employee growth
  2. Achievement ratio of worksite
    education plan using skill map
Overseas Achievement ratio of global
human resources education plan
Enhancement of work
environments and
occupational health
and safety		 Promotion of the thorough management
of employees' working hours and
prevention of the recurrence of
long working hours		 Domestic
  1. Response ratio to prevent
    the recurrence of long working hours
  2. Annual frequency of labor-management
    consultations relating to working hours
  3. Operational achievement ratio of
    standard for number of days of
    paid leave taken annually
    (10 days/person or more)
Overseas Status of achievement of plan
to reduce long working hours
Promotion of labor safety
and health risk management		 Domestic
  1. Number of serious occupational accidents
  2. Missed work frequency ratio
  3. Number of workers not meeting
    our blood lead concentration
    management standards
  4. Number of worksites in
    work management category III
Overseas
  1. Number of serious occupational accidents
  2. Missed work frequency ratio
  3. Achievement ratio of plans
    for overseas deployment of
    worker blood lead management
Provision of
high-quality products		 Promotion of quality improvement and
strengthening of quality communication
(utilization of quality management system)		 Global Achievement ratio of targets
for claims and in-process defects
Strengthening of maintenance
service setup		 Domestic Status of achievement of
product maintenance service
system operational plan
Promotion of product safety education Global Number of serious product accidents
Promoting environmental
protection		 Promotion of effective use of
water resources		 Global Ratio of reduction of water use
(compared with FY 2018)
Contribution to realization of
low-carbon society		 Global Ratio of reduction of CO2 emissions
(compared with FY 2018)
Prevention of environmental pollution Global Number of major environmental accidents
Improvement in ratio of
use of recycled materials in
products provided to markets		 Global Ratio of recycled lead used
as lead raw materials
in lead-acid batteries
Developing and
popularizing environmentally
considered products		 Market expansion for
our products contained
in environmentally conscious products
(for use in low- emission vehicles, etc.)		 Global Percentage of environmentally
considered products in
total sales of all products
Development of products enhancing
environmental performance		 Domestic Compliance ratios by
lithium-ion batteries with
life span performance standards
Responsible procurement
promotion		 Responses to responsible mineral
procurement		 Domestic Responses to responsible mineral
procurement
Management of supplier CSR risks Global Achievement ratio of supplier
CSR issues improvement plan

The scope of application may not
cover all Group companies.

This plan is periodically reviewed,
and as a result, there may be differences
from the details of
the plan disclosed last time.

See here for detailed information concerning
materiality response plans

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