UACJ Group's Materiality
Materiality has been reviewed (ESG presentation material for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024)
Materiality Identification Process and Our Contribution to the SDGs
Positioning sustainability-driven activities as a core element of its management and operations, the UACJ Group recognizes the need to carry out such activities on a group-wide basis. For that purpose, the Group has specified materiality issues as vital factors for growing sustainably together with society.
The materiality issues were examined and decided on over a period of about two years in a five-stage process involving a broad range of the Group’s members in addition to directors and executive officers. As part of this process, workshops were held four times starting in 2019 with a total of 86 participants, including general employees from manufacturing plants and sales offices of group companies around the world. Consultations were also held with experts from outside the Group. At the final stage, the materiality issues were reviewed and approved by senior management and the Board of Directors.
Through this process, the Group designated six materiality issues along with relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 2030 sustainability goals for each issue, an action plan, and key performance indicators (KPIs) for measuring the plan’s progress. In order to achieve the goals by 2030, the Group will continually implement activities utilizing a plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle in accordance with the action plan and results of the KPIs.
Materiality Identification Process
Stage 1: Compiling candidates for materiality issues
A total of 47 broad issues that could have a material impact on the UACJ Group were compiled based on surveys of benchmarking practices and disclosure requirements of ESG indices, as well as international frameworks and guidelines such as GRI and ISO 26000 standards. They were reviewed as materiality issue candidates in meetings and questionnaires conducted in-house, and through consultations with experts in this field.
Stage 2: Narrowing down the materiality issue candidates
Members of the Group used a scoring sheet to rank the 47 materiality issue candidates according to both their “importance for the UACJ Group” and “importance for the UACJ Group’s stakeholders” on a scale of one to three.
Stage 3: Selecting provisional materiality issues and prioritizing them based on SDGs
Results of the rankings in the second stage were reflected in a materiality matrix and deliberated based on their pertinence. Materiality issues were then provisionally selected and further prioritized according to their relevance to certain SDGs.
Stage 4: Confirming the pertinence of the materiality issues
UACJ Corporation’s president, Miyuki Ishihara, met with Makiko Akabane, who heads the Japanese branch of CSR Asia, a consulting company specializing in sustainability practices, to discuss the provisionally selected materiality issues and related SDGs.
Stage 5: Approving the final materiality issues by management
The UACJ Group’s six materiality issues along with four relevant SDGs were designated after a report was submitted to the CSR Committee, deliberations were held in management meetings, and approval was given by UACJ Corporation’s Board of Directors, which includes outside directors.
Our Contribution to the SDGs
In connection with the six materiality issues it designated, the UACJ Group also specified the value it can offer society and its unique contributions.
| UACJ Group's material issues | How the UACJ Group can contribute and offer value to society |
|---|---|
| Response to climate change | The UACJ Group understands that life on Earth is completely dependent on the global environment. Accordingly, the Group recognizes the importance of taking proactive initiatives as a manufacturer to curb climate change and global warming. Among such initiatives, taking steps to reduce emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases as a means of achieving carbon neutrality, and facilitating recycling, a highly effective way of reducing those emissions, have been designated as priority initiatives for the Group. Over the lifecycle of aluminum products, most CO2 is emitted at the smelting stage when alumina is extracted from bauxite. Nevertheless, aluminum can be recycled indefinitely, and it is relatively easy for society to set up a recycling infrastructure as a comparably small amount of energy is needed to melt aluminum. Numerous other beneficial properties are also offered by aluminum, including its excellent heat conductivity and relatively light weight as a metal. The UACJ Group will apply technologies that take advantage of aluminum’s properties to provide products and services that contribute to reducing CO2 emissions not only from its business activities but across society as a whole. The Group will also make maximum usage of recycled aluminum as raw materials with the goal of reducing CO2 over entire product lifecycles, from raw material procurement and manufacturing through to product usage and disposal. In these ways, the UACJ Group intends to contribute to the sustainability of the planet. |
| Product quality assurance | The UACJ Group will strive to supply products and services that satisfy and earn the trust of customers and contribute to society overall. Accordingly, the Group will give full consideration to the broader positive and negative impacts of its products and services at the usage stage. It will also make continuous efforts to improve quality, develop related technologies and refine relevant capabilities at its production plants while helping customers find solutions to potential challenges. |
| Occupational health and safety | Recognizing that a safe and healthy workforce is a foundation for its operations, the UACJ Group will place the highest priority on the health and safety of its employees across all business activities, and fulfill its corporate responsibility to ensure the safety of employees on the job and support their health management. Toward that end, the Group will allocate enough operational resources needed by workplaces to remove any hazardous conditions with the goal of completely eliminating workplace accidents. Occupational health and safety activities will also be carried out on a routine basis with the participation of all employees. To ensure that such occupational health and safety activities help enrich the lives of employees and their families, the Group will give importance to fostering productive and dynamic workplaces while striving to make working environments more comfortable for employees through measures for alleviating fatigue and stress on the job. |
| Respect for human rights | “Respect and understand your associates” is stated as a value in the UACJ Group’s philosophy. Staying true to this important value, the Group will conduct its global business activities based on the principles of universal human rights and in compliance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. |
| Diversity and equal opportunity | The UACJ Group regards the diversity of its employees (in terms of ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, age, disability, etc.) as a source of its competitiveness and power to create innovations and evolve. Accordingly, it will foster an organizational culture that accepts different values and ways of thinking among individual employees. Furthermore, the Group will take steps to facilitate the success of women in the workplace, recruit diverse employees, adopt diverse work practices, and implement other related measures to make the most of employee diversity and equal opportunity in its pursuit of sustainable growth. |
| Human resources development | The UACJ Group will encourage its employees to conduct business in line with the three values stated in its philosophy: “respect and understand your associates,” “embrace honesty and foresight,” and “be curious and challenging.” Amid a shifting operating environment, the Group believes that equipping human resources with the abilities to independently make decisions and solve problems on their own initiative is essential for its future. At the same time, it will aim to give every employee opportunities to monitor their growth and feel motivated by their work. In addition, the UACJ Group will not limit training and educational opportunities to its own members, but will also provide such opportunities to young people in society. |
The UACJ Group will put its Corporate Philosophy into practice in all of its sustainability-related activities with the goal of contributing to the sustainability of society and the planet. These activities will be led by employees working in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders throughout society.
* For the UACJ Group, the purpose of innovation is not only to create new technologies and products, but also to bring about new value and instigate changes in organizations and society by proactively applying original ideas and technologies.
2030 Sustainability Goals
Effective from the beginning of fiscal 2021 on April 1, 2021, the Group will continually carry out activities utilizing a PDCA cycle while aiming to achieve its sustainability goals by 2030.
2030 Sustainability Goals by Materiality
| UACJ Group's material issues | Performance indicators | Short- and mid-term targets | Objectives towards 2030 | Scope of reportin | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiscal 2022 Goal | Fiscal 2022 Results | Fiscal 2023 Goal | ||||
| Response to climate change | Reduction of CO2 emssions across the Group's entire supply chain | Set targets, formulate and implement specific measures aimed at 2050 | Declared ambition to achieve Scope 1 and 2 carbon neutrality by 2050 (Reference) FY2022 Scope 1 and 2 reduction per unit: 10.7% |
17.3％ reduction (Scope 1 and 2 compared with FY2019 level and unit output) |
|
UACJ Group worldwide |
| Product quality assurance | Number of serious quality defects | 20% reduction Compared with previous year |
25% increase Compared with previous year |
Zero (Note 1) |
Zero | UACJ Group worldwide |
| Number of customer complaints due to the fault of materials | 10% reduction Compared with previous year |
31.4％ reduction Compared with previous year |
10% reduction Compared with previous year |
50% fewer complaints than in fiscal 2020 | UACJ Group worldwide | |
| Occupational health and safety | Number of serious workplace accidents | Zero | Zero | Zero | Zero | UACJ Group worldwide |
| Frequency of workplace accidents resulting in injury or death per million working hours (Note 2) | 0.28 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.08 | UACJ Group worldwide | |
| Respect for human rights | Goals to be set based on the results of executing due diligence, and an action plan to be carried out | Formulate structure for human rights due diligence | Established human rights due diligence structure, executed human rights due diligence at UEXN Anjo (Note 3) | Execute due diligence at at least four manufacturing plants (Fukui Works, UATH (Note 4), UEXN Anjo, and other sites) | Execution of due diligence at the Group's main workplaces in and outside Japan | UACJ Group worldwide |
| Percentage of employees and officers that participate in 1) a training program covering codes of conduct and human rights and 2) a training program on harassment | 1) 90% 2) 100% |
1) 92% 2) 100% |
1) 96% 2) 100% |
100% | UACJ Group worldwide | |
| Diversity and equal opportunity | Percentage of women in management positions (including directors and officers) (Note 5) | 2% | 3.03% | 4% | At least 15% (but whenever possible, aim for the target of 30% set by the Japanese government) |
UACJ Corporation and group companies in Japan |
| Human resources development | Percent of successor candidates appointed to management positions following evaluations of candidates for positions above the rank of section manager | 100% of candidates appointed to the rank of section manager or above at UACJ Corporation | 100% of candidates appointed to the rank of section manager or above at UACJ Corporation | Extend target to group companies in Japan | 100% | UACJ Group worldwide |
| Number of children and young people who participate in educational events held by UACJ as part of its education and sports programs for youth | 650 per year | 882 per year | 800 per year | 1,000 per year | UACJ Group worldwide (consolidated subsidiaries excluding equity affiliates and holding companies) | |
- (Notes)
- 1. Considering the FY2022 result, we determined that steps are needed to improve the effectiveness of our safety initiatives and in FY2023 revised the performance indicator to “Number of serious quality accidents.”
- 2. An index for evaluating the frequency of occupational accidents calculated by converting the total number of serious occupational injuries and deaths (including those that did not result in a suspension of operations) during a statistical period to one million hours
- 3 . UACJ Extrusion Nagoya Corporation Anjo Plant
- 4. UACJ (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
- 5. Percentage for UACJ and Group companies in Japan