Mitsubishi Corporation

No leading practices were identified for the company in the governance and strategy measurement area.

Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions
Mitsubishi has set a target to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 25% by 2030 compared to a 2017 baseline and further reports a 74% achievement. The company has an opportunity to improve performance on this topic by further setting a target aligned with 1.5-degrees to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions.

No leading practices were found for the company in the nutrition measurement area.

No leading practices were found for the company in the social inclusion measurement area.

Sustainable development strategy
Mitsubishi discloses its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability topics including renewable energy, food waste and plastics. While the company discloses outcome of this process in relation to its sustainability strategy, it has an opportunity to set targets across all topics covered.

Governance and accountability for sustainability
Mitsubishi’s responsibility for the company’s sustainable development strategy lies with the Sustainability & CSR Committee which is chaired by the Corporate Functional Officer and attended by all Group CEOs. While the company discloses that accountability and oversight for its sustainability strategy lies with the highest governance body, there is an opportunity to demonstrate whether sustainability objectives and targets are linked to roles and remuneration.

Stakeholder engagement
While the company has conducted stakeholder engagement activities and discloses an overview of the issues raised via these activities, it has an opportunity to disclose how it identifies its most relevant stakeholders, along with information on how the outcomes of the engagement process are integrated into the company’s sustainable development strategy.

Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions
Mitsubishi does not disclose quantitative evidence to demonstrate that it is reducing its scope 3 GHG emissions.

Protection of terrestrial natural ecosystems
Mitsubishi has set a time-bound target to achieve 100% sustainable sourcing of palm oil by 2030. However, while the company provides qualitative evidence towards achieving deforestation and conversion-free supply chains for its relevant high-risk commodities including palm oil, soy and coffee, it is unclear if and how the company sources other high risks commodities. The company has an opportunity to set a DCF target for all its relevant high-risk commodities, and report against the target by disclosing the proportion of commodities that are DCF.

Sustainable fishing and aquaculture
Mitsubishi has a policy for sustainably sourcing Bluefin tuna, but the company does not disclose a general sourcing policy where it commits to sustainable fisheries and aquaculture across its entire seafood portfolio. The company has a clear opportunity to strengthen its commitment by setting targets and disclosing quantitative data that demonstrates progress towards achieving these targets. Here, Mitsubishi can learn from its subsidiary Princes, which has set a target on the sourcing of its tuna and reports progress against this target.

Protein diversification
Mitsubishi does not disclose that it is transitioning away from animal-based protein towards alternative protein sources, such as plant-based or cell-based options.

Water use
Mitsubishi does not disclose that it is reducing water withdrawals across its operations and supply chain.

Food loss and waste
While Mitsubishi has set a 2030 target to reduce food waste by 50% with a 2019 baseline, it has an opportunity to report against these targets or also disclose quantitative data to demonstrate that it is reducing food loss and waste in its own operations and supply chain.

Plastic use and packaging waste
Mitsubishi discloses that it is reducing its plastic use through its recycled PET and eco-friendly material manufacturing businesses. In addition, the company aims to create an increase in sustainable forms of packaging through its Recycling and Closed-Loop Business Initiatives. The company has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment by setting targets to reduce plastic use and transition to more sustainable forms of packaging and reporting against these targets.

Availability of healthy foods
While Mitsubishi recognises the availability of healthy foods as an issue, no evolution in product content has been found nor does the company disclose a commitment or activities to increase the availability of healthy and nutritious foods.

Accessibility and affordability of healthy foods
Mitsubishi does not disclose a commitment to address food insecurity by improving the accessibility and affordability of healthy and nutritious foods.

Clear and transparent labelling
While Mitsubishi discloses a commitment of compliance with national regulations regarding labelling and commits to providing nutritional information on key relevant nutrients through back-of-pack labels, it has an opportunity to make nutritional information more visible to consumers through the adoption of front-of-pack labels and any other consumer-facing nutrition label.

Workforce nutrition
While the company discloses a programme to improve workforce nutrition through seminars on reducing obesity through health and diet, it has an opportunity to develop this programme further to ensure the provision of healthy foods at work, nutrition education, nutrition-focused health checks and breastfeeding support, throughout its operations.

Child labour
While the company prohibits child labour in its supply chain, no evidence was found for its own operations. The company also has an opportunity to disclose a policy requiring its suppliers to have an age-verification system in place.

Forced labour
While the company commits to prohibiting forced labour in its supply chain, it has an opportunity to do the same for its own operations and further disclose a requirement that prohibits its suppliers from retaining workers’ personal documents and/or restricting workers’ freedom of movement.

Living wage
Mitsubishi does not disclose that it pays its workers a living wage or requires its suppliers to do the same. Neither has it set targets to do so in the future.

Health and safety of vulnerable groups
Mitsubishi does not disclose that it specifically recognises the health and safety risks to vulnerable groups, such as migrant and temporary labourers, women, and young farmers.

Farmer productivity and resilience
Mitsubishi has set up a training centre for nurturing agricultural leaders in collaboration with OISCA International, an NGO specializing in international cooperation. In addition, the company provides provides assistance to technical schools for agriculture, agribusiness and forestry which teach young people the latest techniques in environmentally friendly farming and farm management. However, the company does not demonstrate that it is systematically measuring the outcomes and impact of all its support activities, as part of a holistic strategic approach.

Mitsubishi is committed to respecting human rights, including those of its workers and its suppliers. The company also provides a grievance mechanism for its workers but none for external individuals and communities. However, no sufficient overall commitment to human rights was found in the public domain and the company does not provide evidence of a human rights due diligence process or substantial engagement with affected and potentially affected stakeholders.

Mitsubishi commits to respecting the health and safety of its workers and suppliers but does not disclose sufficient quantitative information on the subject. The company discloses some information on collective bargaining and gender equality among its workforce. However, the company has not made commitments towards paying a living wage, decent working hours in its operations and supply chain and workforce diversity.

Mitsubishi discloses policies or statements on bribery and corruption, but no whistleblowing mechanism accessible to external stakeholders was found. On tax, Mitsubishi only discloses little information and no publicly available global tax strategy was found. In addition, the company does not demonstrate a sufficient commitment to responsible lobbying and political engagement and does not report on key metrics under this topic. No sufficient information on public data privacy was found.