Asahi Group

Sustainable development strategy
Asahi Group discloses its long-term sustainability strategy, covering sustainability topics across all three benchmark measurement areas. The company has identified, through a materiality assessment, a vision that centres around the environment, people, communities, health and responsible drinking. It has also established targets for each of its material issues, which are closely monitored to ensure they are met.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions
The Asahi Group has set targets to achieve zero carbon dioxide emissions for scope 1, 2 and 3 by 2050. It also aims to reduce emissions by 50% for scope 1 and 2 and by 30% for scope 3 by 2030. The company’s scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets are approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.

Plastic use and packaging waste
The Asahi Group has set several targets to reduce its overall plastic use. These include making all packaging with 100% recyclable materials by 2025 and increasing the ratio of eco-friendly materials in plastic containers to 60% by 2030 at Asahi Soft Drinks. The company also reports progress against these targets.

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

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

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
Asahi Group’s Global Sustainability Committee is chaired by the president and representative director, indicating that accountability for and oversight of its sustainability strategy lies with the highest governance body. The company also states that the director’s remuneration is based on multiple environmental, social and governance indices, in addition to financial indicators. However, the company can improve its performance by linking sustainability remuneration to topics across the environment, nutrition and social inclusion dimensions.

Stakeholder engagement
While Asahi Group states that it regularly holds dialogues between external and internal stakeholders that feed into company strategies, the company does not indicate that these dialogues cover sustainability topics relating to the environment, nutrition and social inclusion. Further, the company can improve its performance by disclosing its process for identifying and engaging with relevant stakeholders.

Water use
Asahi Group has set targets to reduce water withdrawals across its operations. These include reducing basic water consumption by 2030 and carrying out a water-risk survey every five years at its manufacturing bases. However, the company does not indicate that it is engaging with its suppliers to reduce water withdrawals, especially in water-stressed areas.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity, and fertiliser and pesticide use
Asahi Group does not disclose that it is adopting sustainable sourcing practices that improve soil health and increase agrobiodiversity or that optimise the use of fertilisers and pesticides. The company only states that it works closely with growers to encourage the implementation of sustainable agricultural practices.

Availability of healthy foods
Asahi Group has set a target to reduce the quantity of sugar used in soft drink products company-wide by 20% by 2025, but this target is only for Asahi Holdings Australia. The company has an opportunity to improve its performance by demonstrating reformulation efforts regarding key nutrients such as sugar and alcohol across the company.

Clear and transparent labelling
While Asahi Group complies with national regulations regarding labelling and commits to providing nutrition information on key relevant nutrients through intuitive labelling, it has an opportunity to make nutrition information more visible to consumers through the adoption of front-of-pack labels and/or any other consumer-facing nutrition label.

Responsible marketing
Asahi Group has a responsible marketing policy and a responsible drinking policy. It also provides evidence of activities supporting these policies, such as through collaboration with relevant stakeholders (World Health Organization and International Alliance for Responsible Drinking), and the development of innovative products (non-alcoholic beer Peroni Libera). However, the company also sells non-alcoholic drinks, for which these policies are not applicable. Furthermore, its marketing policy does not extend to children.

Food safety
While the company discloses compliance with the hazard analysis and critical control points system (HACCP), it has an opportunity to disclose that 100% of its own operations are certified to a food safety scheme recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative or other widely recognised (industry-specific) certifications.

Child labour
While Asahi Group commits to prohibiting child labour in its own operations and requires its suppliers to adhere to the same standard, it has an opportunity to disclose a policy requiring its suppliers to have an age-verification system in place.

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

Health and safety of vulnerable groups
The company 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.

Land rights
While Asahi Group acknowledges that its business can have impacts on land rights and the rights of indigenous peoples, it does not commit to recognising and respecting the legitimate tenure rights related to the ownership and use of land of local communities.

Asahi Group has a commitment to respecting human and ILO working rights. The company displays a human rights due diligence process which includes the identification, assessment, and action plan for the salient human rights risks in its operations and supply chain. As part of this process, the company has a complaints mechanism which is accessible for employees. However, the company’s grievance mechanism is not accessible by external stakeholders, such as communities.

The company has in place policies or commitment on most decent work issues and has started the journey towards ensuring healthy and safe workplaces where workers are free from discrimination. However, it does not disclose a commitment on living wage and working hours in its operations and supply chain. While the company discloses the proportion of employees covered by collective bargaining agreements, it does not describe how it works to support the practices of its supply chain partners in relation to this.

Asahi Group addresses most key issues for ethical business conduct through publicly available policies or statements, but there remains an opportunity to improve disclosure around these issues. The company fully prohibits bribery and corruption and takes steps to identify and address its risks and incidents. However, the company does not publicly state how it sets out its lobbying approach, nor does it disclose the amount of corporate income tax payments for each jurisdiction where it is a tax resident.