Suntory

Sustainable development strategy
Suntory demonstrates leading practice in developing a sustainability strategy. The company has identified topics such as water, health and well-being, responsible consumption, climate action and human rights as being material to its business. It has set targets or established initiatives around all of these topics and reports on them.

Plastic use and packaging waste
Suntory has a goal that all the PET bottles it uses globally be made of recycled or plant-based material by 2030, achieving zero use of virgin petroleum-based materials. The company has an opportunity to improve by demonstrating that it is engaging with value chain partners to reduce plastic use or transition to sustainable forms of packaging.

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
Suntory discloses it has a chief operating officer of corporate sustainability and a Global Sustainability Committee that reports to the board of directors regularly. The company has an opportunity to strengthen accountability by linking sustainability objectives and targets to roles and remuneration.

Stakeholder engagement
Suntory undertakes stakeholder engagement and discloses the outcomes of these engagements, which cover six prioritised corporate social responsibility initiatives. The company has an opportunity to improve by disclosing its process for identifying its stakeholders.

Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions
Suntory is aiming for net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. However, this target is not aligned with a 1.5-degree scenario and is not yet approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity, and fertiliser and pesticide use
Suntory does not disclose that it is adopting sustainable production practices that improve soil health and increase agrobiodiversity or that optimise the use of fertilisers and pesticides.

Water use
Suntory has multiple targets to reduce water withdrawals and reports progress against these targets. The company also engages with its suppliers to reduce water withdrawals in its supply chain, stating that it has consistently conducted water assessment surveys of its suppliers since 2016. It has an opportunity to improve by providing evidence of its dependency on water-stressed areas in its supply chain.

Availability of healthy foods
Suntory provides qualitative evidence of low-alcohol and low-calorie options for its alcohol business and of sugar reduction and fruit increase for its soft drinks business. While the company provides quantitative evidence of the sugar reduction in its soft drink business, it does not provide quantitative evidence regarding its alcohol business.

Accessibility and affordability of healthy foods
Suntory does not disclose a commitment and activities to improve the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods for vulnerable groups.

Clear and transparent labelling
While Suntory provides examples of labelling to warn pregnant women of the dangers of drinking alcohol, as well as allergen labelling and expiry date labels, it does not commit to back-of-pack or front-of-pack labelling.

Workforce nutrition
Suntory has a breastfeeding support programme for nursing mothers and provides health check-ups for its employees, which includes diet guidance. The company can improve by disclosing quantitative evidence of the percentage of food offerings (in cafeterias, snack bars, vending machines) that are healthy, or the percentage of cafeterias that provide healthy options.

Child labour
While Suntory uses the SEDEX platform to conduct risk assessments of its suppliers, it is unclear whether this also covers the company’s own operations.

Forced labour
While the company states that it prohibits forced labour, it has an opportunity to disclose a requirement that prohibits its suppliers from retaining workers’ personal documents and/or restricting workers’ freedom of movement.

Living wage
The company 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.

Farmer productivity and resilience
The company does not disclose a commitment or examples of activities to support the resilience, productivity and access to markets for farmers, fishers and/or small-scale producers in its supply chain.

Although Suntory commits to respecting human rights and the ILO core labour rights, it lacks further protection of basic human rights in its operations and supply chain. The company does not disclose evidence of a human rights due diligence process, such as providing a grievance mechanism for workers and external individuals, or that it assesses human rights risks and impacts.

Suntory publicly commits to respecting the health and safety of workers and discloses targets around gender equality and women’s empowerment. The company also discloses the proportion of its total direct operations covered by collective bargaining agreements. However, it does not indicate a commitment to pay a living wage, nor does it publicly state that workers shall not be required to work more than the regular and overtime hours. The company can also improve its score by disclosing the percentage of employees by race, gender, age and other diversity indicators.

Suntory has a publicly available global tax strategy and a policy statement prohibiting bribery and corruption. The company can improve its score by disclosing the amount of corporate tax paid in each jurisdiction, and by taking steps to identify and address bribery and corruption in its businesses. The company does not publicly commit to protecting personal data, nor does it have an approach to lobbying and political engagement.