Sekisui House

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses how often and through which channels it engages with various stakeholder groups. The company’s stakeholder engagement covers nature, including biodiversity, and social issues.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company discloses that 65% of its wooden building materials and 94% if its structural materials are certified by standards such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).

Resource exploitation and circularity
The company discloses its inputs, including its material footprint.

Solid and air pollution
The company reports some activities to reduce plastic use and waste in its own operations, including the recycling of 100% of waste plastic at new construction sites since 2005. In 2020, the company recycled more than 17,000 tonnes of plastic. The company reports on the proportion of reused or recycled products, or proportion of virgin polymer use, or proportion of single-use plastics. The company has a time-bound target to reduce air pollutants (volatile organic compounds) by 60% relative to 2010 levels. The company reports regularly against this target and obtained a 78% decrease in 2021.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the social inclusion and community impact area.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
While the company has a process to identify its material topics, it does not involve external stakeholders in the assessment. The company does not disclose group-wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain. For the targets it does have, the company reports consistently against them. No evidence was found that the company links performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity. The company does not disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise regarding nature-related topics.

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities.

Lobbying
The company discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member wherever it operates. However, it does not disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with nature-positive policies. Nor does it report (potential) misalignment between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and nature-positive policies.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company has not holistically assessed its impacts or how it depends on nature, including biodiversity. It has an opportunity to start such an assessment across its value chains, focused on quantification of its impacts or dependencies.

Key areas and species
The company does not disclose key species or areas important for biodiversity affected by its operations or suppliers. It has an opportunity to increase its transparency.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company has a commitment to ensure zero conversion. It discloses some activities to achieve conversion-free supply chains and has time-bound targets to achieve conversion-free supply chains. However, it is not committed to restoring ecosystems. It does not disclose details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

Resource exploitation and circularity
The company does not report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance. While it discloses activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices, it does not have an associated target.

Water
The company demonstrates it is reducing water withdrawal in its own operations but does not disclose a time-bound target to this effect. The company does not report how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas. Nor does it engage with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. The company does not report a decrease in water pollution or disclose its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality. Although the company regularly reports on water pollution, it does not disclose targets to reduce water pollution. The company does not disclose a commitment to respect the right to water, nor does it disclose its processes for implementing preventive and corrective action plans for identified specific risks to the right to water and sanitation in its own operations.

Solid and air pollution
The company is reducing the production of hazardous waste but is not reducing plastic use and waste in its own operations. The company does not report on the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal. However, it does report regularly on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants.

GHG emissions
The company is reducing its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions. It has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions and reports progress against the target. The target is not aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory, although it is aligned with a well-below-2-degree trajectory. The company is also reducing its scope 3 emissions. It has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 3 emissions and reports progress against the target. This target is not aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory either, although it is aligned with a well-below-2-degree trajectory.

Invasive species
The company has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive species in its own operations.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
The company does not show if it is committed to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment or to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company does not show if it is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights or land rights of local communities.

The company describes the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. It has an opportunity to describe a process for assessing the human rights risks it has identified and to disclose what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. A description of this process would include how relevant factors, such as geographical, economic and social, are considered. While the company discloses its salient human rights risks and indicates it has a global system to take action to prevent, mitigate or remediate them, it does not describe this system. The company provides a case study describing how it has acted on a salient human rights risk issue. While the company discloses the categories of stakeholders it engages with generally on sustainability issues, it is not clear if these stakeholders are those whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. There is no evidence that the company provides examples of its engagement with stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities.

The company has a publicly available policy statement which shows it is committed to respecting the health and safety of workers. However, there is no evidence that the company has a publicly available statement of policy that expects its suppliers to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers. The company has an opportunity to disclose a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage. The company also has an opportunity to describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. There is no evidence that the company discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. While the company states that it encourages its suppliers to respect employees’ right to freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, it has an opportunity to describe how it works to support the practices of its suppliers in this regard.

The company discloses a global tax strategy. It has an opportunity to disclose a policy on bribery and corruption and its processes for identifying and addressing bribery and corruption. The company does not disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement in a public policy document.