Marubeni Corporation

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

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

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

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

Sustainable development strategy
Marubeni Corporation discloses its process for identifying and prioritising its sustainability objectives, but none are specifically relevant to its seafood operations. It has a clear opportunity to set targets across relevant seafood topics.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
Marubeni corporation has a Sustainability Management Committee which defines material environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues for the organisation. However, while the company discloses that accountability and oversight for its sustainability strategy lies with the board, it provides no evidence of a remuneration policy regarding sustainability.

Stakeholder engagement
While Marubeni corporation provides evidence of a materiality assessment which includes stakeholder engagement activities, the company fails to disclose how it selects the stakeholders, an overview of the topics discussed or their outcomes.

Engagement in policy advocacy
Marubeni Corporation is involved in advocacy activities through its membership of in several industry organisations, such as UN Global Compact and the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights. The company has an opportunity to explain how its advocacy activities support the implementation of public policies or the strengthening legislation in the seafood industry. Furthermore, it has an opportunity to demonstrate results and/or impacts of its these advocacy activities.

Commitment to sustainable fishing and aquaculture
While the company has a commitment to promoting environment-friendly products by selling products certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), it has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment by setting and reporting against targets, as well as by disclosing quantitative data that demonstrates progress in its sustainable fishing and aquaculture activities.

Ecosystem impacts of fisheries
Since November 2016, Marubeni Corporation has been part of WWF Japan’s pledge to contribute to the sustainable use of Pacific bluefin tuna. However, the company lacks public disclosure about its activities to manage fishing impacts on target and by-catch species. Also, it does not provide information about its impacts on endangered species and sensitive habitats. As such, Marubeni Corporation can significantly improve by disclosing how it assesses the ecosystem impacts of its wild-catch operations and how it mitigates any negative impacts.

Ecosystem impacts of aquaculture
Marubeni Corporation does not disclose information in reference to how it promotes sustainable aquaculture practices in its operations and supply chains. The company can improve its performance by disclosing how it addresses important issues in aquaculture, such as antibiotics use, aquaculture feed use, animal welfare, and impacts on endangered species and sensitive habitats.

Commitment to traceability
The company does not disclose a commitment on fully traceable operations and supply chains.

Traceability system for seafood products and aquaculture feed ingredients
Marubeni Corporation does not disclose information about how it traces and verifies the origins of seafood products. Robust traceability systems contribute to reducing social and environmental risks in a company’s operations and supply chains. The company can therefore improve in this area by presenting its traceability system, including the key data elements that are collected and the mechanisms used to verify information along the supply chain.

Risk-based approach to IUU fishing
Marubeni Corporation mitigates risks for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fisheries across its operations and supply chains, through the handling of MSC and ASC certified products. The company could improve its performance by disclosing how it conducts IUU risk assessments, and by providing evidence of a due diligence processes to identify and mitigate IUU risks across its operations and supply chain.

Disclosure of the origin of its seafood and marine feed ingredients
Marubeni Corporation does not publicly disclose information about the source of its seafood products. By being transparent in this area, the company could demonstrate responsibility and accountability for its operations and supply chain. Marubeni Corporation can improve its performance by disclosing an overview of its fishing and aquaculture operations and the seafood products it sources, including information about species, geographic location, and management status.

Child labour
While the company 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 the company 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 restricting workers’ freedom of movement.

Working and living conditions on board fishing vessels
While Marubeni Corporation does not own fishing vessels, no evidence was found of a grouplevel approach to verify decent working and living conditions on fishing vessels in its supply chain. Marubeni Corporation can improve its performance by ensuring that working and living conditions on vessels in its supply chain are monitored, disclosing monitoring results and demonstrating how risks are mitigated and improvements are implemented, where needed.

Respecting customary and indigenous rights
Marubeni Corporation commits to respecting customary rights. The company has an opportunity to demonstrate how it respects the rights of customary resource users and to disclose a commitment to indigenous communities.

Engagement with and support for local communities
The company does not demonstrate how it engages with local communities.

Gender commitment in the supply chain
The company does not demonstrate how it drives gender equality and women’s empowerment in its supply chain.

Marubeni Corporation commits to respect human rights and the ILO core labour rights, and has a publicly available statement of policy that expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the ILO core labour rights. The company provides a grievance mechanism for employees, but does not demonstrate this is accessible to external stakeholders. While the company has a process to identify human rights risks for its subsidiaries and within its supply chain, the company does not disclose a process covering its full operations. Moreover, Marubeni Corporation does not demonstrate that it engages with stakeholders whose human rights have been affected or potentially affected.

Marubeni Corporation publicly commits to respecting the health and safety of its workers, expects suppliers to adhere to the same standard and monitors their performance. However, it can strengthen its quantitative disclosure by reporting on the main types of work-related injuries. Marubeni Corporation discloses a breakdown of employees in each employee category by gender, but lacks disclosure on other markers of diversity such as age and ethnicity. No commitments or reporting on the other decent work topics – living wage, fair working hours, collective bargaining, and gender equality and women’s – were found.

Marubeni Corporation prohibits bribery and corruption in its operations, includes related clauses in its contracts with suppliers, and discloses how it identifies bribery and corruption risks and impacts. However, the company has an opportunity to ensure that its grievance mechanism for raising bribery and corruption concerns is accessible to all stakeholders without fear of reprisals. Although Marubeni Corporation commits to protect customer personal data, it has an opportunity to expand this commitment to also include other groups such as employees. The company does not disclose a global tax strategy nor its approach to lobbying and political engagement. Neither does it disclose income tax payments for each of its relevant tax jurisdictions nor its lobbying expenses.