Mitsubishi Corporation

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

Medicine use
Cermaq is Mitsubishi’s only subsidiary that is involved in aquaculture production. Cermaq reports detailed information on medicine use, particularly about non-medicinal treatments, through the Global Salmon Initiative. The company also reports researching and developing the use of non-chemical or alternative treatments. However, compared with some of its peers, the company can improve its reporting on the extent and impact of these treatments.

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
Mitsubishi discloses its process for identifying and prioritising some of 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 sustainability
Mitsubishi’s responsibility for the company’s sustainable development strategy lies with its 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
Mitsubishi conducts stakeholder engagement activities and discloses an overview of the issues raised through these activities. However, it has an opportunity to disclose how it identifies its most relevant stakeholders in the seafood industry, along with information on how the outcomes of the engagement process are integrated into the company’s sustainable development strategy.

Engagement in policy advocacy
Mitsubishi is an executive member of the UN Global Compact Network Japan. Yet the company does not provide information on how it advocates for policy improvements in the seafood industry. With an opportunity to engage in industry platforms to advocate for better policies and legislation to transform the global seafood industry, Mitsubishi can learn from two of its subsidiaries: Princes advocates for improvement through the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation and the Global Tuna Alliance, while Cermaq does it through its membership in SeaBOS.

Commitment to sustainable fisheries 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.

Ecosystem impact of fisheries
Mitsubishi does not disclose relevant information about impacts of fishing activities in its supply chain. More precisely, no disclosures were found on the status of target fish stocks, by-catch, impact on endangered species and sensitive habitats, or ocean plastics in its supply chain. Subsidiary Princes discloses it approach to sourcing seafood, and it reports on several Marine Stewardship Council certified fisheries it sources from as well as Fishery Improvement Projects it participates in. Mitsubishi, however, has an opportunity to start reporting and disclosing on its activities to improve the ecosystem impact of its fisheries across its entire operations and supply chain.

Use of antibiotics and growth promoting substances
While subsidiary Cermaq has a policy for reducing the use of antibiotics and discloses relevant metrics and certifications, Mitsubishi discloses no such policy. There is a lack of transparency regarding where antibiotic use is a key issue in Mitsubishi’s seafood-related operations and supply chain. As such, the company should improve its reporting and develop a policy on the use of antibiotics and growth promoting substances.

Animal welfare
Subsidiary Cermaq has a fish welfare policy in place and addresses such issues through Aquaculture Stewardship Council certifications. While Mitsubishi refers to this fish welfare policy in its sustainability report, there is lack of transparency on where animal and fish welfare is a key issue in Mitsubishi’s seafood-related operations. As such, the company can improve its reporting by developing a group-wide animal welfare policy.

Prevention and mitigation of escapes
Subsidiary Cermaq reports on the activities and measures to prevent fish escapes. In 2020, however, over 50,000 rainbow trout escaped from its Chilean operations. Although the company mentions corrective actions to mitigate the impact, it can provide more clarity on which specific measures have been taken.

Commitment to traceable seafood
No commitment to traceable seafood and marine ingredients has been found at the group level. Since Cermaq is a member of SeaBOS, however, the subsidiary is committed to implementing the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability standard. Mitsubishi should follow the lead of its subsidiary and adopt a similar commitment.

Traceability system for seafood and marine feed ingredients
No evidence of a traceability system has been found. Robust traceability systems contribute to reducing social and environmental risks in a company’s operations and supply chains, so Mitsubishi can improve by presenting its traceability system, including key data elements that are collected and mechanisms to verify the information along the supply chain.

Risk-based approach to IUU fishing
Other than certifications, mostly through its subsidiary Cermaq, no evidence was found of how Mitsubishi addresses IUU fishing risks in its operations and supply chain. Mitsubishi could improve its performance in this area by disclosing its method to conduct risk assessments on IUU fishing as well as due diligence processes to identify and mitigate these risks across its operations and supply chain.

Disclosure of the origins of seafood products and marine feed
No information was found on the origins and type of seafood products that Mitsubishi uses, though subsidiary Cermaq does report information on feed used in its operations. Mitsubishi 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.

Forced labour
While the company is committed 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 their 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. Nor has it set targets to do so in the future.

Working and living conditions on board fishing vessels
No evidence was found of a group-level approach to verify decent working and living conditions on board fishing vessels within Mitsubishi’s supply chain. The company can improve by developing and implementing such an approach to monitor these conditions and show how risks are mitigated and improvements implemented, where needed.

Respecting customary and indigenous rights
Mitsubishi has a commitment in place to respect indigenous rights, stating that it will consider whether its operations may impact the rights of indigenous peoples and will engage with relevant stakeholders. The company could further illustrate this commitment by disclosing examples in practice.

Supporting development of local communities
Mitsubishi reports on a fishery management project in Morocco, and subsidiary Cermaq also reports on several local community activities, but the extent and impact of these are unclear. Mitsubishi has an opportunity to report outcomes on its engagement with local communities.

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.