Concept of materiality

Lacto Japan aims to grow sustainably with society through its business activities. In this context, we examined management issues that should be prioritized by taking advantage of the Group's strengths and characteristics, and established six materialities as issues of particular importance based on our management philosophy.

In order to realize our management philosophy (Purpose) of "Bringing health and happiness to people by connecting the world through food," it is important to continue to provide a stable supply of food ingredients that contribute to nourishment and health. Therefore, we clarified issues from three perspectives: "supply chain," which connects our global suppliers to customers in Japan and Asia; "global environment and community," which also includes the dairy and livestock farming industries, the starting point for procurement of ingredients; and "management foundation.”

We will use these materialities as a guideline to promote initiatives that link our growth strategy with individual measures, aiming to improve the sustainability of both our company and society.

Materiality identification process

In identifying materiality, we have organized risks and opportunities based on international trends, initiatives, and other societal demands, as well as the business environment in which we operate, and evaluated and examined them from both our stakeholders' and our own perspectives.

  • Based on international frameworks and guidelines such as the GRI Standards and ISO 26000, the ESG index disclosure requirements survey, benchmark surveys, interviews and questionnaires with internal departments, and the knowledge of experts, we identified 10 social issues (megatrends) that are relevant to Lacto Japan and examined their impact on Lacto Japan's sustainable growth in terms of both "risks" and "opportunities".
  • We evaluated the importance of social issues that are highly relevant to Lacto Japan from the two perspectives of "importance to Lacto Japan" and "importance to stakeholders" and created a materiality map.
  • Regarding the materiality matrix reflecting the scoring results of STEP 2, we held an internal workshop to discuss its relevance and importance to the business again.
  • We organized issues based on the opinions raised at the workshop, identified tentative materialities, and clarified the individual measures corresponding to each and the related SDGs priority issues.

●Supplying safe and reliable food
●Contributing to a healthy and enriched life 
●Stable supply through sustainable dairy and livestock farming
●Adaptation to climate change and reduction of environmental impact
●Creating workplaces where diverse human resources can work with pride 
●Enhance governance
  • After briefing the external experts, we received their opinions on the identified tentative materialities and related SDGs and exchanged views with the Board of Directors.
  • The contents compiled by the CSR/ESG Promotion Project Team were discussed by "the Executive Committee" and approved by "the Board of Director consisting" of all directors, including outside directors, to determine Lacto Japan's six materialities, individual measures, and corresponding SDGs.

Identified materialities

Materialities

Individual Measures

Related SDGs

Supplying safe and reliable food
  • Thorough quality control (traceability, food defense, temperature control, etc.)
  • Selection of suppliers (audit, inspection, sample testing)
  • Reinforcement of processed cheese manufacturing system (review of physical and non-physical aspects, employee training)

sdgs03e sdgs12e

Contributing to a healthy and enriched life
  • Sourcing dairy products that contribute to nutrition and health from around the world
  • Expansion of plant-based food ingredients (to accommodate veganism, dairy allergies, etc.)
  • Proposal of foods and raw materials that match diverse lifestyles

sdgs02e sdgs03e sdgs09e

Stable supply through sustainable dairy and livestock farming
  • Diversification of supply sources (quality, origin characteristics, price, etc.)
  • Best matching (customers: proposing and procuring optimal raw materials / business partners: proposing sales opportunities and creating new demand)
  • Dairy farmer development (supporting international human resource exchange, considering entering the dairy industry, etc.)
  • Improving efficiency and labor saving in procurement and supply through promotion of digitalization

sdgs02e sdgs08e sdgs09e sdgs17e

Adaptation to climate change and reduction of environmental impact
  • Diversification of supply sources (diversifying climate change risks, prioritizing and supporting environmentally conscious dairy farmers)
  • Contributing to reduction of greenhouse gases (collaboration with dairy and livestock industries, provision of information and services to suppliers)
  • Reduction of food loss (efforts to extend product life, setting appropriate expiration dates, reducing waste loss)
  • Waste reduction (review of packaging materials)
  • Optimization of logistics (best matching of logistics to reduce environmental impact)
  • Reduction of environmental impact at our own offices and factories

sdgs07e sdgs12e sdgs13e sdgs17e

Creating workplaces where diverse human resources can work with pride
  • Promotion of diversity (women, localization/globalization, employment of people with disabilities, etc.)
  • Development of good working environment (childcare leave and other systems, telework, etc.)
  • Strengthening of human resource development (enhancement of education and training)

sdgs03e sdgs05e sdgs08e sdgs10e

Enhance governance
  • Responsible supply chain management
  • Full compliance in corporate governance
  • Risk management (BCP, information security, compliance)

sdgs08e sdgs10e sdgs16e