Material Issues
The Yamaha Group reflects priority sustainability initiatives for contributing to social sustainability and medium- to long-term improvements to corporate value into its sustainability initiatives, and advances and manages activities on these policies. In fiscal 2022, we reassessed our prior sustainability priorities to identify nine material issues. A revision to the Yamaha Group Sustainability Policy was instituted in April 2022 based on these material issues, and this policy is guiding sustainability initiatives.
Identified Material Sustainability Issues
Environment
Response to climate change
- Reduction of CO2 emissions from business sites (Scope 1 + Scope 2)
- Reduction of CO2 emissions from procurement, logistics, and product use (Scope 3)
Sustainable use of timber
- Sustainable sourcing and utilization of timber
- Promotion of forest cultivation
Resource savings, reduction of waste and hazardous substances
- Resource savings and improved resource recycling of products and packaging
- Reduction of hazardous chemical substances (VOCs, etc.)
Society
Contribution to an equal society and comfortable lives
- Mental and physical safety and health
- Remote communication
- Consideration for universal design and accessibility
Respect for human rights in the value chain
- Increase the level of supplier human rights due diligence
Culture
Spread and development of music culture
- Products, services, and activities that contribute to the promotion and development of music culture
- Contribution to the development of the next generation
Human Resources
Increase job satisfaction
- Human resource development, etc.
Respect for human rights and DE&I (diversity, equity, and inclusion)
- Initiatives to respect the human rights of people who work with Yamaha (Human rights education and due diligence)
- DE&I promotion (gender, nationality, etc.)
Foster open organizational culture where people can proactively take on challenges
- Employee engagement surveys; creation of opportunities for dialogue; promotion of work-life balance, safety, and health; etc.
Material Sustainability Issues, KPIs, and Targets
Major Sustainability KPIs and Targets of Make Waves 2.0 and Progress in Fiscal 2023
| Category | Material issues | KPIs and targets for fiscal 2025 (Make Waves 2.0 medium-term management plan) | Progress in fiscal 2023 | Evaluation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Environment | Response to climate change | Reduce CO2 emissions by 5% through energy conservation (CO2 emissions / production volume)Management target | Promoted energy conservation measures including installation of electricity monitoring systems, regardless of reduction in electricity efficiency amid the COVID-19 pandemic | △ |
| Maintain inclusion on CDP Climate Change A List | Received A- climate change rank from CDP | △ | ||
| Improve logistics packing efficiency by 5% | Established collective packing standards that included provisions concerning container packing rates | ◯ | ||
| Sustainable use of timber | Increase rate of sustainable timber use to 75%Management target | Expanded certified timber use and formulated in-house standards for sustainable timber | △ | |
| Cultivate and preserve three scarce tree species necessary for musical instrument production (Tone Forest activities) | Planted 15,000 African blackwood in Tanzania and conducted local Indian rosewood surveys in India | ◯ | ||
| Resource savings, reduction of waste and hazardous substances | Eliminate plastic packaging used for newly launching small products | Developed systems for collecting information and determining specifications and eliminated plastic packaging from certain products | △ | |
| Society | Contribution to an equal society and comfortable lives | Install Listening Care function for reducing burden on ears by delivering high-quality sound at low volumes into all new headphones and earphones | Installed Listening Care function into all new wireless headphones and earphones | ◯ |
| Respect for human rights in the value chain | Conduct on-site audits of suppliers (60 companies) | Selected auditing institution to conduct on-site audits | △ | |
| Culture | Spread and development of music culture | Promote instrumental music education at schools in emerging countries (School Project); provide instrumental music education opportunities to aggregate total of 2.3 million children in 10 countriesManagement target | Provided instrumental music education opportunities to aggregate total of 2,025,000 children in seven countries through the School Project | ◎ |
| Increase number of students enrolled at overseas music school by 100,000 | Increased number of students enrolled at overseas music school by 17,000, despite challenges in recruiting students and expanding locations due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, etc. | △ | ||
| Human resources | Increase job satisfaction | Continue improving ratio of employees offering positive responses regarding motivation on employee engagement surveysManagement target | Moved forward with development of systems and frameworks | △ |
| Double human resources investment | Prepared for the introduction of a talent management system and formulated new education and learning systems | △ | ||
| Respect for human rights and DE&I(diversity, equity, and inclusion) | Achieve global ratio of female managers of 19%Management target | Raised global ratio of female managers to 17.3% and administered unconscious bias training to 6,100 individuals | ◯ | |
| Undertake cross-border positioning of 30 individuals | Conducted cross-border positioning of two individuals and established international relocation rules | △ | ||
| Foster open organizational culture where people can proactively take on challenges | Continue improving ratio of employees offering positive responses regarding workplace comfort on employee engagement surveysManagement target | Achieved inclusion in the Health & Productivity Stock Selection for second consecutive year and made progress in improving workplace environment | △ |
Legend
◎ Progress surpassing plans
◯ Progress in line with plans
△ Delayed progress in comparison to plans
✕ No progress
Material Issue Identification Process
1.Identification of Important Stakeholder Groups
Important stakeholder groups were identified to limit the scope of social issues to be assessed and guide priority assessments of social issues.
2.Limiting of Scope of Social Issues to Be Assessed
A list of 114 issues was prepared based on the targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and on global risk reports, global risks, and other risks. Redundant issues and issues deemed to be of low materiality to Yamaha and to the stakeholder groups identified in Step 1 were excluded for the list. Then, certain social issues were divided into risks and opportunities and social issues unique to the Yamaha Group were added to make for a list of a total of 64 social issues to be assessed.
3.Assessment of Materiality of Social Issues
The 64 social issues identified in Step 2 were divided into risks and opportunities and mapped based on materiality assessments conducted based on the perspectives described under (1) and (2) below.
(1) Business Perspective (Materiality to Yamaha)
A cross-Company assessment team of 35 individuals was assembled to score the materiality of the identified social issues from the perspectives of profits, losses, costs, reputation, compliance, corporate ethics, and management and business continuity.
(2) Stakeholder Perspective (Materiality to Stakeholders)
Customer input, employee surveys, and other methods were used to identify the needs and opinions of the stakeholder groups identified in Step 1. The materiality of the identified social issues was then scored based on this information, the requirements of industry initiatives, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) evaluation criteria (of FTSE Russell, MSCI, and other institutions).
![[Image] Assessment of Materiality of Social Issues](/en/sustainability/overview/materiality/images/process_01.jpg)
4.Identification of Material Issues
Social issues deemed to be of high materiality based on the mapping in Step 3 were grouped to make nine material issues, which were then further categorized and organized into the areas of environment, society, culture, and human resources.
5.Approval
The identified material issues were discussed by the Sustainability Committee, which is chaired by the president, and then approved by the Board of Directors.