Material Issues
The Yamaha Group incorporates material sustainability issues into its sustainability policy to contribute to social sustainability and enhance corporate value over the medium to long term. The Group advances and manages activities based on this policy.
Identified Material Sustainability Issues
Environment
Response to climate change
- Reduction of CO2 emissions from business sites (Scope 1 and 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 (volatile organic compounds (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
- Human rights of workers at suppliers, etc.
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
Foster a creative and ambitious organizational culture
- Human resource development; employee engagement surveys; creation of opportunities for dialogue; promotion of work–life balance, safety and health, 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.)
Material Sustainability Issues, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and Targets
Major Sustainability KPIs, Targets, and Progress of Make Waves 2.0 (Previous Medium-Term Management Plan)
| Category | Material Issues | KPIs and Targets | Progress | Evaluation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Environment | Response to climate change | Reduce CO2emissions by 5% through energy conservation (CO2 emissions/production volume, compared with fiscal 2018) Management target | Achieved emissions reduction of 6.1% | Excellent |
| Maintain inclusion on CDP Climate Change A List | Included on CDP Climate Change A List for second consecutive year | Excellent | ||
| Improve logistics packing efficiency by 5% | Improved logistics packing efficiency by 5% | Excellent | ||
| Sustainable use of timber | Increase rate of sustainable timber use to 75%Management target | 69.5% | Good | |
| Cultivate and preserve three scarce tree species necessary for musical instrument production (Otonomori Activities) | Planted aggregate total of 27,000 trees in Tanzania and promoted other preservation activities targeting three tree species | Excellent | ||
| Resource savings, reduction of waste and hazardous substances | Eliminate plastic packaging used for newly launching small products | Replaced Styrofoam packaging with alternative materials for a wider range of products, but faced difficulty using plastic alternatives in place of other packaging materials | Good | |
| Society | Respect for human rights in the value chain | Conduct on-site audits of suppliers (60 companies) | Conducted on-site audits of 60 suppliers | Excellent |
| Culture | Spread and development of music culture | Promote instrumental music education at schools in emerging countries (School Project); provide music education opportunities to aggregate total of 2.3 million children in 10 countriesManagement target | Provided music education opportunities to aggregate total of 4.25 million children in 10 countries through the School Project | Excellent |
| Increase number of students enrolled at overseas music schools by 100,000 | Increased number of students enrolled at overseas music schools by 11,000 | Fair | ||
| Human Resources | Increase job satisfaction | Continue improving ratio of employees offering positive responses regarding job satisfaction on employee engagement surveysManagement target | Maintained positive response rate for job satisfaction around same levels as seen in the past | Good |
| Double human resources investment | Increased human resources investment by 60% | Good | ||
| Respect for human rights and DE&I | Achieve global ratio of female managers of 19%Management target | Achieved global ratio of female managers of 19% | Excellent | |
| Conduct cross-border positioning of 30 individuals | Conducted cross-border positioning of 32 individuals | Excellent | ||
| 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 improvement of two percentage points in positive response rate for workplace comfort | Excellent |
Excellent: Target achieved
Good: Measures progressed, but missed target
Fair: Measures delayed
- Note: For details on the scope of data collection, please refer to the ESG Data available on Yamaha’s corporate website.
Major Sustainability KPIs and Targets of Rebuild & Evolve (New Medium-Term Management Plan)
| Category | Material Issues | KPIs and Targets |
|---|---|---|
| Environment | Response to climate change | Reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO2 emissions by 30% (compared with fiscal 2018)Management target |
| Resource savings, reduction of waste and hazardous substances | Reduce use of Styrofoam packaging by 25% (compared with fiscal 2023)Management target | |
| Sustainable use of timber | Increase rate of sustainably sourced timber use to 80%Management target | |
|
Cultivate and preserve scarce tree species necessary for musical instrument production (Otonomori Activities) Plant and preserve 20,000 trees a year in Tanzania Produce and present musical instruments made using Sakhalin spruce in Hokkaido Introduce pilot tree planting project in India Develop preservation model for one species of tree in Latin America |
||
| Society | Respect for human rights in the value chain | Conduct on-site audits of 60 suppliersManagement target |
| Contribution to an equal society and comfortable lives | Develop 20 use cases for resolving social issuesManagement target | |
| Culture | Spread and development of music culture | Engage in 12,000 music culture support activities under the Community Building with Music initiative (activities to create opportunities for people to connect through music)Management target |
| Provide music education opportunities to aggregate total of 7 million children through the School ProjectManagement target | ||
| Human Resources | Respect for human rights and DE&I | Achieve ratio of female managers of 24%Management target |
| Conduct global positioning of 40 individuals | ||
| Foster a creative and ambitious organizational culture | Continue improving ratio of employees offering positive responses regarding job satisfaction on employee engagement surveys | |
| Increase human capital investment by 50%Management target |
Material Issue Identification Process
The Yamaha Group continuously assesses and reviews the material issues it has identified based on social trends, sustainability issues, and stakeholder expectations.
1.Identification of Important Stakeholder Groups
Important stakeholder groups were identified to compile the sustainability issues to be assessed and guide priority assessments of social issues.
2.Compilation of Sustainability Issues to Be Assessed
A list of around 110 sustainability 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 sustainability issues were divided into risks and opportunities and sustainability issues unique to the Yamaha Group were added to compile a list of approximately 60 sustainability issues that were subject to materiality assessment.
3.Assessment of Materiality of Sustainability Issues
The sustainability issues compiled in Step 2 were divided into risks and opportunities and mapped through materiality assessments of the impact on Yamaha and Yamaha’s impact on the environment and society conducted based on the perspectives described under (1) and (2) below.
(1) Business Perspective (Materiality to Yamaha, Impact on Yamaha)
A cross-Company assessment team was assembled to score the materiality of the identified sustainability issues from the perspectives of profits, losses, costs, reputation, compliance, corporate philosophy, and management and business continuity.
(2) Stakeholder Perspective (Materiality to Stakeholders, Yamaha’s Impact on the Environment and Society)
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 sustainability 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
Sustainability issues deemed to be of high materiality based on the mapping in Step 3 were grouped to make a number of 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.