Message from the Executive Officer
in Charge of ESG Promotion
- Our mindset toward ESG management and our ESG promotion structure
- Initiatives related to climate change and biodiversity conservation
- Increasing corporate value through human capital management
- Increase corporate value by strengthening governance
- Continuing to bring out answers to social issues, aiming to become the corporate group needed most by people around the world
Our mindset toward ESG management and
our ESG promotion structure
We have designated the realization of a sustainable society through business operations and increased corporate value as requirements in our ESG management. We have established the ESG Promotion Office as an organization charged with spreading our mindset toward ESG management throughout SoftBank Corp. and our group companies, and in response to the expectations and requests of a wide range of stakeholders, we also established the ESG Promotion Committee as an advisory body to the Board of Directors. Junichi Miyakawa, our President & CEO, serves as the SoftBank Corp. group's Chief ESG Officer and assumes the lead role, while I am responsible for promoting ESG group-wide as the Executive Officer in Charge of ESG Promotion.
Initiatives related to climate change and
biodiversity conservation
In order to realize a sustainable society, SoftBank Corp. positions its response to climate change and biodiversity conservation as a social duty and an important theme. Regarding climate change, we are working to bring greenhouse gas emissions from our business activities to net zero by 2030 in accordance with the Carbon-Neutral 2030 Declaration, while we reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout our supply chain, including our customers and suppliers, to net zero by 2050. The entire group is working as one toward this goal.
For biodiversity conservation, we support the international community's goal of being nature positive. For example, we conduct forest conservation activities to reduce the impact of our business operations on ecosystems. When we have communications equipment such as mobile phone base stations in locations where biodiversity is important, we plant trees in an area twice as large as that taken up by our equipment as well as conduct other forest conservation activities. In addition, we conduct information disclosure on the impact of our business activities on natural capital based on the framework announced by the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
Increasing corporate value
through human capital management
SoftBank Corp. regards our human resources as a key driver of our business growth, and we believe it is important to create environments and provide opportunities for diverse human resources to maximize the use of their individuality and abilities to bolster our corporate value. Promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion is an important management issue, and we strive to foster a dynamic and vibrant organization that enables diverse members of our workforce to fully exercise their talents, regardless of age, gender, nationality or disabilities. To promote the advancement of women in particular, we brought in outside experts as advisors when we established our Advancement of Women Promotion Committee, and we conduct diverse initiatives for female employees, including career training and mentoring programs with internal senior managers. As we believe employee growth is connected to medium- and long-term increases in our corporate value, we designate employees as important capital. To maximize our human capital, we established systems and programs supporting self-directed learning and self-driven career development. SoftBank Corp. proactively invests in our human capital and discloses information, training our employees in conjunction with our business growth as we seek to become a company chosen by all through an era of change.
Increase corporate value by strengthening governance
Robust corporate governance is essential to improving corporate value. To create a high-quality governance system, raise management transparency, and conduct corporate governance with fairness and integrity, we have selected Audit & Supervisory Board Members and established the Audit & Supervisory Board to conduct effective audits on the status of the execution of duties by Board Directors. Since June 2024, we structured our Board such that our six Independent External Board Members came to comprise a majority (54.5%) of the total eleven members of the Board of Directors, improving managerial independence and transparency. We have also formulated the SoftBank Code of Conduct, which is to be upheld through Board Members and individual employees so that they maintain strong ethics and a deep sense of responsibility in the execution of daily operations. Along with this, we aim to spread awareness of compliance, implementing diverse initiatives such as various training programs and our Compliance Awareness Month. Through this, we endeavor to guarantee transparency in all our corporate activities and create governance to earn the trust of all stakeholders.
We are also proceeding with initiatives regarding human rights. Any form of discrimination and harassment based on age, gender, nationality and disabilities is prohibited under SoftBank's Human Rights Policies for all stakeholders, employees, business partners and in our supply chain. We have also established “Our Mindset Regarding Customer Harassment” to both preserve good relationships with our valued customers as well as protect employees from verbal abuse and unreasonable demands, creating an environment where they can work with peace of mind.
Continuing to bring out answers to social issues,
aiming to become the corporate group needed most
by people around the world
With our corporate philosophy of “Information Revolution — Happiness for Everyone” and our vision of “Becoming the Corporate Group Needed Most by People Around the World,” we now aim to be a company that provides the necessary next-generation social infrastructure to develop a digitized society by 2030 as our long-term vision. SoftBank's brand symbol of two lines in an equal sign represents the corporate mindset of the SoftBank Group, a leader in the Information Revolution that strives to bring answers and solutions for various issues confronting our customers and society as a whole. In 2024, we introduced our new slogan of “Answers to Social Issues,” spreading our methods and underlying thoughts through initiatives focused on addressing existing and potential social problems. Our employees are conscious of how they can connect and contribute to the philosophy, vision and ideals shown in our brand logo through their own operations and daily activities, and our six important material issues form the compass guiding them. We are confident that the combined efforts of each employee will bring the realization of a sustainable society and increased corporate value.
August 2024
Fumihiro Aono
Executive Vice President, CHRO & Executive Officer in Charge of ESG
SoftBank Corp.