Investor Relations

CSO Message

CSO’s Message

Polishing Our Sustainability
as Part of Our Unique
Competitiveness Through
Our Main Business Operations

Shigeo Obata
Chief Strategy Officer (CSO)

Sustainability as Part of Our Unique Competitiveness

Visiting a Green Metals Hokkaido, Inc. plant

Based on the values the Toyota Tsusho Group has developed through the years as a uniquely competitive general trading company, we have taken on the challenges of domains that other companies have shied away from and built our own unique value. At the base of that is Toyota Tsusho DNA: “Humanity,” “Gembality,” and “Beyond.” Of those, Gembality is where our roots lie. It is a unique value that consists of identifying the issues faced in the field and taking them head-on.

Led by these values, we don’t see sustainability as a limitation but as a business opportunity, and we implement sustainability efforts through our core business. Our resource recycling and renewable energy initiatives contribute to the creation of a worldview in which there’s no need to dig up the earth, and they are a source of our competitive advantage.

Business that Turns Solutions to Global Issues into Economic Value

Visiting a wind power generation site
in Egypt

Our Group has positioned sustainability as management itself. Through our business, we aim to develop solutions to global issues while enhancing corporate value.

In Africa and the rest of the Gondwana economic zone, we apply our Gembality to take on global issues as we create new business. In the circular economy field, resource recycling itself provides business value, and the growth of business links directly to increased environmental value. In renewable energy and healthcare, as well, we are responsible for functions that are vital to society as we realize sustained growth. We will further extend ourselves in our fields of specialization and, at the same time, combine our strengths with those of outside partners to convert solutions to global issues into economic value through business creation and growth.

Connecting Strategy and Execution Through Material Issues

In our Medium-Term Management Plan for the fiscal years ending March 31, 2026, through March 31, 2028, sustainability management is one of our core strategies for enhancing corporate value. Through our business, we will solve global-scale issues as we leverage the unique competitiveness of our individual members and our organization, along the three axes of “net zero,” “nature positive,” and “coexistence with people and local communities.”

Our material issues indicate which issues we will take on and what kind of value we will create. We will review and revise them on an ongoing basis, reflecting changes in the business environment, and connect our management strategies with our actual execution.

Elevating Sustainability Management to a Higher Dimension

Our goal is to elevate sustainability Management to a higher dimension. We don’t limit sustainability to just policies or disclosures, but think of it as something that is a part of our business and worksites, so we tie it tightly into our solving of issues and our enhancement of corporate value. Within our sustainability management, we carry out environmental initiatives that promote “net zero,” “nature positive,” and “coexistence with people and local communities,” which are highly significant in our solving of global issues through our business.

There is something that I mentioned at the start of my message that I want to particularly emphasize. For Toyota Tsusho, environmental initiatives aren’t charity. They aren’t something we do because we are required to. They are, instead, a central part of our business. They are business opportunities for our Group’s sustainable growth, of course, and also for our customers, for our suppliers, for creating a better Earth, and for creating a brighter future for the children of the future. Our Group’s brigade of 70,000 employees is working as one to expand these opportunities while engaging in dialogue withcustomers, suppliers, and many stakeholders. These are business opportunities, but they are also risks that must be dealt with appropriately. We will control these risks and accurately identify opportunities, linking them to sustainable growth.

Continuously Polishing Sustainability as a Source of Corporate Value Enhancement

Visiting a metal scrap business site in South Africa

Through our internal and external communications and dialogue, we are working to provide a deeper understanding of our initiatives and foster greater trust. We reflect the insights we gain from our dialogue with stakeholders in our strategies, refining our initiatives. We will continue to polish sustainability as a source of corporate value enhancement and achieve the kind of growth that only the Toyota Tsusho Group can. As our CSO, I will further integrate sustainability with our business, accurately identify innovation that begins in the field, and realize our growth strategies.