Policy

Respect for everyone’s human rights is one of the most important parts of the Asahi Kasei Group’s business activities. The Asahi Kasei Group Human Rights Policy, established in March 2022 with the approval of the Board of Directors, conforms to the International Bill of Human Rights and the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights. In addition, we endorse the 10 Principles of the UN Global Compact, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as well as the Children's Rights and Business Principles. Based on these frameworks, we will grasp and appropriately address human rights issues in our business.

• Asahi Kasei Group Human Rights Policy

Participation in human rights initiatives (signatory to UN Global Compact)

We actively participate in subcommittee activities related to the respect for human rights, provided and managed by the UN Global Compact Network Japan. In fiscal 2023, we continued our participation in the working group within the Supply Chain Subcommittee, which is developing a Human Rights Due Diligence Practice Manual. Additionally, we participated in expert lectures and workshops in the HRDD Subcommittee and Human Rights Education Subcommittee, leveraging the latest trends and examples from participating companies to enhance our own initiatives on respecting human rights.

• Participation in human rights initiatives (signatory to UN Global Compact)

Management Framework

We established the Human Rights Committee as a forum for discussion and guidance on the respect of human rights, and also as an organization to promote the implementation of the Asahi Kasei Group Human Rights Policy. The committee held its first meeting in November 2022. In fiscal 2023, we shared global trends related to human rights and reviewed group initiatives on respecting human rights. As concerns about the increasing complexity of human rights issues and evolving societal values surrounding human rights continue to grow, along with the progress of legal frameworks in various countries, we will continue to use this committee to exchange information and enhance our efforts to address human rights.

The Human Rights Committee is positioned as a subcommittee of the Sustainability Committee.
The committee chaired by the president is composed of members from diverse fields, including leaders responsible for business units, administrative functions, and technology functions. Matters discussed by the Human Rights Committee are reported to the Board of Directors.

Implementation of human rights due diligence

The Asahi Kasei Group recognizes that human rights due diligence is crucial in fulfilling our responsibility to respect human rights. To proactively identify, prevent, and mitigate any potential negative impacts the group may have on society, we will continue to deepen our initiatives step by step.

Initiatives in FY2023 - Survey on Human Rights Violation Risks for Business Unit Managers

In fiscal 2023, we focused on advancing primarily Step 2 of our human rights due diligence process. To promote actions and business activities in line with the Asahi Kasei Group Human Rights Policy, we conducted a survey on human rights violation risks in the value chain for 34 business unit managers across the Asahi Kasei Group, with the advice of external experts. The Human Rights Expert Committee reported on the survey results, along with the findings from interviews, sharing awareness of issues related to human rights violation risks in specific business units. In addition, the committee reviewed trends related to business and human rights, both domestically and internationally, and considered their impact on the group. This process reaffirmed the importance of initiatives to respect human rights, and we also reviewed future plans and our reporting structure.

Applies to

34 business units within the Asahi Kasei Group: 23 in the Material sector, 6 in the Homes sector, and 5 in the Health Care sector

Purpose

To assess each business unit’s awareness of human rights violation risks and their current responses, in order to develop more effective initiatives

(1) Identifying human rights violation risks in the value chain process

Risks of human rights violations among suppliers (primary suppliers and direct procurement sources)

• • The presence or absence of procurement of high-risk raw materials (plant-based, mineral-related, or from high-risk regions)
• • Awareness of discrimination or unfair treatment concerning wages, working hours, and other labor conditions in the employment of foreign workers
• • Awareness of the employment of children below the minimum working age as stipulated by law

Risks of human rights violations among direct subcontractors (primary outsourcing partners and cooperating companies)

• • The presence or absence of discrimination concerning wages, working hours, and other labor conditions in the employment of foreign workers
• • The presence or absence of child labor, specifically the employment of children below the minimum working age as stipulated by law
• • Occupational health and safety: The presence or absence of poor working conditions or hazardous tasks that raise significant concerns from a health and safety perspective

Risks of human rights violations within Asahi Kasei (as individual business units)

• • Preventive measures (special considerations and actions) against all forms of inhumane treatment, including discrimination and harassment based on race, ethnicity, birth, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or ideology

Risks of human rights violations related to our products and services

• • Preventing negative human rights impacts through product warnings for corporate customers and consumers, such as proper disposal methods and prohibitions on misuse
• • Ensuring that our advertisements, catalogs, and external websites avoid inappropriate expressions related to gender roles, racial bias, or other aspects from the perspective of respecting human rights
• • Managing relationships with local public officials at overseas locations, with a focus on compliance with local laws and regulations

(2) Sharing the status of individual initiatives and awareness of issues in each business

Upstream in the value chain

• • The status of incorporating CSR clauses into procurement contracts with direct (primary) suppliers
• • The level of awareness regarding human rights violation risks among indirect (secondary and beyond) suppliers

Downstream in the value chain

• • Measures to prevent unintended uses of products

Asahi Kasei Group’s Initiatives on Human Rights in the Value Chain

Based on the results of the above survey, we have reviewed both the individual efforts being made by each business unit and the comprehensive initiatives being undertaken as a group. This has allowed us to organize the status of our efforts related to business and human rights at each point along the group's value chain.

Consideration of human rights in the supply chain

The Asahi Kasei Group operates a diverse range of businesses, and we work to understand the various value chains and supply chains of each business from a human rights perspective. Based on this understanding, we promote the implementation of human rights respect as outlined in the Asahi Kasei Group Human Rights Policy.

Consideration of human rights in procurement

The Asahi Kasei Group is working to promote awareness about CSR, including respect for human rights, with coordination among Corporate Procurement & Logistics, the Sustainability Strategy Planning Department, and group companies. Our Supplier Code of Conduct establishes respect for human rights as a fundamental principle for all our suppliers to comply with. We ensure this is widely communicated and conduct an annual CSR procurement survey to understand our suppliers' efforts in various areas, including human rights, labor practices, environment, and ethics. Since fiscal 2020, we have revised the contents of the CSR procurement survey and implemented improvement activities for low-scoring suppliers with a system in place to continuously monitor the survey results of these suppliers. In fiscal 2023, based on the monitoring conducted over four years with materials suppliers (in fiscal 2020 and 2022) and raw material suppliers (in fiscal 2021 and 2023), we reviewed the improvement support for low-scoring (high-risk) suppliers.
In addition, regarding the current Supplier Guidelines (established in July 2021), we held ongoing discussions with procurement teams from Asahi Kasei Homes, Asahi Kasei Medical, and Asahi Kasei Microdevices, sharing the latest domestic and international trends. These discussions focused on the group’s direction and the content of each item in the guidelines. As a result, we updated and renamed them as the Asahi Kasei Group Supplier Code of Conduct.

• CSR Procurement

Consideration of human rights in logistics

The Asahi Kasei Group, primarily from the position of a shipper, is working to contribute to sustainable logistics. Starting in fiscal 2023, we expanded our CSR procurement activities to the logistics sector. This includes conducting CSR surveys to monitor logistics partners and promoting the dissemination of our Supplier Code of Conduct within this area.

Participation in EcoVadis (France) supply chain evaluations

EcoVadis, an international sustainability assessment organization, conducts investigations and evaluations of companies' supply chains using its proprietary platform. Several of Asahi Kasei Group's business locations, including overseas sites, are registered on EcoVadis' platform and continuously undergo supply chain evaluations. These evaluations help us strengthen the effectiveness of our initiatives across various fields, including labor and human rights, the environment, ethics, and procurement.
From fiscal 2023, we have focused on the labor and human rights sector by strengthening collaboration between manufacturing, quality assurance, and ESH departments at the business locations being evaluated. Through this process, we identify and address issues related to the management of labor safety risks and the prevention of negative impacts for both our employees and subcontractor employees at the manufacturing sites in question. Additionally, we promote awareness of respect for human rights at the operational level and share examples across the group.

Dialogue with Stakeholders

Participation in stakeholder engagement program

In fiscal 2023, we participated in the Stakeholder Engagement Program organized by the Caux Round Table (CRT) Japan. During the program, we engaged with issues raised by NPOs/NGOs and experts, working to identify key human rights issues specific to each industry.

• Stakeholder Engagement Program (Caux Round Table Japan)
• 2023 Report

Human rights reporting and consultation hotline

The Asahi Kasei Group’s compliance hotline handles reports and consultation on all aspects of compliance, including human rights. The hotline is available to suppliers and their employees in addition to Asahi Kasei Group employees.
We will establish a complaint handling procedure for all the rights holders in the future.

• Compliance > Whistleblower system (Compliance hotline)
• Consultation and reporting hotline for business partners

Human rights education and awareness raising activities

The Asahi Kasei Group conducts various educational and awareness-raising activities on respecting human rights to deepen understanding and ensure the practical implementation of the Asahi Kasei Group Human Rights Policy at both the management and operational levels. We will continue to promote awareness of human rights and strengthen our efforts to deepen employees’ understanding of the human rights issues for which corporations are socially responsible.

	Content of conducted training and awareness activities	Number of participants
FY2023	Dialogue with the Tokyo Branch of the Labor Union	21
	Discussions on human rights cases within compliance activities for employees at the workplace unit level	3,995
	Human rights awareness survey within the compliance questionnaire for employees	28,936
	Human rights seminars and workshops by experts at Asahi Kasei Amidas Corporation	268
	Human resources training (Business and Human Rights) for newly appointed responsible persons	317
	Human resources training (Business and Human Rights) for newly appointed section managers	314
FY2022	Human rights seminars by external experts	124
	E-Learning on human rights	25,230
	Promotion of initiatives on human rights issues (Group-wide Purchasing Meeting)	159

Harassment Prevention and Training

The Asahi Kasei Group Code of Conduct clearly stipulates a policy of zero tolerance for any kind of discrimination or harassment. To this end, we prohibit sexual harassment, harassment related to pregnancy, childbirth, and use of parental leave, family care leave, or other leave, and power harassment and other forms of harassment in our employment regulations. We also seek to instill within our domestic group companies our company policy of zero tolerance for any kind of discrimination or harassment through training on corporate ethics for employees at each level, including new hires, newly promoted assistant managers, and newly promoted managers, as well as through specialized training in different fields. In addition, we implement corporate ethics training by business unit and geographical area. Additionally, we have expanded online training and video content as part of our group-wide efforts to prevent harassment.