We recognize that the sustainability of society as a whole will always have a significant impact on our corporate activities in the future. That is why we identify high priority issues from the point of view of management. Once we have identified these material issues, we incorporate them into our business activities, and publish details and the results of our initiatives in our ESG report.
We identified nine material issues of the Group in fiscal 2008 by conducting a material issue assessment based on the framework of the GRI Guidelines, a set of international guidelines that address sustainability reporting. In fiscal 2016, we reorganized them into seven issues. Later, in response to changes in the external environment, we updated the Group's material issues in the Medium-term Management Strategy for the period until fiscal 2023, which we announced in March 2020. As a result, the Group now has ten material issues, which were selected based on the CSR material issues identified in 2015, following the steps shown in the figure below. Further, we also set material issues for management strategy, which are to be solved directly through business activities. Thus, we have strengthened the relationship between them and our management strategy. Our initiatives to address these material issues also helps achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through these initiatives, we will improve our corporate value, achieving both social and economic value.
Now, we compile reports in accordance with the GRI Standards and by reflecting the recently-growing interest in non-financial information. We will continue to carry out regular reviews of the reports and strive to enhance their contents in response to the expectations and requests of our stakeholders.
