Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd

The president, as the person responsible for all matters pertaining to climate change within the Sumitomo Rubber Group, participates in discussions and deliberations at meetings of our Sustainability Promotion Committee. Meanwhile, the Director in charge of sustainability, who also serves as the Chairperson of the Committee, oversees the promotion of initiatives to address climate change. To drive sustainability management, the Sustainability Promotion Committee, comprising the executive officers in charge of each business division, meets twice a year to ensure the thorough implementation of Group-wide policies and to confirm progress with the tackling of key issues. For themes that require cross-divisional collaboration, six subcommittees have been established as working groups under the Sustainability Promotion Committee. The Carbon Neutral Subcommittee, in particular, leads efforts related to climate change. Each subcommittee consists of a lead management division and participating member divisions. Their responsibilities include planning activities, setting goals, approving action plans, and managing progress. They report to the Sustainability Promotion Committee and the management team. Matters deliberated and reported by the committee are reported to the Board of Directors, which reviews progress with implementation of the long-term sustainability policy based on these reports. Through monitoring and reviews by management team at committee meetings, we continuously enhance our sustainability initiatives and aim to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society by establishing a robust management foundation that supports sustainable growth. In addition, as a mechanism to support the achievement of non-financial goals, the Sumitomo Rubber Group has introduced a system that ties the remuneration of officers to their contribution to sustainable management. [...] We have established a Risk Management Committee chaired by the President to address climate-related risks. The committee holds biannual meetings in order to supervise risk management activities and check on the effectiveness of our Risk Management System. Various business risks associated with climate change risks are analyzed based on internal risk management rules, and measures that reflect the results of this analysis are reported to and discussed by the Risk Management Committee and the Board of Directors. We also conduct annual assessments of climate change risks taking into consideration external changes, such as those related to the Paris Agreement and science-based targets. Furthermore, the Sustainability Promotion Committee promotes environmental activities and oversees our Environmental Management System. The committee's decisions are reported to the Board of Directors and relevant business divisions, and reflected in future goal setting and policy making.

Describe the process(es) your organization has in place to ensure that your engagement activities are consistent with your overall climate change strategy[…]The Sumitomo Rubber Group has declared that it will achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 in order to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.
To achieve this goal, we joined the Hydrogen Value Chain Promotion Council in February 2021, and are working to utilize hydrogen, a next-generation energy source that does not emit CO2 during combustion, in order to achieve carbon neutrality in the manufacturing process by 2050.
We are involved in climate change countermeasures by encouraging and making recommendations to the Hydrogen Value Chain Promotion Council on institutional design and budget expansion for the government to expand the use of hydrogen.
As part of our hydrogen utilization efforts, in August 2021 we began a demonstration experiment at our main tire plant, the Shirakawa Plant in Fukushima Prefecture, to convert the fuel used to produce steam necessary for the manufacturing process from fossil fuels to hydrogen.