Sustainability
Initiatives for All Stakeholders Environment
- Governance
- Environment
- CSR
- Supported Initiatives
Fundamental Policy and Governance of Initiatives
Fundamental Policy
We have formulated the following basic policy regarding the environment, including climate change.
- Based on the Macromill Code of Conduct, we will pursue initiatives to reduce CO2 emissions and strive to improve the natural environment.
- Through marketing research, we will strive to address environmental issues and enhance corporate value.
- We will strive for ongoing improvements with the aim of enhancing environmental performance by seeking to achieve our environmental targets and evaluating the impact of our business activities on the environment.
- We will actively strive to prevent pollution, mitigate climate change, and preserve biodiversity and ecosystems.
Governance system for climate change-related matters
Board oversight and management’s role with regard to climate-related risks and opportunities
The Board of Directors serves as the oversight body on the environment, including climate change. The Executive Officers’ Meeting and Management Meeting make decisions on basic policies and other important matters, while substantive discussion and examinations take place in the Sustainability Committee, which serves as an advisory body.
Executive officers and corporate officers participate in the Sustainability Committee, taking reports on environmental risk assessments, including climate change, and on the progress of initiatives, and discussing policies going forward. Preparation of reports and agendas is the purview of the Environmental Subcommittee under the Sustainability Committee. The Executive Officers’ Meeting and Management Meeting monitor initiatives related to climate change and related issues based on the deliberations of the Sustainability Committee, discussing ways of managing progress and basic policies and important matters requiring decisions.As outlined above, the Sustainability Committee consults on the Company’s basic policies and important matters related to the environment. The policies and matters are then decided by the Executive Officers’ Meeting and Management Meeting, before receiving final approval from the Board of Directors.
Governance system for climate change-related matters
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| Board of Directors | Monitors our response to climate change | About once a year |
|---|---|---|
| Executive Officers’ Meeting and Management Meeting | Decides on basic policies and important matters related to climate change | About once a year |
| Sustainability Committee | Discusses basic policies and important matters related to climate change. Makes recommendations to the Management Meeting | About two to three times a year |
| Environmental Sustainability Subcommittee | Discusses basic policies and important matters related to climate change. Makes recommendations to the Management Meeting | About four times a year |
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*Measures are being pursued under a similar structure in the areas of HR, data governance, and society.
Climate change-related risks and opportunities
Climate change-related risks
The nature of the Groupʼs business is that we carry out our activities primarily online. We, therefore, recognize that the direct impact of climate change on our business is limited. However, technological innovations and changes in markets, services, and consumer attitudes related to climate change could affect our client companiesʼ revenues, which in turn could affect our business results. Changes in our client companiesʼ technologies and services, especially with respect to climate change, or changes in consumer attitudes, will affect the demand for research. As a countermeasure to this point, we are monitoring the trends of client companies regarding climate change and regularly reviewing risks. By doing so, we continue working to diversify our client portfolio and capture marketing demand. Based on the characteristics of our business, the Group recognizes the risks and opportunities posed by climate change as follows.
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| Risks | Timeline | Countermeasures | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 2°C scenario | Transition risk（1）becomes apparent; physical risk（2）is not assumed to be high | As some industries to which our clients belong have a high degree of both risk and opportunity, we will diversify risk by closely monitoring the performance of individual clients and suppliers, in addition to industry-wide trends. | |
| Increased costs due to stricter regulations on energy sources and replacement of facilities and equipment as part of the shift to renewable energy sources | Medium to long term | We will comply with all current relevant laws and regulations, reduce our internal electricity consumption, and promote occupancy in buildings where there are initiatives to become more environmentally friendly and energy efficient. | |
| Lack of action to address climate change erodes trust from stakeholders and reduces business opportunities | Medium to long term | By promoting and disclosing information on ESG initiatives, including climate change-related issues, we will pursue dialogue with shareholders, investors, and other stakeholders and continuously work to improve our ESG score with each assessment body. | |
| 4°C scenario | Physical risk（2）becomes apparent; transition risk（1）is not assumed to be high | We aim to diversify risk and increase opportunities by considering the expansion of businesses and services into industries with lower risks and greater opportunities even in the 4°C scenario. | |
| Increased costs to deal with rising temperatures, damage to business locations caused by flooding and other disasters, human casualties, and supply chain disruptions | Short to long term | Ongoing BCP review and internal training | |
| Decline in business opportunities due to the medium- to long-term impact of natural disasters and rising temperatures, etc., on client companies | Medium to long term | We aim to diversify risk by keeping a close eye on the performance of our clients and suppliers |
- The transition to a low-carbon society aimed at mitigating climate change involves policy, legal, technological, and market changes that could have a variety of impacts on a company’s finances and reputation. These risks are called “transition risks”.
- Risks that may materialize due to disasters caused by climate change (including direct damage such as torrential rain, floods, storm surges, droughts, wildfires, etc., and indirect damage such as reduced sales due to supply chain disruptions, as well as damage caused by long-term changes in climate change patterns such as rising temperatures, reduced snow and ice cover, and rising sea levels). These risks are called “physical risks”.
Climate change-related opportunities
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| Opportunities | Timeline | Countermeasures | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 2°C scenario | Transition risk (1) becomes apparent; physical risk (2) is not assumed to be high | ||
| Growing demand for online research associated with the shift to a paperless operation | Medium to long term | Expanding the online research capacity structure and promoting efficiency to tap into demand and improve sales | |
| Diversification of consumer behavior due to increased environmental awareness and marketing demand for new products and services | Short to long term | Capturing changes in consumer behavior and communicating them to society, and increasing sales through proposal activities to clients | |
| 4°C scenario | Physical risk (2) becomes apparent; transition risk (1) is not assumed to be high | ||
| Growing demand for online research to avoid travel and visits due to the increased risks caused by climate change, such as the prospect of infectious diseases | Medium to long term | Developing and providing a variety of online research solutions, such as shifting offline research online, to increase sales | |
| Increased marketing demand for new products and services due to changes in consumersʼ lifestyle | Short to long term | Capturing changes in consumer behavior and communicating them to society, and improving sales through proposal activities to clients |
- The transition to a low-carbon society aimed at mitigating climate change involves policy, legal, technological, and market changes that could have a variety of impacts on a company’s finances and reputation. These risks are called “transition risks”.
- Risks that may materialize due to disasters caused by climate change (including direct damage such as torrential rain, floods, storm surges, droughts, wildfires, etc., and indirect damage such as reduced sales due to supply chain disruptions, as well as damage caused by long-term changes in climate change patterns such as rising temperatures, reduced snow and ice cover, and rising sea levels). These risks are called “physical risks”.
Countermeasures
In the less than 2°C scenario, the risk of a surge in procurement costs is assumed for various industries that use fuel and electricity. We recognize that changes in client companies’ technologies and services, as well as in consumer attitudes, will have an impact on research demand in the medium term. At the same time, there will be significant opportunities as new products and services are developed. Since some industries present high degrees of both risk and opportunity, we will diversify risk by closely monitoring the performance of individual client companies and business partners, as well as overall industry trends. Given that the 4°C scenario could also become a reality, we will diversify risks and expand opportunities by considering the expansion of our business and services to industries with lower risks and greater opportunities in this case.
Initiatives and Goals
Information disclosure
We are committed to disclosing information on our CO2 emissions. As the Groupʼs business activities are primarily carried out online, the calculation of CO2 emissions covers our main offices in Japan and our cloud service providers (contracted for online research services), plus paper consumption at our main offices.
Initiatives to reduce GHG emissions
Promotion of paperless operations and recycling
We are committed to the digitalization of our operations and working towards a paperless environment. Specifically, we are working on digitalizing internal documents such as the minutes of meetings, invoices, and contracts. We have also introduced a system whereby printing is carried out after authentication using ID cards issued to each individual at the time of printing, which enables us to monitor the amount of photocopy paper used and raise awareness of the need to reduce it. In addition, 100% of office paper waste is recycled, with used documents being recycled using dedicated recycling bins to ensure both confidentiality and recycling.
Occupancy of a building with initiatives to become more environmentally friendly and energy efficient
Shinagawa East One Tower, where the Company is located, obtained an ʻS Rankʼ under the 2021 SDGs compliant version of the CASBEE® (Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency) Real Estate Evaluation System, the highest rating as a ʻGreen Buildingʼ with high environmental performance in areas such as energy conservation. Efforts are continuing to improve environmental performance, including the acquisition of Net Zero Energy Building (ZEB) certification under the e Building-Housing Energy-efficiency Labeling System (BELS) in 2023. As a tenant, we work to contribute to the environmental and energy-saving initiatives promoted by the building.
Goals
The short-term goal is to achieve net zero CO2 emissions (Scope 1+2) by FY2030, and the long-term goal is to maintain net zero CO2 emissions (Scope 1+2) in FY2050.
Analysis of current situation
The Company promotes hybrid working styles, including remote working, which has resulted in a downward trend in electricity consumption and CO2 emissions. In data management, the migration from on-premise data centers to the cloud, which was implemented in 2016, has resulted in a significant reduction in energy consumption.
CO2 emissions associated with office electricity consumption
In line with the switch to renewable energy for our main offices, including headquarters, we significantly reduced CO2 emissions from electricity consumption in FY2024, cutting them to a level close to our goal of almost zero. Going forward, we will continue to contribute as a tenant to the environmental and energy conservation initiatives of the buildings we occupy, taking various actions such as switching to renewable energy for office electricity and using data centers with low environmental impact. We will also aim to gauge the current situation and carry out measures toward achieving carbon neutrality.
Data
The following figures are CO2 emissions for Macromill.
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| CO2 emissions (t-CO2) | FY6/2018 | FY6/2019 | FY6/2020 | FY6/2021 | FY6/2022 | FY6/2023 | FY6/2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scope 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Scope 2 Office electricity consumption*1 |
516 | 520 | 435 | 349 | 155 | 22 | 2 |
| Scope 3*2 | |||||||
| Category 1 Purchased goods and services |
*3 | *3 | *3 | *3 | *3 | *3 | 3,737 |
| Category 1 The use of cloud services*4 |
*3 | *3 | *3 | 217 | 131 | 61 | 6 |
| Category 3 Fuel- and energy-related activities (not included in scope 1 or scope 2) |
*3 | *3 | *3 | *3 | *3 | 44 | 43 |
| Category 6 Business travel |
*3 | *3 | *3 | *3 | *3 | 99 | 121 |
| Category 7 Employee commuting |
*3 | *3 | *3 | *3 | *3 | 143 | 168 |
- 1 Figures for FY2022/6 and FY2023/6 have been revised as some sites had switched to renewable energy.
- 2 Not applicable for categories 2, 8, and 9 to 15 in Scope 3.
- 3 Figures not provided due to the difficulty of calculation.
- 4 CO2 emissions for cloud service providers are calculated using the calculation tools they provide.