Conserving the Environment

Since fiscal year 2005, MC has engaged in the Global Coral Reef Conservation Project, a project that is actively researching the causes and effects of the coral reef crisis. This project aims to help conserve coral reefs around the world through a research-based approach. Research is being conducted in cooperation with universities, NGOs and other organizations. As part of the project, MC also recruits volunteers from inside and outside the Company, in a program designed to deepen people's understanding of environmental issues.

MC is carrying out a forest conservation project in Aki City, Kochi Prefecture, the birthplace of Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of the original Mitsubishi company. MC has entered into a forest conservation agreement with Kochi Prefecture, Aki City, and the Eastern Kochi Forestry Association in an aim to conserve the local environment, and collaborations have been ongoing since 2009. This project was MC's first forest conservation initiative implemented in Japan. It has been named the “Mitsubishi Corporation Thousand Year Forest” (also known as Yataro’s Forest) and consists of a 263-hectare expanse of forest, 143 hectares of which are owned by MC. Aside from conducting forest conservation activities to improve functions that serve the public interest, such as headwater conservation, the area is also used as a place for MC employees to participate in volunteer activities as well as for environmental education.

In March 2020, MC entered into an agreement with the Shikoku Forestry Bureau, Aki City and the Eastern Kochi Forestry Association to introduce management policies in the Becchaku area of Yataro’s Forest based on the Shikoku Forestry Bureau’s policy of establishing what it refers to as “green corridors,”*1 in an effort to conserve biodiversity.

As a result of these conservation activities, a section of Yataro’s Forest*2 was certified as a Nationally Certified Sustainably Managed Natural Site*3 by the Ministry of the Environment in March 2024.

MC started supporting Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) in 2022 as part of its philanthropic activities. There are various methods for NCS, but MC focuses on methods of preventing degradation in rangelands with the goal of preserving the amount of CO2 absorbed by plants, and to prevent CO2 stored in soil and vegetation from being released into the atmosphere.
Population is rapidly growing in near Durban South Africa. Due to the increase in grazing caused by an increase in population, the number of rangeland which consist by grass and shrubs has begun to decrease and there are concerns of the amount of CO2 absorbed may decrease and that the CO2 stored in soil will be released.

In this project, MC will work together with Conservation International, an environmental NGO, to conserve rangeland in cooperation with local communities. At the same time, it aims to improve the living standards of local residents by improving the quality of livestock farming and conserving water resources. In the future, MC aims to contribute to climate change, to support local communities and to the conservation of biodiversity through participating in various NCS projects.