Biodiversity : External Collaboration

Agrex do Brasil, an MC subsidiary, is a Round Table on Responsible Soy Association (RTRS) certified producer with a total of approximately 19,000 hectares of land certified under this standard. Agrex do Brasil was the first company in Brazil to obtain RTRS certification for the production of responsible soy in its farmland in Maranhão, Brazil. Through the RTRS certification, Agrex do Brasil seeks to make various internal improvements, increase efficiency in soil management and protection, improve water management, foster employee motivation and strengthen relationships with neighboring communities.

Agrex do Brasil is operating in compliance with Brazil’s soy moratorium (Moratória da Soja), a voluntary industry agreement that prevents participating companies from buying or selling soybeans grown in areas of the Brazilian Amazon that have been deforested since July 2008. Compliance with the moratorium is monitored through annual audits conducted by an independent organization selected by a working group made up of industry associations, including the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (ABIOVE) and the National Grain Exporters Association (ANEC), as well as representatives of civil society.

MC actively discloses information related to its efforts regarding ESG to a variety of stakeholders around the world. FY2014, MC has responded to CDP Forests, a survey which evaluates companies’ forest management in the supply chain. CDP is a UK-based international environmental NGO, and conducts activities to promote corporate disclosure of environmental information at the request of institutional investors around the world. It holds the world’s largest database of corporate disclosures on climate change initiatives.

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.

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 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.

Through the Mitsubishi Corporation Foundation for the Americas (MCFA) and the Mitsubishi Corporation Foundation for EMEA, which aim to tackle societal issues across the Americas, as well as both environmental protection and societal issues across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa respectively, MC is involved in activities that support environmental conservation, educational research on the environment and efforts to address the issue of poverty. The MCFEA and the MCF for EMEA is providing support through a wide range of partner organizations, including Farm Africa, which supports sustainable coffee farming in Bale-Eco region, Ethiopia, and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, which is working to protect caribou in Canada.

In April 2015, MC joined the Japan Business Initiative for Biodiversity (JBIB)^*, a group of firms committed to undertake joint research aimed at protecting biodiversity. The JBIB member firms agree to respect biodiversity in their daily business operations and pursue activities aimed at minimizing negative biodiversity impacts. Going forward, through communication with JBIB members and related initiatives, we will work to find ways of enhancing our initiatives toward protecting biodiversity.