| January 31, 2005 - Tokyo - Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (Ajinomoto, President & CEO: Kunio Egashira, Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan) issued and started distributing English version of "Ajinomoto Group CSR Report 2004" in January 2005. The original Japanese version was issued in Oct. 2004. For the past four years, we have published an environmental report; however, because of our commitment to the policy of corporate social responsibility (CSR), we have revised the contents and format, renaming it the CSR Report with this issue. This CSR Report provides the readers with the information on our CSR activities toward various stakeholder groups, including the results of global environmental activities focusing on "Ajinomoto Group Zero Emissions" plan. |
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The first chapter, "In Society," reports the efforts in terms of economic and social performance toward our major stakeholder groups, such as consumers, business partners, shareholders and investors, local communities, and employees. This chapter was divided into sections by specific area of stakeholder interest.
The second chapter, "For the Global Environment," reports the results of efforts to reduce environmental load based on "Ajinomoto Group Zero Emissions" plan. Since the Ajinomoto Group has been attempting to improve the production efficiency mainly by recycling wastes and by-products, the resource recovery ratio in 2003 increased to 96.3% (plus1.4 percentage points from 2002), approaching to the target of 99%. Moreover, we have been promoting environmental management and our 49 sites (23 sites of Ajinomoto Co., Inc. and 26 sites of the subsidiaries) have been certified for ISO14001 as of July 2004. In 2004, of 114 global sites, 60 sites are scheduled to obtain ISO14001, and certifying all 114 sites is planed in FY2005.
We believe that communicating with diverse stakeholders is an essential component for enhancing our corporate value and consider this CSR Report as a key communication tool. Therefore, we welcome comments and opinions from various readers. As our socially responsible activities are moving forward, we are preparing to establish a new department to preside over CSR activities of the entire global Ajinomoto Group in April 2005. We will continue to aim at our objective, "From its beginning in Japan, aiming to be a global corporation in food and amino acid products," by fulfilling the responsibility for the global society through the Ajinomoto Way.
PFD file that includes the whole contents of the Ajinomoto Group CSR Report is available and can be downloaded on our Web at http://www.ajinomoto.com/.
*1 Ajinomoto Group Zero Emissions
The elimination of every environmental load from all business aspects based on the Ajinomoto Group's unified standards.
Activities toward major stakeholder groups and the environment
Consumers: |
| 1) |
Providing safe and high-quality products and services by implementing our strict quality management system. |
| 2) |
Establishing traceability system to quickly collect and review historic product information. |
| 3) |
Reflecting voices from consumers to improve and develop products and services. |
| 4) |
Protecting customer information by establishing "Ajinomoto Group Information Security Policy." |
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| Business Partners: |
| 1) |
Establishing "Ajinomoto Group Antitrust Laws Compliance Guidelines (Japan)" to fully comply with the laws. |
| 2) |
Periodically exchanging the information on the Group's product quality between the Ajinomoto Group and raw material suppliers. |
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| Shareholders and Investors: |
| 1) |
Semi-annual meeting, business presentations, facility tours are held to offer opportunities for dialogue. |
| 2) |
Accurate information is disclosed in "Annual Report" and "Intellectual Property Information Disclosure." |
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Local Communities:
As a good corporate citizen, contributing to the affluent society of the 21st century by "Global Programs," "Regional Programs," "Foundation Programs," and "Employees Volunteerism." |
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| Employees |
| 1) |
Employing people with diverse expertise and carriers, regardless of nationality or gender. |
| 2) |
Supporting women employees by such as "Childcare Leave Program." |
| 3) |
Creating a non-discriminatory work environment through the efforts of our Human Right Enlightenment Promotion Committee. |
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| Environment |
| 1) |
Environmental Management
Environmental Management, Environmental Audit, Environmental Assessment, Environmental Education, etc. |
| 2) |
Environmental Performance
Preventing Global Warming, Waste Reduction Activities, Reduced Environmental Loads of Wastewater, Activities of Containers and Packaging, etc. |
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| [Reference] |
Summary of Ajinomoto Group CSR Report 2004
Format: A4, 80 pages |
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Printed on paper certified by Forest Stewardship Council with non-VOC soybean ink.
Waterless printing that does not generate toxic wastewater is applied.
* "Baggase," cane fiber is used for the front page. |
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| Summary of Editorial Policy |
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The boundary of this report is the global Ajinomoto Group. The contents were based on "economic," "environmental," and "social" performance, in reference to "Environmental Report Guideline 2003" by Ministry of the Environment (Japan) and "GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines 2002." |
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Expected readers of this report include consumers, business partners, shareholders, investors and analysts, students, neighboring residents of our business sites, NGOs, NPOs and employees. |
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In this report, each CSR issue was honestly disclosed to our stakeholders including past incidents. |
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Additional details information on the environmental activities, such as the list of ISO14001 certified sites, PRTR*2 data, and domestic and overseas site data, etc. are available on our Web.
*2: PRTR: Pollutant Release and Transfer Register |
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