Stakeholder Engagement

The Fuji Oil Group’s stakeholders

The Fuji Oil Group has identified the main stakeholders on whom our business activities can exert a positive or negative impact.

Relationships with main stakeholders Our responsibilities Touchpoint examples (frequency)
Employees Human resource is critical to our social and corporate value creation. We are committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can make the most of their abilities and work in a safe and secure environment.
  • Occupational health and safety
  • Promoting DE&I
  • Health management
  • Building sound management-labor relations
  • Employee training (as needed)
  • Compliance hotline (as needed)
  • Employee satisfaction survey (annually)
  • Intranet and internal communication site
Shareholders and investors Gaining the understanding of our shareholders and investors is essential to our business growth. We promote understanding of the Fuji Oil Group and increase corporate value through timely, appropriate, and highly transparent information disclosure and dialogues.
  • Increasing corporate value
  • Distribution of profits
  • Information disclosure
  • Dialogues
  • General meeting of shareholders (annually)
  • Results briefings/ teleconferences (as needed)
  • Small meetings (as needed)
  • Individual meetings (as needed)
Customers Customers are major players in creating corporate value as well as being our key partners in building a sustainable food system. We work hard to communicate better and create customer value, which is unique to the Fuji Oil Group.
  • Stable supply
  • Building trust
  • Offering products that capture market needs
  • Product development and offers (as needed)
  • Daily sales activities (as needed)
Business partners and subcontractors
supply chain workers
Carrying out initiatives across the supply chain is essential to building a sustainable food system. We are committed to building trust with our business partners, subcontractors, and supply chain workers through fair and equitable transactions, as well as to gaining their understanding of the Fuji Oil Group’s policies in order to work together to solve supply chain issues.
  • Sustainable procurement
  • Building a sustainable supply chain
  • Daily purchasing activities and transactions (as needed)
  • Supplier engagement (as needed)
  • Individual briefings on our sourcing policies (as needed)
Consumers Understanding consumer needs and promoting ethical consumption are essential to creating sustainable food chains. We carry out a direct approach to consumers and reflect the results in our product development and service improvement.
  • Providing delicious, healthy, and sustainable food
  • Food safety
  • Product sales via e-commerce channels (as needed)
  • Dissemination of information through mass media (as needed)
  • Raising awareness through industry groups (as needed)
Local communities To ensure smooth business operations, it is important to live in harmony and to develop sustainably together with the local communities where we operate. We contribute to the safety and the conservation of the local environment.
  • Living in harmony with the community
  • Environmental conservation
  • Participation in and sponsorship of community events (as needed)
  • Support activities for local communities (food education project) (as needed)
  • Support in the event of natural disasters (as needed)
NGOs/NPOs and experts NPOs/NGOs and experts are our key partners in carrying out activities addressing global social issues. We get their advice from the social perspective and use them to do better.
  • Constructive dialogues and cooperation for business operations that consider human rights and the environment
  • Expert panel dialogues (as needed)
  • Grievance mechanism (as needed)
  • Promotion of joint projects (as needed)
Academic organizations To continue creating social value, it is important to build human capital and to collect information. We carry out open innovation in collaboration with academic organizations to accelerate the creation of social value.
  • Building trust
  • Sharing technology, knowledge, and human resources
  • Confidentiality
  • Sharing value
  • Joint research (as needed)
  • Lectures (as needed)

Dialogue with stakeholders

Stakeholder dialogue is an essential activity for the Fuji Oil Group and sets the foundation for our sustainability management. Through dialogue, we identify stakeholders’ expectations and concerns regarding our activities, which allows us to make improvements and meet our responsibilities as a corporate citizen. We also use the results of this dialogue to identify material ESG issues and formulate our Sustainability Report.

Actions taken following dialogues with experts
(Example: Incorporating expert opinion)

For example, we held annual dialogues with expert panels on business and human rights from FY2016 to FY2020. These sessions are always joined by executives from Fuji Oil Holdings, including senior executives who also sit on the Group’s Board of Directors. We use the insights and advice gained in these dialogues to carry out human rights initiatives.
In FY2021, we did not carry out a talk-format dialogue. Instead, BSR, a non-profit organization specialized in business and human rights, had a discussion with our Human Resources Department and our Sustainability Department about specific measures to deal with human rights in the workplace (harassment, forced labor). This topic was identified as a risk in the 2nd human rights impact assessment.
During the discussion, we considered how to ensure an effective, comprehensive human rights risk management system. The dialogue also served as input to the formulation of the Supplier Code of Conduct, the sourcing policies and targets for soybeans and shea kernels, and the revision of the 3rd edition of the CSR Procurement Guidelines.

Actions taken following dialogues with experts

  • Formulated the Human Rights Policy and introduced human rights due diligence (April 2017)
  • Established and announced a grievance mechanism (May 2018)
  • Published a list of oil mills in our supply chain (June 2018)
  • Formulated the Responsible Cocoa Beans Sourcing Policy (August 2018)
  • Disclosed an updated Grievance Procedure (April 2020)
  • Published a Supplier Code of Conduct (April 2021)
  • Formulated the Responsible Soybeans and Soy Products Sourcing Policy (June 2021)
  • Formulated the Responsible Shea Kernels Sourcing Policy (June 2021)
  • Revised the Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. CSR Procurement Guidelines (3rd Edition) (November 2021)

To secure our stakeholders’ trust, we also exchanged views and opinions with experts on the way the Fuji Oil Group discloses information. The goal was to work for a more transparent, timely and appropriate information disclosure. As a result, we decided to refer to the latest information on the assessment criteria used by ESG rating agencies to ensure more transparent and comprehensive disclosure, and put improvement measures in place.

External initiatives we support and participate in

  • September 2004

    Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)

  • December 2012

    UN Global Compact Network Japan (GCNJ)

  • February 2012

    World Cocoa Foundation (WCF)

  • 2013

    Global Shea Alliance (GSA)

  • January 2013

    UN Global Compact (UNGC)

  • 2015

    Shea Network Ghana

  • December 2016

    Male Leaders Coalition for Empowerment of Women by the Japan’s Cabinet Office

  • March 2017

    The Consumer Goods Forum

  • May 2019

    Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)

  • October 2019

    Japan Sustainable Palm Oil Network (JaSPON)

  • April 2020

    Platform for Sustainable Cocoa in Developing Countries

  • May 2020

    Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS)

  • May 2020

    Approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)

  • June 2020

    Palm Oil Collaboration Group (POCG)

  • April 2021

    Japan Business Initiative for Biodiversity (JBIB)

Endorsing the UN Global Compact

The Fuji Oil Group agreed to and signed the United Nations Global Compact in January 2013. We aim to improve the sustainability of the entire society by practicing the 10 principles of four areas: human rights, labor standards, the environment, and anti-corruption.