The Sustainability Advisory Board (formerly the CSR Advisory Board) convened at Tokyo headquarters on January 10 to hold a dialog on sustainability between ITOCHU Corporation management and outside stakeholders. The Sustainability Advisory Board was established to engage in dialog with outside stakeholders to determine whether the direction we are taking with sustainability as ITOCHU Corporation's business grows more diverse and widespread is aligned with the needs of society, and then to apply the insights to promoting sustainability.
In FYE2019, we welcomed three experts familiar with the latest trends in the international community concerning climate change to address a main theme of "how the trading house business can help adapt to climate change" from different perspectives: industry, academia and government. In a frank exchange of ideas, they offered candid advice based on the business' impact on society and trends at other companies. One of the participants said, "It's important to consider what kind of business model to aim for next, and to propose it with the long term in mind. A trading house is exactly the kind of company that can do this." Such high expectations toward ITOCHU shared in the participants' views will be applied to promoting sustainability company-wide.