Governance
Organization and Systems
The Sustainability Management Division plans and formulates company-wide action to further sustainability at ITOCHU Corporation, which the Sustainability Chairperson served by the Chief Administrative Officer finalizes. Meanwhile, the ESG Officers and Managers in each unit carry out sustainability actions. The Sustainability Committee, one of the company’s key committees, holds deliberations and reviews policy formulation and important matters. In addition to a role in heading the Sustainability Committee, the CAO joins meetings of the Board of Directors, the Headquarters Management Committee (HMC) and the Investment Consultative Committee. The chair also engages in decision-making based on the company’s impact on the environment and society by reporting regularly to the Board of Directors to brief them on our promotion of sustainability.
We furthermore engage in dialog with stakeholders within and outside the company. One example of this is our regularly convened advisory board. This dialog provides an understanding of what society expects of and desires from the company, which we can then apply to our initiatives that lead to sustainable management and the resolution of social issues through core business operations.
Sustainability-related Governance Structural Chart (As of June 18, 2025)
- CAO: Chief Administrative Officer
HMC: Headquarters Management Committee
Board of Directors
ITOCHU Group recognizes that addressing sustainability challenges is one of its most important management priorities. The Board of Directors approves the Group policies, strategies, and business initiatives related to sustainability, and also provides oversight on the appropriateness of sustainability-related information that is to be disclosed.
The Board of Directors oversees the appropriateness of Material Issues by reviewing important matters such as policies toward risks and opportunities and specific actions to address them, as well as key performance indicators and progress toward their achievement.
Regarding the implementation of business and investment strategies (including the review of strategies and decisions on withdrawal from business) for sustainability-related risks and opportunities, including environmental and social risks, we use the ESG Checklist for Investments as a preliminary ESG risk assessment for all new investments, identify and analyze policies, structures and initiatives associated with sustainability-related risk. Those sustainability-related risks are verified at the Headquarters Management Committee (HMC), a committee where important matters are discussed.
After implementation, investments are followed up on from a multi-faceted perspective, including sustainability monitoring reviews of group companies to prevent sustainability-related risks, human rights due diligence, conducting on-site inspections to prevent environmental pollution, and other risks.
For management along the value chain, we conduct an annual sustainability survey to check the status of ESG initiatives of our suppliers. In addition, initiatives related to risks and opportunities regarding climate change are analyzed and disclosed based on the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD), and similarly those for natural capital are based on the Task Force on Nature-Related Financial Disclosure (TNFD) frameworks.
The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) reports regularly to the Board of Directors on the content of deliberations at the HMC and initiatives taken, and the Board of Directors supervises the Company’s efforts to address sustainability-related issues.
Skills and Competencies of the Board of Directors
ITOCHU’s CAO has specialized experience and knowledge in the field of the SDGs and ESG. The CAO receives periodic reports about twice a month from the Sustainability Management Division in charge of planning and implementing various sustainability-related measures. Furthermore, we invite external experts to give talks and exchange opinions at meetings of the Sustainability Advisory Board held every year. Through those opportunities, we deepen our knowledge about sustainability-related trends in the world, the expectations in our company and the issues we should tackle.
The CAO, our representative director, is a member of the HMC which discusses our general management policy and important management-related matters. At the same time, the CAO concurrently serves as the chair of the Sustainability Committee. The CAO decides matters deliberated upon in meetings of the Sustainability Committee as the person with overall responsibility for sustainability. The HMC then approves important matters after they have been decided upon by the CAO. The CAO reports those decisions to the Board of Directors about three times a year together with the status of the main activities to promote sustainability. We believe this structure gives the Board of Directors the competency when overseeing sustainability.
Sustainability Committee
The Sustainability Committee deliberates on the formulation and implementation of various measures to respond to sustainability-related matters. The committee identifies, assesses and manages the setting of sustainability-related targets, the state of progress on those targets, and current sustainability-related risks and opportunities. The Board of Directors oversees the promotion of business and investment strategies to respond to sustainability-related risks and opportunities. (That includes a review of strategies and divestment decisions.) In addition, the management of each Division Company and administrative division have been designated as ESG Officers. ESG Officers are responsible for overseeing the progress of various sustainability-related measures and initiatives, and reporting this progress to the Sustainability Committee.
FYE 2025 Sustainability-related Deliberations and Reports
Sustainability-related Meetings | Members | Number of Meetings Held | Main items for approval/deliberation/report |
Board of Directors | Directors and Audit & Supervisory Board members | 3 |
|
Sustainability Committee | Chair: CAO Members: General Managers of the Corporate Planning & Administration Division, Corporate Communications Division, Human Resources & General Affairs Division, Legal Division, Finance Division, General Accounting Control Division, Global Risk Management Division, and Investor Relations Division; General Managers of the Planning & Administration Departments in each Division Company; full-time Audit & Supervisory Board member |
2 |
Items for Approval
Matters to be Reported
|
Sustainability Advisory Board
The Sustainability Advisory Board was established to engage outside stakeholders in dialog with our executive management to determine whether the direction we are taking with regards to sustainability is aligned with the needs of society as ITOCHU Corporation’s business grows more diverse and widespread, and then to apply the insights to promoting sustainability. ITOCHU holds this meeting every year.
Overview of the Sustainability Advisory Board 2024




(From left) Mr.Tomita from Institute for Sustainability Research, Mr.Yamagishi from WWF Japan, Mr.Nishida from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
In FYE 2025, we welcomed three experts to discuss the theme of “Supplier Engagement for GHG Emissions Reduction” in a meeting of the Sustainability Advisory Board we held in January 2025. First, we introduced the features of our Scope3 and the innovations and challenges in collecting Scope3, followed by lectures from the experts on the latest trends regarding national GX promotion measures, GHG protocol revision, and GHG data acquisition from suppliers from the experts’ different perspectives.
Additionally, specific examples of reduced Scope3 emissions were introduced by the company. ITOCHU Group will continue to promote businesses that contribute to avoided emissions and collaborate with our partners along the value chain to advance environmentally friendly designs in handling products and services, the greening of energy usage, and striving to reduce GHG emission.
We also introduced examples of specific Scope3 reductions. ITOCHU Group is committed to reducing GHG emissions by promoting businesses that contribute to reductions and by continuing to in the value chain work with suppliers to promote environmentally conscious of services design products and green energy use.
Summary of Past Activities
(Job Titles at the Time)
FYE 2025 |
Supplier Engagement to Reduce GHG Emissions
|
FYE 2024 |
Natural Capital・Biodiversity・TNFD
|
FYE 2023 |
Supply Chains and Human Rights
|
FYE 2022 |
Carbon Credits
|
FYE 2021 |
Response to Climate Change
|
Sustainability Awareness Activities at ITOCHU
While pursuing sustainable activities, ITOCHU engages in various activities to raise awareness within the Company so as to further ITOCHU Group officers and employees’ understanding and to work through business on solutions to social issues in a manner that conforms to the latest global trends.
Recent Sustainability Awareness Activities
ITOCHU conducts general sustainability education for all directors and employees every year, with the aim of promoting sustainability throughout the company and conducting awareness surveys. This training is intended to promote understanding of trends in the environment, business, and human rights, as well as ITOCHU’s initiatives, policies, and measures in response to these trends. In addition, the opinions and level of understanding received from the Employee Questionnaire conducted at the end of the course are utilized in the next year’s training.
Theme | Participation | |
FYE 2025 |
CAO Message, Management Policy and sustainability, GHG emissions reduction targets and avoided emissions, Environmental and social risk response, (Topic) Natural capital |
100% |
FYE 2024 |
CAO message, “Sampo-yoshi” capitalism, Role of non-financials in enhancing corporate value, Expansion of disclosure requirements, Expansion in environment from GHG to natural capital, Social and human rights |
100% |
FYE 2023 |
SDGs and Sustainability (Examples: Latest trends, Sustainability Action Plans, GHG emission reduction and climate change measures, business and human rights, supply chain management, etc.) |
100% |
FYE 2022 |
SDGs and Sustainability (Examples: Latest trends, risks and opportunities of the ITOCHU Group, GHG emission reduction and climate change measures, business and human rights, supply chain management, etc.) |
100% |
FYE 2021 |
Sustainability Trends (ITOCHU Group Material Issues, Risks, and Opportunities) |
100% |
Sustainability Seminars
We have been holding in-house sustainability seminars on a continuous basis since 2007 to improve the practical knowledge of our employees by incorporating insights and opinions from external experts on various sustainability issues.
Recent Seminars

In FYE 2023, we held a practical seminar on the methodology for calculating Scope3 emissions within the Itochu Group. Additionally, to ensure that all relevant employees can independently handle Scope3 calculations, we developed calculation manuals for each company division. Moreover, in FYE 2024, we held a video training course to deepen understanding of the background and methods for the regular execution of TCFD and TNFD scenario analysis, mainly for departments primarily targeted by those frameworks.
In FYE 2025, we invited Ms. Aya Nagata, Director of the Biodiversity Mainstreaming Office at the Nature Conservation Bureau of the Ministry of the Environment, to give a lecture on the international biodiversity framework and Japan's strategy for transitioning to a nature-positive economy, along with specific corporate examples. On the day of the event, over 100 employees gathered, and it provided an excellent opportunity to listen to systematic discussions while considering how their respective responsibilities relate to natural capital.
FYE 2025 |
The Importance of Considering and Coexisting with Natural Capital in Business |
FYE 2024 |
Training on Biodiversity (basic, practical) |
Briefing for TCFD and Scenario Analysis |
|
FYE 2023 |
Method of Calculating Scope3 Emissions in the ITOCHU Group |
FYE 2022 |
When and Where Does CO2 Occur? Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Study Session |
FYE 2019 |
Business and Human Rights (in the Supply Chain) |
Sustainability Trainings
We engage in various sustainability trainings for ITOCHU personnel so as to promote sustainability awareness within our Group. We strive to raise awareness of the environment, human rights, and other aspects of sustainability that must be understood according to each business domain and responsibility.
Training Title | Applicable Employees | Training Details | Participants in FYE 2025 |
Group ESG Managers Conference |
Group ESG managers |
Basic knowledge and explanation of work duties for ITOCHU Group ESG promotion supervisors |
70 |
Training New Recruits |
New employees |
ITOCHU Group sustainability promotion |
157 |
Training for Newly Appointed Section Managers |
New Section Managers |
Examples of businesses which promote the ITOCHU Group sustainability and which balance social issues and business feasibility |
58 |
Training in Preparation for Overseas Assignments |
Employees designated for overseas assignment |
Points of caution related to ITOCHU Group sustainability and promoting sustainability overseas |
180 |
Training for Group Executive Officers |
Group executive officers |
ITOCHU Group sustainability and importance of Group alliances |
87 |
Sustainability Survey Workshop |
Employees conducting sustainability surveys |
Important items in the Sustainability Action Guidelines for Supply Chains and sustainability surveys |
67 |