Sumitomo Chemical Receives Highest Rating in DBJ's Environmentally Rated Loan Program

Jul. 17, 2019

Sumitomo Chemical has received the highest rating of “Especially advanced in environmental initiatives” from the Development Bank of Japan Inc. or DBJ in their latest project of Environmentally Rated Loan Program.

The DBJ Environmentally Rated Loan Program is the world's first loan program of its kind in that enterprises are evaluated for non-financial information i.e. the level of their environmental management, according to a screening (rating) system developed by DBJ to select high-performance enterprises and, based on the results of the evaluation, preferential loan conditions are set and offered to the selected enterprises.

Sumitomo Chemical's environment management has been highly valued for the following facets of its ongoing initiatives, among other things:

1. The Company has clearly expressed its firm commitment to contribute to realizing sustainable society through such initiatives as establishing a dedicated organization internally, i.e. “Sustainability Promotion Committee” led by the Company's President and also identifying the seven material issues that the Company addresses as its pivotal management agenda in its business operation.
2. The Company has consistently been working to contribute to solving a variety of societal problems, such as mitigating climate change impacts, reducing environmental load of business activities, and
   promoting more effective use of resources, through its internal initiatives where the Company designates, as “Sumika Sustainable Solutions” (“Sumika” means Sumitomo Chemical in Japanese), those products and technologies that could contribute to achieving the SDGs or building a  ustainable society and, then accelerates efforts to promote their commercially viable development and widespread use in the world.
3. The Company has constantly been advancing an array of proactive initiatives on climate change issues through such avenues as supporting the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and obtaining certification from the Science Based Targets (SBT) initiative for Sumitomo Chemical's Group-wide greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. In addition, the Company has been making unabated efforts to resolve various issues that could affect its entire value chain, not only by its own efforts, but by engaging in related activities through participation in external organizations such as the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) and the Clean Ocean Material Alliance (CLOMA).

Sumitomo Chemical's Three-Year Corporate Business Plan for fiscal 2019 through 2021 has just begun, carrying the slogan “Change and Innovation 3.0 for a Sustainable Future.” Going forward, the Company seeks to achieve its sustained growth and contribute to building a sustainable society by creating not only economic but also social value.

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