About a century ago,  Sumitomo Chemical got its start from efforts to help farmers improve their harvests by producing fertilizers using sulfur extracted from copper ore, aiming to solve the environmental problem of pollution caused by the gas emissions from copper production at the Besshi Copper Mine in Niihama, Ehime Prefecture. Since its founding, Sumitomo Chemical has manifested the spirit of Jiri-rita Koshi-ichinyo—our business must benefit Sumitomo at the same time it benefits the greater good. That spirit has guided how we aim to support more plentiful lifestyles for people through our business activities.

In recent years, awareness of sustainability has gained momentum. In particular, as climate change has become an increasingly urgent challenge, nations around the world have quickly advanced efforts to achieve carbon neutrality. In December 2021, Sumitomo Chemical released its Grand Design, which outlines our direction and targets for becoming carbon neutral by 2050. These initiatives will be pursued the Sumitomo Chemical way, leveraging our proven technological prowess as a diversified chemicals company and spanning both Obligations to approach zero greenhouse gas emissions across the corporate group and Contributions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in society through the adoption of our products and technologies.