Upon my appointment as President and Representative Director in April 2023, I assumed the role of Chairman of the Sustainability Promotion Committee.
As a leader, I will strongly promote sustainability so that we can contribute to society at large by pursuing our management principles of "being aware of our membership in society," "sincerely following the right path," and "providing products and services that society demands" with the participation of all employees.
The world is beginning to change at an unprecedented pace. We are moving from a "trade-off" approach, in which social value and economic value were often seen as being in conflict, to a "trade-on" approach, in which social and especially environmental considerations are a prerequisite for economic value. NAGASE will continue to conduct its corporate activities based on this "trade-on" approach.
In the field of manufacturing, we have gone from an era of mass production to an era of "production in appropriate quantities," and while the production and consumption of goods may be slowing compared to the past, the need for goods will remain. In manufacturing workplaces, new themes and challenges are emerging daily, including unmanned operation, automation, and energy saving, as well as traceability, recycling, and disposal methods. NAGASE will continue to work toward solving these issues in order to contribute to sustainable manufacturing.
One of the most significant global challenges is addressing climate change, and the NAGASE Group also recognizes climate change as one of our materiality (key issues). Under the long-term goals outlined in the "NAGASE Carbon Neutral Declaration," we are also setting non-financial targets in our mid-term management plan and managing our performance.
We will deepen our efforts to address the social issue of carbon neutrality in two steps: visualization of GHG emissions and LCA calculations in the supply chain, and reduction through the proposal of low-carbon products and reduction solutions. Based on the trust NAGASE has cultivated over many years with its business partners, we will continue to make proposals that are unique to NAGASE to address carbon neutrality issues in complex supply chains.
There will always be challenges in manufacturing. We aim to be a company that contributes to the well-being of people and the planet by solving challenges faced by our customers and society through materials.
In addition, I would like to focus on the growth of the people at NAGASE. People are the life and soul of the NAGASE Group, and I believe they are the source of NAGASE's 190-year history. We do not want to focus on managing "people," but instead on managing "learning places" where people can grow. I believe that a place where people can learn, challenge themselves, grow, and self-actualize is what the company and its employees are aiming for, and what employee engagement is all about. We also want to create a corporate culture where people of different cultures, different views, different genders, and different generations listen to each other, respect each other, and enhance each other's skills in order to solve all kinds of problems.
To address social issues, we will bring together the diverse strengths of NAGASE Group employees, pursue sustainability, and continue to take on new challenges.
Nagase & Co., Ltd.
Representative Director, President and CEO
Chair, Sustainability Promotion Committee
Hiroyuki Ueshima
