Sustainability Advisory Board：Sustainability：The Norinchukin Bank

Aiming to advance sustainable management, the Norinchukin Bank established the Sustainability Advisory Board in fiscal 2022 as a forum to solicit the opinions of external experts and exchange views.
Four board members, as well as the president and several other senior management and employees of the Bank, attended the meeting to exchange opinions.

Participants

Board Members

Senior Counselor of The Japan Research Institute, Limited
ADACHI Eiichiro
Member of the Supervisory Committee of the Bank
SATO Takafumi
Professor, The University of Tokyo Institute for Future Initiatives
TAKAMURA Yukari
Senior Executive Officer, Kirin Holdings Company, Limited
MIZOUCHI Ryosuke

Participants From the Bank

OKU Kazuto
Representative Director and President, Chief Executive Officer
YAGI Masanobu
Representative Director and Managing Executive Officer
IMAI Masato
Managing Executive Officer (Co-Chief Sustainability Officer)
KITABAYASHI Taro
Director and Managing Executive Officer (Co-Chief Sustainability Officer)
UTSUMI Tomoe
Managing Executive Officer (Chief Diversity Officer)
HIDESHIMA Hirotaka
Executive Advisor

HATA Nobuhiro
General Manager, Food & Agri Business Planning Div. (Sustainability Officer, Food & Agri Banking Business)
SHINODA Takashi
General Manager, JA Bank System Management (Sustainability Officer, Retail Banking Business Division)
SHIOTA Taketo
Deputy General Manager, Markets Division (Global Investments Sustainability Officer)
KAWAI Yoshihiro
Deputy General Manager, Risk Management Division (Risk Management Sustainability Officer)
NODA Haruo
General Manager, Corporate Planning Division, Sustainability Management Department (Sustainability Manager)

First Meeting of the Sustainability Advisory Board in 2023

At the first meeting of the Sustainability Advisory Board held in June 2023, we received feedback from members regarding future issues in sustainable management. Board members and Bank management discussed these issues.

(Main Comments From Board Members)

Materiality

Given the Norinchukin Purpose and the origins of the organization in the agriculture, fishery, and forestry industry, the Bank must address materiality on the impact of the external environment on the Bank’s activities as well as the impact of the Bank’s activities on the external environment.
The Bank must also consider potential issues in the future, even if such are not apparent at present.

Natural Capital and Biodiversity

I think it is important that Norinchukin, which is based in the agriculture, fishery, and forestry industry, faces the issues of natural capital and biodiversity conservation efforts.This will be one of the materialities for the Bank to address. We expect these initiatives will lead the Bank to new business opportunities and businesses.
We look forward to seeing the activities of Mr. Hideshima, who became the only second Japanese member to be elected to the TNFD Task Force. If rulemaking progresses under European leadership, there will inevitably be aspects of such rules that are not suited to Japan. We hope that responses will take into account the regional characteristics and realities of Japan.

External Disclosures

The importance of non-financial information as a component of external disclosure increases year by year. In addition to disclosing the results of sustainability initiatives, companies are increasingly asked to provide disclosures that are understood fully by stakeholders. Disclosure from the reader's perspective is becoming more important.

Initiatives

The Bank has been involved actively in global initiatives over the past several years. I believe that the effectiveness and transparency of the Bank’s efforts have improved as a result of activities taken in line with these initiatives. As a result, the Bank is seeing improvements in external evaluations.