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Message from the Corporate executive in charge of Sustainability

As part of our efforts to achieve sustainable growth through the automation business, we are promoting sustainability initiatives and fostering human resources who will pave the way to the future.

Sustainability Management of the azbil Group (Policy and Structure)

Materiality and our unique essential goals for the SDGs

The azbil Group has incorporated double materiality (a concept that evaluates materiality from two aspects: financial evaluation of the impact of the environment and society on the company, and the impact of corporate activities on the environment and society). We have identified 10 material issues in five areas to be tackled over the long term. Based on these materialities, (1) we have established the essential goals of the azbil Group for the SDGs, which are aligned with the areas set forth by the SDGs, for seven material issues related to our business and general corporate activities, and (2) for the remaining three material issues, which represent fundamental obligations that a company must fulfill to be a member of society, we have formulated specific goals as part of our long-standing CSR activities. Furthermore, in FY2024, we comprehensively identified human rights risks, not only for the azbil Group but also for each stakeholder in the value chain, from the perspective of risk management. Based on the severity and likelihood of occurrence of the risks, we identified the priority human rights risks to be addressed. Starting in FY2025, we have been working to further strengthen compliance through the azbil Group Compliance Committee.

We position all these targets as group-wide initiatives that are each directly linked to the measures in our new medium-term plan. By earnestly executing various initiatives aimed at taking on the challenge of the essential goals for the SDGs and achieving each of our targets in our CSR activities, we are promoting “sustainability management” across the azbil Group.

Among the items not included in the top 10 material issues, natural capital (e.g., biodiversity, water resources) is considered to have relatively high importance. At present, we are promoting nature-positive initiatives aligned with the recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). We will continue to evaluate their impact, taking into consideration changes in the environment, society, and business structure, as well as their financial impact. While enhancing the content of the azbil Group’s activities, we will also work to improve and expand the disclosure of information to stakeholders, taking into account future sustainability information disclosure standards and other factors, including the integrated disclosure of information aligned with the recommendations of the Taskf Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the TNFD in this report.

Materiality and Essential Goals of azbil Group for SDGs

Initiatives to strengthen human capital

In our Group philosophy, we set forth our aim to “create value together with customers at their site.” Accordingly, human resources are a valuable asset for the azbil Group, which promotes the automation business, and are the source of our evolving corporate culture and value creation.

We also position human resources as important management capital from the perspective of sustainability and sustainable growth. Human resources are becoming increasingly important in the recent rapidly changing business environment. As we look to achieve our long-term targets for FY2030 and our vision for the azbil Group beyond that, we will improve the working environment, develop human resources, and harness the strengths of diverse employees with various capabilities, enabling us to provide value to customers and society, and contribute to the realization of a sustainable society. Through our group management, we aim to enhance the sustainable development of our company, as well as our enterprise value, by promoting the well-being of all employees working at the azbil Group, which in turn will contribute to the well-being of society.

We have also identified human resources as one of the materialities for the azbil Group, and we have set forth the following items as part of the azbil Group essential goals for the SDGs: “implementing health and well-being management (job satisfaction, health, DEI)” and “developing and strengthening an organization that never stops learning (expanding opportunities for globally active employees to continue education and opportunities to learn with stakeholders).” From the perspective of diversity, our unique “women’s advancement points” have been established, but as we achieved our target ahead of schedule, we have established a new numeric target for the “percentage of female employees in managerial or specialist positions,” as it is more objective and widely recognized by society.

We are promoting measures to strengthen investment in human capital centered on three pillars: (1) reforming our personnel system and securing human resources, (2) developing human resources for career autonomy, and (3) enhancing employee engagement. As part of efforts to achieve our long-term goals and medium-term plan, we are actively recruiting individuals with a diverse range of values and skills to respond to future technological development and changes in social trends. We are also continuously developing human resources, mainly through the Azbil Academy, a specialized human resource development institution, and focusing on optimal personnel placement, to ensure employees can actively participate over the long term.

In this way, we are investing in human resources to facilitate business growth through the azbil Group’s unique business model. In terms of employee benefits and “job satisfaction,” we are promoting “shared corporate ownership” through the introduction and expansion of schemes such as the “Employee Stock Ownership Plan (J-ESOP ^*1)” and the “Trust- Type Employee Shareholding Incentive Plan (E-Ship^{® *2}).” At the same time, as part of initiatives to promote health and well-being management, we are implementing various measures with a focus on enhancing employee engagement, such as improvements to the work environment and work systems, and the promotion of DX, as well as activities to create new ways of working, and various measures to strengthen communication.

We also co-sponsored the Theme Weeks at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan. This project was led by our young employees, who gained first-hand experience of actively participating at Azbil, and deepened discussions on the future vision for the automation business.

To succeed as a group, it is essential that every employee shares common goals as a member of the group, while forming connections and working together beyond divisional and organizational boundaries. We aim to foster a corporate culture where all employees can demonstrate their capabilities and achieve meaningful results. We will continue to promote initiatives to strengthen our human capital while prioritizing the linkage with enterprise value.

*1 A program where employees earn points based on their individual contributions. Once they meet certain conditions, they become eligible to receive company stock equivalent to the points they have accumulated.
*2　A system where a trust acquires in advance the number of company shares anticipated to be acquired by the stock ownership association over a predetermined period (three years). Thereafter, the trust continuously sells the company’s shares to the shareholding association, and if an amount equivalent to the capital gains from the sale of shares is in the trust at the time of its termination, the amount equivalent to the capital gains will be distributed as residual assets to those who meet the beneficiary eligibility requirements.
　E-Ship^® is a registered trademark of Nomura Securities Co., Ltd.

HR System supporing Diverse Talents

Developing "An Organization That Never Stop Learning"

Implementing "Health & Well-being Management"