Sustainability Risk Management
Hitachi evaluates and analyzes the state of sustainability initiatives by procurement partners from the viewpoint of risk management. We also visit the manufacturing sites of procurement partners to conduct sustainability audits for the purpose of identification of sustainability risks through the value chain and corrective actions against the risks.
(FY 2025)
Sustainability assessments
Starting in FY2022, we adopted the EcoVadis third-party evaluation platform for monitoring and evaluating the sustainability performance of our procurement partners. We perform assessments regarding procurement partners who represent a large portion of our procurement and who are important to our business strategy. We confirm sustainability efforts based on a checklist covering four areas: environment, labor and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement. In addition to EcoVadis, we also use the
proprietary Hitachi Sustainability Questionnaire to conduct SAQs across a wider range of procurement partners to expand our sustainability assessment. In FY 2025, we conducted sustainability assessments of 5,090 procurement partners across the Hitachi Group. We use the information obtained from these evaluations to identify companies requiring corrective action, to promote focused improvement and monitorings, and to implement sustainability audits.
We will strengthen measures to steadily assess the sustainability risks of procurement partners, detect
risks at an early stage and drive corrective actions through active engagement with partners.
Selection of procurement partners for sustainability audits using “EcoVadis”
we utilize EcoVadis to visualize sustainability risks in our value chain.
By understanding the sustainability risks of each procurement partner through the use of EcoVadis, we build a more transparent process of sustainability audits and corrective actions at procurement partners.
Status of sustainability audits
Partners that are audited are chosen based on the results of document surveys and the scale and importance of procurement dealings with Hitachi. In FY2025, sustainability audits were conducted on 142 procurement partners. For any matters identified during the audit, we explain the details to our procurement partners. In particular, when high-risk matters including violations of laws or regulations are identified, we ask our procurement partners to take corrective action, including identifying the cause of the occurrence and formulating an improvement plan. We then continue to provide guidance and monitor improvements
Going forward, Hitachi will continue to expand its sustainability initiatives and reduce sustainability risks in the value chain by giving training tosupport improvements and conducting follow-up audits in-person for procurement partners who are deemed to be at high risk as a result of these audits.
