Sustainability Management

Since its founding in 1919, the Daicel Group has upheld the values of co-existence and co-prosperity. By developing and providing a variety of materials and services that meet societal needs, we have contributed to a better life of people. Based on the philosophy derived from our foundation, we established "Sustainable Management Policy" in 2020 to clarfy the Daicel Group's basic management policy.

Currently, the values of people and society are significantly changing to realize a sustainable society, and the circumstances surrounding the Daicel Group are also rapidly changing. Nevertheless, we continue to maintain our dedication to manufacturing, our primary foundations of "Safety, Quality and Compliance," and our commitment to "People-centered Management." By striving to focus our businesses, we aim to achieve both a sustainable society and the growth of the Daicel Group’s businesses, ultimately realizing our basic philosophy of being “the company making lives better by co-creating value.”

In order to realize our long-term vision of "Contribution to Building a Circular Society," the Daicel Group has identified the materiality (key issues of sustainability management) in the simultaneously formulated Mid-term Management Strategy and set KPIs (key performance indicators) for each issue.

Regarding the progress of our materiality initiatives, in FY2021/3, the Daicel Group established the Sustainable Management Committee (it typically meets three times a year), chaired by the President and CEO, to discuss, decide and manage the progress of the Group’s sustainability approach at the management level. In addition, for theme-specific subcommittees established to address sustainability-related topics such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and procurement, the appointed officer acts as the responsible person, working to strengthen initiatives and further enhance information disclosure.

As for the KPIs, we regularly re-identify and modify the impact as necessary through communication with the people involved. The regular progress evaluation of KPIs by the Sustainable Management Committee ensures implementation of the CAPD^*cycle.

In addition, the Board of Directors will receive regular reports from the Sustainable Management Committee concerning the status of the KPIs related to materiality in order to supervise the status of sustainability issues within the Daicel Group.

In FY2026/3, we held meetings of the Sustainable Management Committee three times, and also provided opportunities for relevant officers and general managers to receive explanations and participate in discussions, with the aim of enriching the deliberations of the committee. In these meetings, we discussed responses to climate change, such as GHG emissions reduction, the certification initiative for contributions to building a circular society (CycloVia^®), improving employees' sustainability understanding, and initiatives related to human rights, and reported the results to the Board of Directors.

We will continue to make progress toward resolving issues related to sustainability and elevating our efforts to the next level.

The Daicel Group holds the Daicel Group Sustainability Promotion Conference at the beginning of each fiscal year to promote the realization of a sustainable society and the growth of the Group while maintaining a high level of awareness under the Sustainable Management Policy. The promotion conference is attended by Daicel’s management, representatives of the Daicel Workers’ Union, representatives of SBUs and divisions, and the presidents of Group companies to reaffirm and share their thoughts.

In FY2026/3, to remain true to the Daicel Group’s basic philosophy of “the company making lives better by co-creating value,” we adopted a two-part format, including a crisis management seminar, with approximately 70 participants. In the first part, messages were delivered by the President and CEO and the representative of the Daicel Workers’ Union, emphasizing their commitment to thoroughly implementing safety, quality, and compliance, which are the fundamental principles and the most important foundation of the Daicel Group’s business activities. In the second part for the crisis management seminar, we invited an external expert to deliver a lecture based on successful and failed case studies, allowing participants to deepen their understanding of how to respond in emergency situations. We established this as a venue to bolster safety and quality through the promotion of increased crisis awareness during normal times.

Recognizing social issues, the Daicel Group considers it is our corporate mission to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society through our products and business processes, and to create new value for society.

Since FY2021/3, besides incorporating a sustainable management curriculum into position-based training, we are promoting various activities, including launching programs such as the SDGs Ambassador activities, which support employee volunteering, to make them part of every employee’s mindset.

The Daicel Group aims to realize a circular society as outlined in our Long-Term Vision, and we recognize increasing demand for products and technologies that contribute to building such a society as a key business opportunity. In FY2025/3, to capitalize on this opportunity, we initiated CycloVia^®, a system that recognizes the products and technologies within the Group that contribute to the development of a circular society. This certification system utilizes the assessment items detailed in the table below for evaluation. Certification is granted by the Sustainable Management Committee, and we will work to foster its development and wider adoption.

In addition, we plan to proactively operate this certification system throughout the Group and explore its use as a metric to quantify our contribution to realizing a circular society, which is central to our vision.

The products and technologies certified to date are as shown in the following table.

We believe that it is important for every employee to understand sustainable frameworks, recognize how they can apply to their own work and act with awareness of how they can contribute by their actions. To promote employees' better understanding of sustainability frameworks, the Corporate Sustainability Office promotes a variety of initiatives in collaboration with related departments.

​^​A sustainable management-themed program was incorporated into the position-based training targeting advancing employees, including new recruits and newly appointed managers. In collaboration with CSR-related divisions such as the Corporate Compliance Program and Responsible Care and the Human Resources Division, employees can understand the connection between the Daicel Group’s policies and awareness of sustainability by taking practical programs, including group discussions, on Basic Philosophy, Sustainable Management Policy, HR policy and materiality. In FY2026/3, a total of 570 employees across the Group participated in the program. In the future, we will systematically develop human resources who will be responsible for sustainable management from the time they join the company to when they are assigned to a managerial post.

To achieve both a contribution to building a circular society and the Group's sustainable growth, it is crucial that officers and employees in the Daicel Group learn knowledge and skills related to Green Transformation (GX), according to their respective roles, and to build trust with stakeholders. As part of this initiative, the Daicel Group began GX literacy education in FY2026/3.

In the first year of FY2026/3, approximately 200 employees, mainly from business units responsible for sales, manufacturing, and research and development, including those from domestic and overseas Group companies, participated in the program to acquire basic knowledge of GX. As a result, their understanding of GX has deepened, and their awareness of applying GX to their own work and utilizing it in their respective divisions has also increased.

Going forward, we will expand the number of participants through ongoing training and promote the creation of an environment where GX can be used as a common language among all employees and executives.

Since FY2021/3, the Daicel Group has been holding the "Daicel Group Sustainable Week," a company-wide event that also utilizes online platforms, as an opportunity to think about sustainability. The sixth edition, held in FY2026/3, took place from December 3rd to 11th, under the theme "Explore the Daicel Group Today, Shape Our Tomorrow – What Insights Will You Discover?" During the event, messages on sustainable initiatives were delivered by the President and CEO, the heads of each production site and the heads of each workers' union branch, providing an opportunity to consider the connection between daily work and sustainability. A variety of programs were also implemented, including lectures, discussions, and case studies. In lectures and roundtables on the theme of "How to Incorporate an Environmental Perspective into Business Strategy," specific initiatives and challenges were shared, giving participants an opportunity to consider how to apply them to their own work. Furthermore, hands-on events involving the entire Group were held, such as an employee-participation quizzes event and the "Mottainai Daisakusen 2025" donation activity, as well as events unique to each business location, providing opportunities to feel closer to sustainability.

Furthermore, in FY2025/3, the Daicel Group held "Diversity Week" concurrently as an opportunity to consider the concept of "sustainable people," which is a key element of our Sustainable Management Policy. In FY2026/3, we invited an external speaker and held a lecture themed “Integration and Engagement in Cross-Cultural Organizations – How to Overcome Invisible Barriers Within the Group.” The lecture provided many valuable and thought-provoking insights.

At all events, a total of 300 employees participated in real time, including both on-site attendees and online viewers. Event highlights, including videos, are now available on the intranet’s dedicated Sustainability Week special website, enabling employees who could not attend to access the contents. The website was accessed approximately 3,200 times by the end of 2025, and Sustainability Week offers employees a chance, which has encouraged each employee to reflect on their own work and responsibilities, helping them to view sustainability as something personally relevant.

"Is there anything we can do?" Inspired by the Daicel Group's initiative to work together, both labor and management, to achieve sustainable work, the question sparked the start of SDGs efforts at Ohtake Logistics Center.

However, initially, even though I knew the term SDGs, I honestly had no idea what to do. Amid this uncertainty, I took part in a gathering of SDGs ambassadors, and I received the hint to "start by viewing everyday actions as part of the SDGs."

Based on this idea, I took the concept a step further and implemented the "Everyone's SDGs" declaration at the Ohtake Logistics Center, where each person wrote down their individual efforts on cards and displayed them.

Approximately 80% of the employees at the business site participated in this activity, which was implemented from August to September 2025. Through collaboration with the worker's union, it spread as a "workplace-wide initiative."
The declarations included not only improvements related to work, but also many practical actions rooted in daily life, such as improvements in childcare, efforts to reduce food waste, waste sorting and reduction, and actions that consider the natural environment while enjoying hobbies like fishing.

By collecting and visualizing individual declarations, employees came to recognize that even the everyday lifestyles and behaviors they had always taken for granted are linked to the SDGs.
It is a major achievement to realize that the SDGs are not just part of our work, but are also closely connected to our daily lives and individual awareness.

Furthermore, the very act of sharing these diverse practices within the department led to new discoveries and mutual understanding, fostering a sense of "SDGs that we all work on together."

This shift in awareness is also reflected in improvement meetings. Previously, discussions were focused primarily on cost reduction, but now, they naturally incorporate the perspective of "Is this sustainable?"
Everyday awareness and practical applications in daily life are beginning to lead to business improvements and decision-making.

This initiative was reported at the regular worker's union convention. In addition, we received positive feedback from management. Going forward, we are considering expanding it to other business locations and developing plans with ideas to encourage behavioral change in employees’ work practices.

The Ohtake Logistics Center's "SDGs for Everyone" declaration demonstrates that awareness in both the personal and professional lives of each employee empowers the company to address sustainability management.

Small practices in daily life and actions in the workplace are connected, shared, and lead to the next step—SDGs Ambassadors play an active role as a "bridge" and support this process and connect on-the-ground insights with company initiatives.

The Daicel Group aspires to increase engagement by forging highly reliable, collaborative relationships with all stakeholders involved in our business, including customers, suppliers, shareholders and investors, local communities, employees, industry and academia. We will strive to accurately understand stakeholder demands and expectations for the Daicel Group and reflect them in our business activities.