Message from the Director in Charge of Sustainability

The MEDIPAL Group contributes to the realization of a sustainable society through the stable distribution of socially essential products in the “Pharmaceuticals, Health, and Beauty” fields. Such business activities themselves are a sustainability management practice that aspires to balance economic value and social value. We believe they are the wellspring of our Group’s competitiveness, and that they represent a management foundation that supports sustained growth.

Recent years have seen social issues in the form of rising medical costs, human resource shortages and climate change come to the fore. Amidst this, realizing sustained growth necessarily requires companies to provide new value to society, without being constrained by conventional business models. To that end, we have defined six items as material sustainability tasks (materiality) and are working together as a united Group to address these. We have connected this materiality with the 2027 MEDIPAL Medium-Term Vision to further strengthen our sustainability management.

As part of our FY2024 materiality initiatives, regarding “Development of Future-Oriented Human Resources,” we conducted trainings and programs aimed at developing future-oriented human resources. By putting in place a human resource strategy platform that is coordinated with our management strategy, we have built up a human resource development system that supports sustained organizational growth.

We engaged in a variety of activities as part of “Promotion of Diversity and Inclusion,” for example, holding events and conducting trainings aimed at promoting understanding coinciding with International Women’s Day, and posting stories on our intranet in which men who took parental leave shared their experiences. As a result of this, we advanced attitude changes leading to a more than 10% increase year on year in the rate at which men took parental leave to 58.9%.

We also formulated a Group-wide Human Rights Policy in August 2024, then conducted a Human Rights Risk Impact Assessment for managerial-level staff in January 2025. Going forward, we will carry out human rights due diligence based on the Human Rights Policy both by ascertaining the status quo using the results of this risk survey and by putting in place preventative and corrective measures.

As part of our “Initiatives for Decarbonization,” we not only newly installed solar panels on two buildings, but we also advanced the introduction of hybrid and electric vehicles, resulting in an approximately 13% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to the base year (FY2020). The challenges going forward will consist of quantitative disclosure of the risks and opportunities that climate change poses for management and setting Scope 3 targets.

The Group has succeeded in valuing the spirit of “continuing to take on challenges without fearing change” since our founding. The important thing in sustainability management is not treating it as something transitory, but rather showing persistence. Based on the Sustainability Policy of “Connecting to the Future with ‘Energy and Brightness’,” we are raising awareness so that each and every employee can incorporate sustainability into their work and act with agency and a sense of ownership. By also improving our relationships of trust and collaboration through two-way dialogue with shareholders, investors, pharmaceutical companies and regional society, we are accelerating our efforts to combine solving social issues with improving corporate value.