To solve social issues on a global level, the collaboration of a broad range of stakeholders is indispensable.
Our Group participates actively and endeavors to take a leading role in a wide variety of international and domestic initiatives.
United Nations Global Compact (UNGC)
The United Nations Global Compact is a voluntary initiative for participation by companies in the creation of a global framework under which companies exercise responsible and creative leadership to act as good members of society to realize a sustainable society. Sompo Holdings has been a signatory to and expresses its support for the UNGC since 2006, and is committed to corporate activities that respect the ten principles concerning human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption advocated by the UN Global Compact.
We publish an annual Communication on Progress (CoP), which is a regular activity report on the status of initiatives for addressing The Ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact and on participation in UN partnership programs such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs)
The WEPs, a joint initiative between the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the UN Global Compact, offers a framework for business on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community. Its seven principles point the way to best practice in advancing gender equality by elaborating the gender dimension of corporate responsibility and private organizations, the UN Global Compact, and business’s role in sustainable development. Sompo Holdings became a signatory of WEPs in June 2012 and Sompo Asset Management Co.,Ltd. also became a signatory in October 2018.
Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs)
United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)
The UNEP FI is an international financial sector network comprising financial institutions that aim to contribute to sustainable development. Since its launch in 1992, it has promoted the integration of environmental considerations into all aspects of the financial sector’s operations and services in pursuit of sustainable development that is conducive to both economic progress and environmental protection. Sompo Japan became a signatory in 1995.
United Nations Environment Programme – Finance Initiative
United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI)
The UN PRI was formulated by the UNEP FI as a declaration by financial institutions that take ESG issues into account when making investment decisions. In 2006, Sompo Japan became the first Japanese insurance company to become a signatory to these principles and Sompo Asset Management also became a signatory in January 2012.
Principles for Responsible Investment
United Nations Principles for Sustainable Insurance (UN PSI)
The UN PSI was formulated by the UNEP FI in June 2012, as a declaration by insurance companies that they will take ESG issues into account through their business operations. Sompo Japan participated in the development of the principles and became a signatory when it made a statement to promote the principles at the formal launch during the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012.
Principles for Sustainable Insurance
Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ)
The GFANZ is a global coalition of financial institutions that aim to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by the year 2050. Under the GFANZ umbrella there are sector-specific alliances that bring together insurance underwriters, asset managers, and other members. Our Group is a member of two of those alliances.
- Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA)
- Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative (NZAM)
Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF)
Established in 2015, PCAF is a global initiative for developing methods to measure GHG emissions associated with the loans and investments of financial institutions and in their insurance underwriting portfolios. We joined the PCAF in December 2021 with the aim of contributing to the attainment of a net-zero society by formulating rules for GHGs in our insurance underwriting.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
The WBCSD, established in 1995, is a CEO-led global association of companies. Company leaders from around the world provide industry leadership on the environment and sustainable development through lively debate, policy recommendations, and other activities. Sompo Japan is the only Japanese financial institution participating in the initiatives of the WBCSD. The company is also a board member of Redefining Value, a cross-cutting WBCSD program focused on advancing the measurement of “True Value,” “True Costs” and “True Profits” in corporate decision-making, disclosure and reporting.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
CDP
The CDP is a set of collaborative initiatives by the world’s leading institutional investors. It encourages businesses worldwide to adopt climate change strategies and disclose their GHG emissions. Sompo Japan has been a member since 2005 as an institutional investor.
CDP
Japan Business Federation (Keidanren)
Committee on Responsible Business Conduct & SDGs Promotion
Committee on Responsible Business Conduct & SDGs Promotion promotes to disseminate the Charter of Corporate Behavior and the concept of “Society 5.0 for SDGs”, and encourages social contribution activities of companies and their employees. Keiji Nishizawa, Chairman and Director of Sompo Japan, serves as co-chair of the committee.
Participation in Japan's SDGs roundtable as a Business Leader
Japan’s SDGs Promotion Headquarters was established in May 2016 with the entire Cabinet as members and the Prime Minister of Japan as the chair. A multi-stakeholder roundtable was later created in order to develop implementation policies for the SDGs in Japan. Representing the business sector, Keiji Nishizawa, Chairman and Director of Sompo Japan and co-chair of Committee on Responsible Business Conduct & SDGs Promotion, serves as a member of the roundtable.
Council for Better Corporate Citizenship (CBCC)
The CBCC is an organization established by Keidanren that is responsible for planning and operating lectures and other events on CSR, promoting exchanges and collaboration with overseas CSR-related organizations, and conducting research and study through sending delegates abroad and other means. Keiji Nishizawa, Chairman and Director of Sompo Japan, serves as the chair of CBCC.
Council for Better Corporate Citizenship (CBCC)
Keidanren Committee on Nature Conservation (KCNC)
The KCNC financially supports civil society working on the conservation of biodiversity and nature through the Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund (KNCF), while promoting companies’ awareness of biodiversity and nature conservation as well as communication and cooperation with civil society. Keiji Nishizawa, Chairman and Director of Sompo Japan, serves as the chair of KCNC.
Keidanren Committee on Nature Conservation (KCNC)
Participation in COP15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity
Keiji Nishizawa (left), Chairman and Director of Sompo Japan, exchanges views with Minister Nishimura of the Environment at COP15
Keiji Nishizawa, Chairman of the Keidanren Committee on Nature Conservation, participated in COP15 of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity held in Montreal in December 2022 as the leader of a mission of the business community consisting of 35 members from 18 companies. He expressed Keidanren's policy of integrating the three areas of climate change, circular economy, and biodiversity for the realization of sustainable capitalism, and exchanged views with top officials of international organizations and other dignitaries.
Keiji Nishizawa also participated in the first Leaders' Forum held in Jeju Island in October 2022 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world's largest network on nature conservation, and the 100th anniversary meeting held in London by BirdLife International, one of the oldest environmental NGOs in the world.
At the meeting, he communicated to the world our intention to contribute to the new international framework for biodiversity through the promotion of Nature-based Solutions (NbS), which are solutions to social issues rooted in nature.
Sompo Japan has made ongoing efforts to promote the conservation of nature around the world, including making a speech at the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Speaking as KCNC chair (at the time) at Global Business and Biodiversity Forum (Masaya Futamiya)
Participation in COP14 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity
As the chair of KCNC, Futamiya participated in the 14th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP14) which held in Egypt in November 2018. He gave a speech to represent revised edition of Declaration of Biodiversity by Keidanren and Progress status of Mainstreaming of Biodiversity in Japanese Business Sector in Global Business and Biodiversity Forum, which held prior to the opening.
The conference itself is held every two years, with the participation of many government representatives and civil sector organizations from around the world, and was an occasion for dialogue with representatives from influential organizations that promote global nature conservation.
Speaking as KCNC chair (at the time) at a side event (Masaya Futamiya)
Participation in COP13 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity
As the chair of KCNC, Futamiya participated in the 14th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP14) which held in Egypt in November 2018. He gave a speech to represent revised edition of Declaration of Biodiversity by Keidanren and Progress status of Mainstreaming of Biodiversity in Japanese Business Sector in Global Business and Biodiversity Forum, which held prior to the opening.
The conference itself is held every two years, with the participation of many government representatives and civil sector organizations from around the world, and was an occasion for dialogue with representatives from influential organizations that promote global nature conservation.
Keidanren Initiative for Biodiversity Conservation
Initiative by companies and groups that work on multiple items of Keidanren Declaration for Biodiversity and Action Guideline, or agree with its overall purpose.
Sompo Japan Insurance has been a member of the initiative since 2009, when it started as “The Declaration of Biodiversity by Keidanren Promotion Partners”.
30by30 Alliance for Biodiversity
The 30by30* Alliance for Biodiversity is a platform that consists of front-runners and supporters to achieve the 30by30 target by pursuing of certifying lands as OECM (Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures). The alliance comprises companies, local governments, and NGOs, and Sompo Japan participates in the alliance.
ECO FIRST Program, Japan's Ministry of the Environment
In November 2008 Sompo Holdings became the first companies in the insurance business to be accredited by the Japanese Minister of the Environment as an “ECO FIRST Business.” Under the ECO FIRST program, companies make a commitment to the minister about the environmental conservation initiatives they will take in fields such as combating climate change.
Declarations of Partnership Building
The “Partnership Building Declaration” was established at the “Council on Promoting Partnership Building for Cultivation the Future,” whose members include the Chairman of KEIDANREN, the Chairman of Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), the Chairman of Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC), and relevant ministers of Japan (Cabinet Office, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport).
It is a declaration of a company to build a new partnership by promoting cooperation and coexistence with business partners and value-creating businesses in the supply chain.
The SOMPO Group endorses the aims and has released a “Declaration on Building Partnerships".
We will continue to promote initiatives for cooperation and coexistence with our business partners to realize a sustainable society.
The following five companies have made the declaration:
- Sompo Holdings Inc.
- Sompo Japan Insurance Inc.
- Sompo Himawari Life Insurance Inc.
- Sompo Care, Inc.
- Sompo Health Support Inc.
Principles for Financial Action towards a Sustainable Society (Principles for Financial Action for the 21st Century) (PFA)
These principles were developed to guide the actions of financial institutions to fulfill their roles and responsibilities to create a sustainable society. Sompo Japan was a member of the drafting committee, and 10 Group companies signed the principles in 2011 (currently 6 Group companies are signatories).
Sompo Japan is serving as a co-chair of the steering committee and chair of the insurance working group.
Principles for Financial Action towards a Sustainable Society (Principles for Financial Action for the 21st Century)
Steering committee meeting
Insurance working group
SDG Stakeholders Roundtable, Japan's Ministry of the Environment
Masao Seki, Senior Advisor on Corporate Planning Department of Sompo Japan, is a member of the SDG Stakeholders Roundtable, which promotes environmental aspects for implementation of the SDGs.
