of Euglena
Accelerate ESG management.

In June 2023, Euglena was in high spirits.
The long-awaited global ESG investment index FTSE Blossom Japan Index was selected for the first time. Of course, it was a great pleasure to be selected as one of the 255 brands that represent Japanese companies, but it was also a great pleasure to see that our steady efforts were rewarded.

There were two key players behind this success.
One is Yuri Ishii, who laid the foundation for ESG management at Euglena, and the other is Ikuho Miyazawa, who implemented Our ESG management at 7x speed.

“When I joined Euglena in November 2019, ESG management was still in a nascent state. The business itself is directly linked to sustainability, but specific measures to become a target of ESG investment have yet to come. There were so many things I wanted to work on, but there was no one who could take charge of it.

Looking back, Ishii is a pioneer of ESG Our, who built the foundation for ESG through a lone struggle. Let's follow the trajectory that started with building the foundation and ended up being selected as a brand.

Miyazawa (left) and Ishii (right)

What is ESG in the first place?
In recent years, the idea that environmental, social, and governance (in other words, ESG) initiatives are important in addition to financial conditions has spread to the long-term, sustainable growth of companies. . As a result, ESG has come to be widely used as a criterion for investors to make investment decisions. In other words, we have entered an era in which companies with high ESG standards are viewed as promising investment targets.

So investors need to know which companies have high ESG standards. However, since there is no universal definition or standard for ESG, it is now evaluated according to the standards set by evaluation organizations. Under this system, companies disclose their efforts and are regularly scored by each evaluation agency.

Euglena has been conducting business with sustainability in mind since its founding, but although the business itself is directly linked to ESG, it has not been able to organize and disclose information according to the standards of each evaluation agency.

Ishii, who raised his hand to the person in charge at that time, explains the reason as follows.
“Up until now, I have built up my career at a major precision equipment manufacturer and a foreign-affiliated consultant, but somehow I couldn’t find my work interesting. I realized that "gender" is important for my career.It is exciting to have a high degree of social contribution, a close relationship with management, and it is exciting.The ideal image of euglena fits perfectly.I was able to join Euglena Co., Ltd. When I was thinking about what I could do here, I came across the problem of responding to ESG, which I wanted to work on as a company, but hadn't been able to start.

Ishii, who joined the company with a focus on contributing to society, was tasked with promoting the company's social contribution. However, although I decided to do it, I didn't have any experience in the past. First I had to set a goal.

“At the time, the company was considering hiring an ESG consultant, so I joined the Our first. He taught me the basics, such as what the position is, etc. After that, I sorted out what I was able to do now and what I needed in the future, and started by making eye contact with management.”

Ishii felt frustrated when he wondered, "Euglena is a company that embodies sustainability, but why isn't it being evaluated in terms of ESG?" Therefore, we first set a target for FTSE, a global ESG investment index provided by FTSE Russell in the UK, and carefully examined all of the nearly 200 criteria. Among them, he sorted them into those that can be disclosed immediately, those that can be disclosed with a little preparation, and those that require long-term preparation.

“At first, it seemed like an endless task, but I realized that there was a lot of information that could be disclosed immediately. Therefore, we first created a sustainability page on our corporate website and disclosed the information there. However, the initial evaluation from FTSE was completely unsatisfactory, but as a result of steadily disclosing information, the initial score was 0.9 to 1.8. I was happy when I went up to

2022年当時のサステナビリティページ

Under such circumstances, the company's healthcare department said, "I want to set goals related to sustainability." This Euglena-like message was taken seriously by management, and a company-wide policy was decided. Therefore, Ishii, who has already silently promoted ESG, became the leader of the task force.

“To be honest, I was starting to feel that it would be difficult for me to do it all by myself. I reorganized the framework of my thinking."Offense", or in other words, free play in ESG management, is poverty alleviation in Bangladesh, development of biofuel "SUSTEO", product development and sales that support people's well-being. Euglena is unique in its efforts to solve social issues in a way that is directly linked to business, and to promote future management in a way that is different from other companies by hiring a CFO (Chief Future Officer). It is an area where sustainability is embodied by the method of .And the “defensive” prescribed action is to build a management foundation that responds to ESG in order to realize sustainable management over the long term. I was able to come to a common understanding.
As for “aggressiveness”, it is directly related to the reason why Our was founded, and ideas are spontaneously generated by colleagues and progressed toward realization. However, even if only the "aggressive" part is done, it will not be evaluated in terms of ESG. I have a strong belief that it is unthinkable that ESG institutional investors will not be able to see such a wonderful initiative in the "offensive" part, but if the "defensive" part is not evaluated, it will not be noticed. I am convinced that the role of Our. I also made management understand this structure, and repeatedly explained how important it is to promote ESG management and earn recognition.”

In response to this, the management side decided to blast, saying, "Let's become a brand within two years." Ishii will drive further and work on measures, but will enter maternity leave at the timing of creating a medium-term management plan for sustainability management.
"Honestly, I wanted to see it a little longer. It was about time, but I decided to expect my successor and look forward to seeing what the company will be like after returning."

However, Ishii's baton will be passed on to Miyazawa after a while.
Since it is a field that requires specialized knowledge and experience, the situation of searching for the right person has continued for a long time.

Miyazawa, who joined the Corporate Strategy Department in January 2023, talks about the situation at the time. “When I decided to join Euglena, I had already heard about this situation. There is no internal knowledge of information disclosure in order to be evaluated by the company.In addition, the management has the intention to newly establish the Sustainability Promotion Section within the Management Strategy Department and seriously engage in ESG management.These issues and duties I realized that it was my mission to take on all of this at once, so even before I joined the company, I was excited that it would be rewarding.”

Miyazawa is truly a professional, having been in charge of promoting sustainability at a major global clothing manufacturer. The knowledge and know-how of ESG management cultivated at large companies will be fully demonstrated at Euglena.

“Evaluation of ESG management includes the part of ``regular performance'' that is common to all companies, and the part of ``free performance'' that is unique to each Euglena. However, it was necessary to collect and arrange information and data in the basic part, the part of the 'regular performance'."

The first thing Miyazawa set out to do was to raise the level of understanding within the company. We explained what is required of a company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime and promoted understanding.
“Evaluation bodies need to be able to judge ESG disclosure, so no matter how good your efforts are, they are meaningless if they are not evaluated. I gathered information and put a system in place.”

宮澤が入社してからわずか3ヶ月後、FTSEの評価期間が訪れた。FTSEは通常、企業の開示情報に点数をつけ、その内容に対して企業側がレビューという形で回答する流れを採用している。そのレビューをきちんと行うことで、FTSE側で再評価が行われ、点数が上がることもあるという。宮澤はFTSEから下された初期調査に対して、条件に沿った開示を行うとともに、細かくレビューを行った。

「惜しい点がたくさんあったので、地道に開示とレビューをしていったんです。経験上、このすでに社内にある取り組みの開示とレビューをFTSE側に求められる形で行えば、ある程度成果が出ることはわかっていました。でも、まさかすぐに銘柄入りできるとは思っていなかったので、正直嬉しかったです」
ゼロからESGの礎を築いた石井と、短い期間で銘柄入りまで引き上げた宮澤。このふたりの活躍が、ユーグレナ社を日本のESG経営企業の代表に押し上げたと言える。

Euglena is currently focusing on the biofuel business in parallel with the healthcare business. By the time this becomes popular worldwide, it will attract more attention from stakeholders. With that in mind, Miyazawa says:
“ESG is attracting attention as an investment standard, and there is an increasing demand for efforts and disclosure, such as the recent regulation of sustainability disclosure for listed companies. Since it is a concept to value people, I think it is necessary to maintain a balance between freestyle performance and regulation performance, and I would like to continue such initiatives in a cheerful, fun, and positive manner. I am a mother of one and one of the few female managers in the company.I want to be a person who can be a role model for female employees in the company while showing my child that I am doing a worthwhile job. "

It is said that Ishii also sympathizes with these words.
“Like Ms. Miyazawa, I am also a mother with a child. I am no longer in the realm of sustainability, but I can contribute to the promotion of Euglena ’s sustainability wherever I am. Also, when I received the offer for this interview, I was happy that the work I had previously been involved in was appreciated, even after going through maternity and childcare leave and changing departments. I thought it was Euglena-like.”

The corporate culture in which these two reliable colleagues can play an active role can be said to be a company that embodies sustainability. Attention will be paid to the future activities of the two and the further promotion of ESG management.

2023年7月掲出