Third-Party Comment and Editorial Postscript

Comments on Reading the Kobe Steel Group's Sustainability Report 2010

Keisuke Takegahara Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility Promotion Office, Development Bank of Japan Inc.   Profile Keisuke Takegahara graduated from Hitotsubashi University Faculty of Law and joined Japan Development Bank (now Development Bank of Japan) in 1989. He went on to work as a Debuty Director in the Policy Planning Department (in charge of planning environmental investment) and as Manager of the CSR Promotion Office of the Public Solutions Department before being appointed to his current position. Previous posts have included part-time graduate school lecturer at the University of Tokyo, member of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Study Group on the Evaluation of Environmental Capabilities in the Financial Market and member of the Ministry of the Environment's Committee for Industries and Services subject to Surveys into the Scale of Environmental Business Markets and Employment. Since 2009, he has also been a member of the Central Environmental Council General Policy Committee's Ad Hoc Committee on Finance and the Environment. The main impression I had after reading the Kobe Steel Group Sustainability Report 2010 was how much has changed compared to previous reports, up to and including last year's. Although the changes are wide-ranging in terms of both style and content, I think that they can essentially be summed up through the two concepts "visualization" and "a sense of responsibility." In terms of visualization, the idea of starting the report by laying out the Kobe Steel Group's various technologies over a bird's eye view of the city provides a great overview that is extremely easy to follow, especially when combined with subsequent details of reductions in CO2 emissions and other specific achievements. It serves as an excellent reminder of the broad spectrum covered by the Kobe Steel Group's technology, from materials through to machinery. Sections outlining innovations in direct reduction and ironmaking processes, such as the MIDREX® Direct Reduction Process and the ITmk3® Process, give a real sense of the tremendous potential that the technologies could have in terms of tackling climate change globally, because of their huge impact and application overseas. Whereas most BtoB companies struggle to come up with succinct ways to show the public how their core operations contribute to society, this report serves as an example of how that can be achieved. The report clearly sets out the Kobe Steel Group's three-pronged vision for environmental management and systematically structures and outlines individual activities in line with that vision. Alongside the fact that the report clearly specifies the effects of individual products, technologies and services in terms of reducing environmental impact rather than merely outlining individual items, this reflects a sense of responsibility that goes beyond merely summarizing the group's approach and initiatives. The inclusion of photos of general managers from individual sites and their comments alongside the group's emissions data also creates the same strong sense of responsibility. I think this is an ideal way to convey to readers the level of commitment amongst frontline personnel, creating a real sense of presence. One area of the report in which there is room for improvement is the inclusion of viewpoints from a wide range of stakeholders. The report contains so much information on environmental management within the Kobe Steel Group and is so comprehensive in its coverage that it tends to focus too heavily on areas such as precision and reproducibility. As a result, diagrams and the general flow of the report are somewhat over-specialized, giving the impression that it could be quite difficult for members of the public to understand. To demonstrate the impact that the Kobe Steel Group has in terms of helping to reduce environmental impact in different ways throughout society, as illustrated at the start of the report, it would be a good idea to include sections featuring photos of stakeholders such as users and suppliers and their comments. In that respect, Mr. Sato's pledge to "adopt a barrier-free approach to working with communities and local people" in the opening interview is a good indication of the direction that the group needs to take in order to improve its reports in the future. Having evolved to such a great extent, I hope that this Sustainability Report will be put to good use in strengthening communication between the Kobe Steel Group and the general public.

Editorial Postscript