Sustainability at Santen

Santen's Key Management Issues (Materiality)

"STRATEGY" and "ESG Materiality" are Santen's key management issues (Materiality).

Keeping Santen's CORE PRINCIPLE "Tenki ni sanyo suru" in mind, Santen has formulated ideal world called "WORLD VISION," namely, "Happiness with Vision," which represents our aim to contribute to the Happiest Life for every individual, through the Best Vision Experience. The company's VISION shows what Santen aspires to be in 2030 and beyond in order to achieve its WORLD VISION. We will "Become A Social Innovator" to orchestrate and mobilize key technologies and players around the world, to deliver happiness through vision. In order to achieve "Santen's VISION" and "GOAL," we will implement "STRATEGY," which consists of "Ophthalmology," "Wellness" and "Inclusion." This WORLD VISION and Santen's VISION have been established from the perspective of Creating Shared Value (CSV), which is a corporate approach to creating both economic and social value by devising solutions to social issues.

Meanwhile, from the perspective of environment, society and governance (ESG), we have identified the following four propositions as ESG materialities: "Development and stable supply of socially significant products and services (Happiness with Vision)," "Encouragement of an Organizational Culture that Promotes Value Creation," "Strengthening Governance, Contributing to the Realization of Fair and Equal Society," and "Conservation of the Global Environment," with the aim of contributing to the sustainable development of society by solving social issues and improving corporate value over the medium to long term. The three STRATEGIES and four ESG materialities are Santen's materiality, namely, Santen's key management issues.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations member states set 17 goals to be achieved by 2030. By addressing our materiality, we will help achieve Goal 3: "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages," and other SDGs.

We compiled an extensive list of social issues based on international guidelines, including the 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact and SDGs, as well as on survey items of sustainability assessment institutions in December 2019.

We comprehensively evaluated social issues from two standpoints, namely, their importance to society and their importance to our company, and narrowed the issues down to those of high priority.

Looking ahead to 2030 and beyond, we examined the relationship between "Ophthalmology," "Wellness," and "Inclusion," our long-term STRATEGY to address social issues related to people' eye health, and the issues on the above ESG axis (social issues).

We confirmed the validity of the identification process and the selected ESG materialities through not only discussion within in-house meeting including management but also dialogue with outside stakeholders such as experts and investors. Based on the feedback we received at this stage, we have compiled the table into a form that captures strategic issues and ESG issues from multiple perspectives using triangles, rather than a general two-axis table.

Through discussions with the Directors, we identified three STRATEGIES and four ESG materialities as Santen's Materiality and disclosed in 2020. We plan to periodically review the materialities in light of the progress of our initiatives and changes in the social environment.

In May 2021, in conjunction with the formulation of the Medium-Term Management Plan (MTP2025), targets were also set for key ESG materiality items, which were disclosed after deliberation by the Board of Directors. In addition, more detailed quantitative targets were set in July 2022.

We have established our sustainability policy incorporating the standpoint of ESG into the WORLD VISON and Santen's VISION, formulated from the perspective of CSV in 2020.

The four ESG materialities are aimed at contributing to the sustainable development of society and improving Santen's medium to long term corporate value. We have presented specific issues for promoting the activities and disclose the progress of our efforts as needed.

The company has established a Sustainability Committee(*), which consists of the CEO as Chairman, and corporate officers in charge of the relevant divisions. Based on our CORE PRINCIPLE, the Sustainability Policy, the group's strategies, and social issues, the Sustainability Committee sets Sustainability-related policies and targets for our entire group, and monitors the progress of our Sustainability activities.