Blue Value™ / Rose Value™

The Mitsui Chemicals Group lists “a circular society in harmony with the environment,” “a comfortable society in which people can enjoy healthy lives and well-being” and “an inclusive society creating diverse value” as its ideal future society and aims to realize this through its business activities. However, as the Group belongs in the upstream process and provides products and services broadly to a variety of industries, it is not easy to fully grasp the environmental impacts that the features and characteristics of our products and services have within the supply chain, likewise for the roles and values they fulfill across all applications. That is why, in order to truly contribute to the ideal future society through the business we do, the Group believes it is important to share with our various stakeholders, including direct and indirect customers, the impact on and contributions of our products and services towards the global environment and society throughout their life cycles.

With this philosophy in mind, we have developed Blue Value™, which makes assessments regarding environmental impact throughout the life cycle of a product, and visualizes its value, and Rose Value™, which makes assessments with a focus on contributions to improving quality of life, and visualizes their value. Assessments and reviews for both are based on our defined criteria, and products meeting these criteria are certified as Blue Value™ products or Rose Value™ products.

We also believe Blue Value™ and Rose Value™ inform our efforts to address the following material topics of our Group, which were set in order to realize our ideal future society: climate change, a circular economy, health and livelihood, highly livable communities, food security, and product design based on full life-cycle considerations.

By maximizing our contributions throughout the entire product life cycle through expanding and providing Blue Value™ and Rose Value™ products and services, we hope to achieve corporate growth for the Group and realize our ideal future society.

The Group has made “pursuing business portfolio transformation” the first basic strategy of VISION 2030. We are working to extend the social issue perspective across all businesses, promote the “building of solutions-based business models,” and promote the creation of circular economy-based business models by “bolstering circular economy initiatives.”

Blue Value™ and Rose Value™ products and services are designed to help solve social challenges, and the expansion of sales revenue from certified applications reflects progress in transitioning towards solutions-based and circular economy-based business models. To certify products and services, we have established our defined criteria (certification and decision item) based on our material topics and business strategies, ensuring that the development of Blue Value™ and Rose Value™ products and services aligns with our management policy.

In line with this philosophy, in VISION 2030, we set the ratios of sales revenue from Blue Value™ and Rose Value™ products and services to consolidated sales revenue as non-financial metrics, with their targets both set at 40%. Since fiscal 2019, to encourage proactive investment that will lead to the growth of sales of products and services contributing to the provision of such value, we have mandated that the application format for large-scale investments include description of opportunities and risks the proposed project entails from social issue perspectives by, for example, indicating the project’s Blue Value™ and Rose Value™ contribution categories, thereby making ESG elements a factor for investment decisions. Furthermore, since fiscal 2020, we have set annual targets for sales revenue and expansion measures of Blue Value™ and Rose Value™ products and services in each business division and worked to incorporate them into their business strategies.

The officer in charge of the Corporate Sustainability Division serves as the responsible officer, overseeing discussions on policies, strategies and plans to promote the expansion of Blue Value™ and Rose Value™ products within the Corporate Sustainability Committee. The results of deliberation are reported to the Management Committee, further deliberated in the Company-wide Strategy Committee and the Management Committee where necessary, and finalized and supervised by the Board of Directors. Additionally, a review board, chaired by general manager of the RC & Quality Assurance Division, has been established as the organization responsible for reviewing and certifying Blue Value™ and Rose Value™ products.

Under this framework, we have set up processes, involving management and the review board, for system design, review and certification, and KPI management to align the Blue Value™ and Rose Value™ system with our management policy and to visualize the contributions our products and services make.

All divisions, including business divisions, can propose changes to the system to align their respective policies and strategies with the certification criteria. Once a proposal is made, the review board decides on whether or not to change the system, based on the opinions given by external and internal advisors from the perspective of consistency with social demands. Management oversees the system from the perspective of consistency with our management policy at the Corporate Sustainability Committee.

Business divisions assess the contributions their own products and services make to the environment and improved QOL based on the Blue Value™ and Rose Value™ criteria, and submit an application to the review board. When submitting an application, applicants also provide evidence of the product or service’s contribution impact and whether there are any negative impacts or other factors throughout the entire life cycle. The review board decides on whether or not to certify the product or service under application, taking into account the opinions of external and internal advisors, in order to objectively verify consistency with social demands, etc.

The review board uses a two-step review process to confirm factors such as the rationale behind the assessment of the contributions and whether the concept and selling points of the product or service under application meet the Blue Value™ or Rose Value™ criteria.

Additionally, certification is conducted according to the envisaged use of the product or service. This is because the same product or service could have a different impact on the environment or QOL throughout the entire life cycle based on its envisaged use.

The Blue Value™ and Rose Value™ products sales revenue ratios, which were set as non-financial metrics in VISION 2030, are subject to regular reporting to the Corporate Sustainability Committee. This allows management to instruct business divisions, for example, to reconsider their strategies according to the progress of KPIs. Each business division then works to incorporate measures into their business strategies, such as promoting business development and reviewing sales strategies to increase sales revenue of certified products. Through this cycle of KPI management, we aim to both achieve our corporate growth and realize our ideal future society through the system.

In FY2023, while sales revenue from existing certified Blue Value™ and Rose Value™ products decreased year-on-year, partially due to the overall decline in Group sales revenue, the overall sales revenue from Blue Value™ and Rose Value™ products increased due to the development of new contributing products and applications.