Carbon Neutral Study Group Report, Part 2 “Initiatives of Japanese Companies”

The idea of ​​``carbon neutral'' is to reduce CO2 emissions to virtually zero. KAPOK KNOT, which is working on decarbonization as a brand, invited guests to its Ginza showroom "The Crafted" and held a study session to deepen their understanding of "carbon neutrality." We are delivering the pattern in the first and second parts.

In this second part, we asked about the case study of Marui Group as a part of "Japanese companies' efforts towards carbon neutrality."

*Click here for the first part

<Table of Contents (Part 2)>

・Introducing the panelists ・About MARUI GROUP ・MARUI's sustainability goals ・MARUI's carbon neutrality efforts ・To create social impact

Introduction of panelists

This second part is mainly about a story from Mr. Murakami of Marui Group. After working in Marui Group's credit card business and human resources department, Mr. Murakami now works at the Sustainability Department, which supports the group's sustainability management. We were introduced to ``specific corporate initiatives.''

About Marui Group

Murakami) Marui Group is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. We have 23 physical stores and are visited by 200 million customers annually. As a business, we are developing the fields of retail, fintech, and future investment, and we also invest in startups.

At the core of Marui's management is the concept of "co-creation," in which we create products and services together with our customers. Recently, we have expanded the scope of our "co-creation" to include all stakeholders.

Murakami) Stakeholders also include "future generations." By incorporating this, business becomes long-term, and we can now talk about sustainability by creating products and services together with future generations and protecting the future and the earth.

Fukai) It’s amazing that “future generations” are included! KAPOK KNOT also used it as a reference when creating the brand's mission and vision.

Murakami) Well, Marui launched the ESG Promotion Department in 2016 , which was primarily responsible for CSR , but changed its name to the Sustainability Department in 2017 in order to turn it into a business. From there, we began to have long-term conversations about what the world would be like in 2050 , and this discussion of ``future generations'' came up.

Marui's goal of sustainability

Murakami) In 2019 , we announced the MARUI GROUP Vision 2050 , which is a 30 -year vision and long-term plan.

(Murakami) This vision is to predict that various disparities and conflicts will increase as we move toward 2050, and to create harmony through business in response to these situations.

Specifically, we would like to integrate ESG ( E = consideration for the environment, S = solving social issues, G = initiatives for governance) with our business. Among these, we particularly value the following two .

Murakami) Regarding ``providing options,'' we want to be a company that can provide as many options as possible to customers who don't know what to do toward sustainability. Now, Marui has stopped developing its business by producing and purchasing its own products, and has shifted to a business method in which it receives rent from tenants. Therefore, sales at each store are irrelevant. Instead of selling things, you can provide services, or you can use Marui as a showroom and have people buy things online later. That's why we're currently working with D2C companies like KAPOK KNOT . I believe that if Marui can introduce a variety of options in this way, it will be easier for customers to take on the challenge.

Marui's carbon neutrality efforts

Fukai) Marui's core business and solutions are clearly aligned and easy to understand. So, what do you think about carbon neutrality, which is also our theme this time?

Murakami) When I looked into the figures for greenhouse gases emitted by MARUI GROUP, I found that, as mentioned above, a large amount of emissions come from electricity. In stores, refrigerators and certificates use a lot of electricity. So I think I'll start from here.

Marui is participating in the Ministry of the Environment's `` RE100 '' initiative and has pledged to source all of its own electricity from renewable energy by 2030 . For example, the Marui main building in Shinjuku uses 100% renewable energy, and has already reached 52% renewable energy.

In order to turn this activity into a business, we want to involve our customers as well. What we are doing is collaborating with Minna Denryoku. We created a system that allows individuals to switch their home's electricity to renewable energy and pay for it with their EPOS card. We aim to increase the number of renewable energy users to 1 million of the approximately 7 million EPOS card members, and we will work to reduce greenhouse gases with an even greater impact.

Fukai) It's definitely a good idea for Mikata! By the way, the ``greenhouse gas figures'' that Marui said he calculated earlier. Mr. Minohara, could you please elaborate on this?

Minohara) Okay, let me explain about Scope 3 .

(Minohara) We divide corporate CO2 emissions from a Scope 123 perspective. 1 is " CO2 directly emitted by companies" from factories, stores, etc. Number 2 is ``indirect emissions associated with energy use,'' which are generated when electricity is used or heat is generated. 3 is "other indirect emissions" that do not apply to 1 or 2, such as CO2 emitted by trucks transporting products, CO2 emitted from sold products, CO2 emitted when disposing of products, CO2 emitted when employees commute to work, etc. It's wide-ranging.

(Fukai) When I calculated it using KAPOK KNOT , it was easy to get 12 , but 3 was very difficult because it varied from store to store and depending on whether or not there was delivery. Today, even among companies that claim to be carbon neutral, many only achieve levels 1 or 2 . I think calculating and reducing number 3 is really difficult.

Murakami: At Marui, we all spent about a month calculating the results. It's tough because I have a lot of different businesses. 3 , but we can't say, ``Please don't come to the store,'' because the CO2 from customers coming by car will also be released. When I was thinking that I needed to offset this in some way, I came up with the idea of ​​calculating the reduction in CO2 emissions from customers' homes as ``Scope 4 '' by having them adopt the ``Everyone Electricity'' system I mentioned earlier. .

Murakami) Scope 4 is an indicator developed by Marui. The amount of emissions released into the world by our company alone is about 30 tons. To make an even bigger impact, we need to encourage customers to change their lifestyles and reduce emissions. I realized that this is what we should do.

Because Marui has and will continue to co-create with customers, we want to work together to solve social issues through business and increase our social impact.

to create social impact

Murakami) I believe that it is important to visualize social impact in order to aim for decarbonization together with customers. For example, when you buy a product or go on a trip with your EPOS card. Try to understand how much your carbon footprint is. By doing so, we will not only promote activities for our customers, but also lead to MARUI GROUP's branding.

By the way, in Sweden, there is an initiative that allows you to visualize your own CO2 emissions, and if you exceed the limit, you will no longer be able to use the card. Since the conversion formula has been made public, this is a measure that we can adopt immediately. I would also like to see an initiative where Epos Points can be changed to something like Sustainer Points, and Sustainer Points can be used for donations or doing things that are good for the environment.

In addition, I started a vegan business and used eco-friendly materials for cards. There are many businesses within the group, so we would like to co-create with customers in various areas.

Fukai) Once again, the concept of Scope 4 is easy to understand and good.

Murakami) Well, it's like reducing Scope 123 by 4 . In terms of how we communicate this, we would like to include the amount we reduced ourselves and the amount we reduced together with our customers, and say, ``This is how much we were able to reduce.''

By the way, the company's medium-term plan also includes a 2050 vision that is more business-oriented.

By 2025, we will work together with our customers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1 million tons. Through this kind of impact, we hope to achieve our financial statements.

that's all. I'm sorry, but if I create a new indicator called "Scope 4 ," Mr. Minohara might get angry at me (lol).

Minohara) No (lol) I think companies should actively adopt their own initiatives. In fact, I would like to support it in order to make it a standard.

Fukai) Thank you both. We know that the country is moving towards carbon neutrality, but what should we do about it? I think that the current situation is that it is difficult to get down to that point. However, like Mr. Marui, we can create our own indicators and commit to them. I think this can be put into practice at both an individual level and a brand level.

If individuals could think about such choices every day, I think the world would change.