@Toyota: Stories of Our Projects “Toyota Tsusho’s unique environmental strategies for the children of the future”

Half a century of contributing to the environment and society—it’s what we do

The planet faces an unprecedented crisis, and companies must act. Businesses have a fundamental responsibility to operate with environmental awareness. While the concept of a circular economy with resources being used and reused throughout a product lifecycle gained global attention in the early 2000s, Toyota Tsusho has embraced its principles since our inception.

In the 1970s, more than 50 years ago, we launched a business to provide the Toyota Group, our partner companies, and other customers with proper disposal solutions for end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). In the value chain for automobile production, we provide a fully integrated process from procuring raw materials for production to recovering and recycling ELVs, waste plastic, and other reusable resources. Recycling resources has been the heart of our business from long before the idea of a circular economy was formed.

Being persistent with our mission for the children of the future

The fundamental drive behind our circular economy business comes from our corporate philosophy of “Living and prospering together with people, society, and the planet, we aim to be a value-generating corporation that contributes to the creation of prosperous societies.” Our global vision to “Be the Right ONE” is guiding our efforts to advance environmental strategies that are unique to Toyota Tsusho.

This means that rather than developing all of our businesses, we focus on developing those businesses where we have strengths.
This approach has fostered a corporate culture where all of our employees look beyond short-term profits and seriously consider what we can do to realize a flourishing environment in the future.

Our drive is further accelerated by our mission to “Passing on a better Earth to the children of the future.” All of our decisions on the benefits and drawbacks of investment, whether to continue initiatives or create new businesses are based on how they will help us “Be the Right ONE” and how they will benefit the children of the future.

Those questions led us to support decarbonization at customers through our renewable energy, hydrogen, and biofuels businesses and by assisting with mobility electrification and the vital component of battery solutions. The moment we are convinced that an initiative can contribute to future generations, our sales, corporate, and all departments take action in our fields of expertise. We are firmly committed to doing good for the children of the future.

Five “cross divisional” working groups essential to strategy execution

In 2021, we determined to be a positive force in becoming a decarbonized society by setting a concrete target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. We followed this in 2024 by updating the Toyota Tsusho Group’s Environmental Policy to further clarify our stances in a wide range of areas, including the prevention of air, water, and soil pollution. Our environmental activities encompass climate change action, forest and biodiversity protection, resource and energy conservation and efficient water usage as well as efforts to reduce consumption in areas experiencing water stress from serious shortages and floods.

Our dedication to helping achieve a decarbonized society includes a commitment to invest ¥2 trillion in the decade from 2021 to 2030, with half to be invested in renewable energy and energy management.

Toyota Tsusho advances its environmental initiatives through a one-of-a-kind composition of five working groups that span our business divisions and take advantage of our uncommon diversity of operations and networks. These working groups allow us to make horizontal and vertical connections between environmental issues and business opportunities. This strategic approach is one of our greatest strengths and is unmatched by other companies.

The mobility sector is a major source of CO₂ emissions, making the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy essential for global decarbonization.
We are uniquely positioned with strengths across renewable energy, battery storage, and mobility. In addition, our working group structure allows us to connect technologies and expertise across divisions. This integrated, coordinated structure puts us in a distinct position to strongly contribute to the decarbonization of our customers and society.

The Resource Circulation & 3R Working Group within the Battery Working Group has expanded its scope to cover the stable supply, production, and manufacturing of lithium for EV batteries, along with battery collection, reuse, and recycling. By integrating these functions, we are building a circular economy that cannot be achieved by standalone operations like power generation or hydrogen production.

This unique structure has enabled us to form—at an unprecedented speed—joint ventures and capital tie-ups with various companies with which we have had no previous business interactions. Moreover, these new connections are not limited to the renewable energy and battery fields; in recent years, we have developed an increasing number of customers in the apparel field, where waste loss has become a serious issue. We have also started an operation recycling fishing nets, which is a major cause of ocean plastic pollution, and are developing a business for nylon-to-nylon fiber recycling. The transformation and renaming of the Textile Division as the Sustainable Fashion Department is attracting attention both internally and externally for its business potential.

The Carbon Neutrality Promotion Meeting, chaired by the President and CEO, meets monthly to ensure the interdivisional working groups are operating effectively. Business division managers and working group leaders discuss current issues and plans and, to foster understanding company-wide understanding, the meeting outcomes are shared in narrative story form with employees in Japan and overseas. This approach promotes collaboration among the working group leaders and the creation of joint pilot projects. We also encourage employees to stay mindful of carbon neutrality in their daily work through events and meetings about circular economy topics in each business segment.

A leader for a circular economy and carbon-neutral society

When we started our end-of-life vehicle disposal business more than 50 years ago, we were regarded as a “behind-the-scenes” solutions provider for our customers. By the 2010s, we had risen to the level of an escort runner growing along with our customers. Now, our vision is to become a leader for our customers.

We partnered with the Toyota Group to establish Circular Core, a company dedicated to creating circular economy systems. The company accelerates initiatives, explores cutting-edge technologies, and develops business models. As the world’s leading circular economy provider, we are fully committed to building a recycling-oriented society.

Unlike a linear economy, a circular economy connects the beginning and end of the supply chain. Building a circular economy therefore requires broad stakeholder engagement. To build trust and understanding and to foster collaboration, we promote transparent information disclosure in line with TCFD^*1 and TNFD^*2 recommendations.

The Toyota Tsusho Group is honored to be named a CDP Triple A List company and to have received a 4.7/5 ESG score from FTSE, ranking seventh overall and earning inclusion in the FTSE ESG investment index.

Our goal is to be a company fulfilling its responsibility to pass on a better Earth to future generations, not burden them with debt. We can do that by increasing the number of companies that are fulfilling that responsibility. By demonstrating that environmental measures and economic growth can be compatible, we aim to be a model for how a company can prosper and grow.