Goals, Initiatives, and Achievements
Launched and Participated in Builders and Realtors Human Rights Due Diligence Promotion Council
On September 21, 2018, with Mitsubishi Estate as an organizer, Tokyu Fudosan Holdings, NTT Urban Development, Tokyo Tatemono Co., Nomura Real Estate Holdings, Obayashi Co., Shimizu Corporation and Taisei Corporation joined in launching of Builders and Realtors Human Rights Due Diligence Workshop.
The Workshop aims to identify adverse impacts that builders and realtors have on human rights, research and explore how we can address them and share good practices with general construction companies which are one sector of the suppliers. By doing so, we make sure we are in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights which require business enterprises to avoid infringing on human rights of others and to implement measures to prevent, mitigate and remedy human rights abuses on those linked to their businesses.
In April 2023, the Workshop changed its name to Human Rights Due Diligence Promotion Council, and in December of the same year, Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.
Amid recent globalization, our businesses today operate well beyond national boundaries and we are expected to embrace more internationalized, sophisticated corporate social responsibilities(CSR). At the same time, adaption of UN Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) in 2015 has accelerated ESG investing practices where investors screen and invest in companies with strong E(environment), S(society) and G(governance) due diligence.
Regarding Human Rights, a core subject in Social Responsibility, UN Commission on Human Rights adopted UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in 2011, providing a framework for businesses to respect human rights, in which companies are required to practice human rights due diligence in order to avoid and mitigate human rights infringement.
Human rights due diligence practice involves four steps: assessing human rights impacts; integrating findings and responding to impacts; tracking performance; and communicating about how impacts are addressed. Because these steps are to be taken not only on our own business entity but also on its entire supply chain and value chain network, the vastness of this scope has hindered us from thoroughly addressing the issues. That is why developers as well as construction companies in the supply chains decided to launch the Workshop, the first of its kind in the industry, to establish Human rights due diligence framework.
The Workshop provides member companies with opportunities to learn about human rights including international human rights standards and approaches expected of us. We intend to invite specialists from NGO such as FoE Japan and other experts to help us identify actual human rights risks and engage in biodiversity dialogues to explore specific approaches.