Protection of human rights and support for internationally agreed human rights are imperatives for the Mitsubishi Electric Group’s business activities. Accordingly, as members of the Group, we recognize our duty to prevent any complicity with human rights violations.

The Mitsubishi Electric Group has established its Human Rights Policy in accordance with the spirit of the Group’s “Purpose” and “Our Values.” By conducting its activities in accordance with this Policy, the Group will respect the human rights of all people involved in its business activities and contribute to the realization of a society in which there is respect for all people.

Based on its “Human Rights Policy,” the Mitsubishi Electric Group identifies “respect for all people” as materiality and promotes the following initiatives.

The Mitsubishi Electric Group has established the following policies in order to implement more specific and effective measures on individual issues. The Group will work to make its human rights initiatives more effective while promoting specific action on individual issues.

In order to undertake human rights due diligence and other measures based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, etc., the Mitsubishi Electric Group has been implementing the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle. As a part of this effort, the Sustainability Committee and its subordinate organization, the Human Rights Subcommittee (standing), confirm the results of human rights initiatives and review and approve policies and plans. Since human rights issues relate to a wide range of fields, the responsible division is identified first to work on specific issues, while the Human Rights Subcommittee discusses and decides which direction to take with respect to issues of concern to the entire company. A system is in place for reporting progress to the Sustainability Committee and the Executive Officers’ Meeting, and to have the executive officers and directors provide oversight.

The Human Rights Subcommittee is chaired by the Senior General Manager of the Sustainability Planning Division and consists of the heads of the relevant divisions.

In addition, the Human Rights Working Group, which is composed of Section Manager-level members from the divisions that make up the Human Rights Subcommittee, examines the practical implementation of various human rights-related initiatives.

In fiscal 2024, the Human Rights Subcommittee met three times, while the Human Rights Working Group met eleven times.

The Human Rights Subcommittee formulated mid-to long-term goals and the roadmap for respecting human rights since human rights initiatives are diverse and must be prioritized, and improvements must be ongoing rather than one-off activities.

In the short term (one year), specific action items and KPIs are set, and the Human Rights Subcommittee and the Sustainability Committee follow up on the results.

Since fiscal 2024, the Group has worked with Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), a United States-based organization that promotes sustainability, to implement a more objective human rights impact assessment based on global standards. The impact assessment involved desktop research followed by identification of potential risks in the Mitsubishi Electric Group’s value chain through interviews with each corporate department and prioritization of human rights issues from the perspectives of importance, likelihood of occurrence, and relevance to business. As a result, the Group identified the priority human rights issues among potential issues that could impact its stakeholders, as shown in the figure below.

Human rights issues that may be affected by the Mitsubishi Electric Group’s Business Activities

BSR provided recommendations on the human rights issues identified in the previous section to prevent them from occurring. The Mitsubishi Electric Group has formulated improvement measures to address these recommendations and will commence initiatives in fiscal 2025. The Group will strive to strengthen human rights measures at its sites and in its supply chain in accordance with Responsible Business Alliance (RBA)* processes.

Future initiatives to address significant human rights issues

The Human Rights Subcommittee periodically verifies the status of activities to address the BSR recommendations. In particular, the risk status of the working environment at Mitsubishi Electric Group manufacturing bases and suppliers is verified using the RBA Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ).

The results of the activities outlined above are appropriately disclosed in the Integrated Report of the subsequent fiscal year.

In fiscal 2022, a human rights impact assessment was conducted at a total of 417 sites among Mitsubishi Electric and associated companies in and outside of Japan. The assessment identified human rights issues for which the Mitsubishi Electric Group should strengthen its efforts and evaluated the status of efforts at each site.

Corrective measures have been implemented at each site to address the human rights issues identified, and the 329 items picked out as having insufficient efforts were reduced to 39 in fiscal 2024.

Main Corrective Measures

• Utilization of educational materials on anti-harassment and diversity measures implemented within Mitsubishi Electric to provide training at associated companies as well
• Request for suppliers of associated companies to give consideration to human rights by utilizing the CSR Procurement Guidelines used by Mitsubishi Electric

Improvement activities based on the self-assessment outlined above will be completed by the end of fiscal 2025.

Mitsubishi Electric Group is committed to respecting the basic rights of employees, an approach that is included in the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the United Nations Global Compact, as provided in Mitsubishi Electric Group Code of Conduct.

In addition, Mitsubishi Electric respects the freedom of association as a company and assures Mitsubishi Electric labor union to hold the three basic rights of labor (the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, and the right to act collectively), under the labor agreement entered into between Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Electric labor union.

Based on the labor agreement, Mitsubishi Electric implements the following.

• The Company and labor union periodically hold meetings of a management council and labor council and have active communication.
• Under the union-shop system, all employees (excluding management-level employees) become union members after completing a trial period, as a rule.
• Working conditions for employees not covered by this labor agreement are determined based on individual employment status and laws related to equal pay for equal work.
• Associated companies in and outside of Japan also share the principle of holding thorough rational discussions between labor and management, and endeavor to maintain and improve sound working conditions and workplace environments in compliance with labor-related laws and regulations concerning employment, personnel affairs, work duties, wages, working hours, immigration control, and so on in the countries and regions where they do business, as well as with internal regulations and procedures.
• The labor contract stipulates that Mitsubishi Electric will swiftly notify the labor union of secondments and transfers of employees within and outside the organization for business reasons. The contract also states that, particularly when large numbers of employees will be seconded or transferred within or outside the organization, the Company will consult with the labor union regarding the basic terms.

Since fiscal 2019, we have been seeking consent from suppliers to agreement on initiatives for social issues including human rights issues.

In 2024, the objectivity and transparency of the Mitsubishi Electric Group’s human rights initiatives in sustainability procurement was enhanced through the alignment of our own operations with the provisions of the RBA Code of Conduct, the global standard. We will continue to promote ongoing improvement of our sustainability procurement efforts.

Relevant divisions within the Mitsubishi Electric Group are collaborating to respond in a timely and appropriate manner to legislation being developed in various countries regarding the implementation of human rights due diligence by companies.

Our statements on the UK Modern Slavery Act, the Australian Modern Slavery Act, Norway’s Transparency Act, and Canada’s Modern Slavery Act are posted on our official website.

The Mitsubishi Electric Group takes various opportunities to educate its employees on human rights.

In response to individual reports on human rights risks, the responsible division shall promptly confirm the facts of the case in accordance with the consultation content. In the event that a human rights violation or other problem is identified to have resulted from the Mitsubishi Electric Group’s business activities, we shall promptly implement corrective and remedial measures as well as take appropriate actions, including responding to victims and considering disciplinary measures for those who committed such violations, etc. The Mitsubishi Electric Group’s main point of contact shall share the details of each consultation with the division in charge of resolving the problem. Nevertheless, efforts shall be made to minimize information sharing among the parties concerned.

No whistleblower shall be retaliated against by any company or individual for making a report.

In order to make the Mitsubishi Electric Group’s efforts for human rights issues effective, we have discussions with experts, human rights NGOs and other parties to receive advice on human rights initiatives.

In June 2024, as part of the “Business and Human Rights Academy:* Human Rights Due Diligence Training for Japanese Companies” organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), we had the opportunity to receive some broad feedback from Ms. Alice Cope (Partner, Pillar Two) and Mr. Hideaki Umetsu (Partner, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto) on the Mitsubishi Electric Group’s human rights initiatives based on explanations provided by the Group.

Based on the previous Academy session with the two experts, prior to holding this session, we asked them both to review the draft revision of the Mitsubishi Electric Group Human Rights Policy and we endeavored to reflect their comments and recommended improvements in the final version.

During the session, a variety of themes were discussed, such as capacity building for suppliers and ways to enhance access to grievance handling mechanisms for major stakeholders, including suppliers and their workers. The discussions also included how to raise awareness among the various departments within the Mitsubishi Electric Group of respect for human rights and the human rights risks related to their respective activities and business relationships.

These topics will be reflected in our future efforts to respect human rights in the Mitsubishi Electric Group for continuous improvement following discussion by the Human Rights Subcommittee.