Sustainability | Sustainability ManagementSustainability Promotion Structure

Governance

Under the supervision of the Board of Directors, the Sustainability Promotion Department, in collaboration with various departments at the global headquarters, formulates activity policies and measures related to sustainability. The Chief People and Sustainability Officer (CPSO*) oversees human resources and sustainability, working together with the Sustainability Promotion Department to advance TDK's sustainability strategy, which enhances corporate value.

(Functions and Roles of the Sustainability Promotion Department)

  • Collaborate with regional headquarters in China, Europe, and the Americas to promote global initiatives across business units, group companies, and manufacturing sites.
  • Conduct monitoring of initiatives, disclosure of sustainability-related information, and dialogue with stakeholders. Feedback on opinions obtained through stakeholder dialogues and issues identified during the promotion of activities to relevant internal parties to facilitate improvements.
  • Report progress of initiatives to the President and CEO monthly.

(Deliberation and Decision-Making on Sustainability Matters)

  • Company-wide sustainability agendas and themes are deliberated at management meetings and reported to the Board of Directors. Based on this, the Board deliberates or makes decisions and oversees the proper execution of these measures.

(Compensation-related Disclosure)

  • The post-vesting share-based compensation for executive officers, and for directors who also serve as executive officers, may include Performance Share Units (PSUs), which is a type of share-based compensation linked to performance, calculated in terms of shares in the Company or in cash, based on the extent to which the performance targets set in the Medium-term Plan have been achieved, and paid after the end of the fiscal year in question. The evaluation criteria for the awarding of PSUs include pre-financial indicators such as climate change and indicators relating to human capital.

Risk Management

To achieve sustainable growth and address factors (risks) that hinder the achievement of organizational goals, the TDK Group has established an Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Committee, chaired by an executive officer appointed by the President and CEO. The committee analyzes and evaluates company-wide risks, identifies risks requiring countermeasures, and promotes enterprise-wide risk management by assigning risk owner departments to lead risk countermeasures. The assigned risk owner departments lead the implementation of risk countermeasures for individual risks, and the committee monitors the status of these countermeasures. The committee's risk analysis, evaluation, and the status of countermeasures for significant risks are deliberated at management meetings and reported to the Board of Directors.
Risks related to the environment (including climate change), talent acquisition and development, human rights, and other sustainability-related risks are also assigned to risk owner departments and managed by designated executive officers.

Organizational Restructuring

TDK positions measures relating to aspects of sustainability (including climate change, human capital, human rights, etc.) that affect the company, both internally and in terms of the external environment, as important materiality (key issues) for TDK as a whole. To identify the impact of the risks and opportunities associated with each aspect of sustainability, and to establish an appropriate strategy and business model to address them, rather than having the Sustainability Promotion Department as a separate organization outside the Corporate Strategy HQ, in April 2025 we established a new Sustainability Promotion Group within the Corporate Strategy HQ. In addition, in order to drive management that is directed toward realizing the objectives outlined above, in April 2025 the TDK Group established a new Sustainability Committee combining cross-unit functions. With the aim of realizing coordinated efforts directed toward enhancing the sustainability of society and the sustainability of TDK, the Sustainability Committee will be identifying risks and opportunities relating to sustainability, setting the Group’s materiality, performing progress management in relation to this materiality and adjusting it as necessary in line with changes in the internal and external environment, and responding to sustainability-related legislation. In line with the organizational restructuring outlined above, the role of CPSO is being eliminated; instead, starting from April 2025, a CHRO is being appointed to oversee TDK’s human talent strategy.

In-house Awareness Raising

To realize effective promotion of sustainability, the TDK Group believes that it is important for every team member to possess basic knowledge regarding sustainability, for them to understand the background to the need for corporate sustainability initiatives and understand TDK’s approach to sustainability activities, and for them to incorporate this awareness into their own work. Accordingly, we provide lecture-style training programs tailored to meet the needs of each job grade, including initial training for new hires, as well as lectures by external experts, and dissemination of relevant information using the company intranet.
In addition, management and head office divisions engage in timely dialogue with asset managers, and the Corporate Strategy HQ’s Sustainability Promotion Group engages in dialogue with each business group to promote business development that takes the SDGs as the starting point.

In 2024, we held an internal study session on the topic of how to implement information disclosure properly.

Sustainability Award

We introduced the Sustainability Award as a part of the President Award system in 2021 with the objective of raising awareness and motivation concerning the provision of products and services that take social issues and social needs including customer needs, as the starting point. The award is presented in recognition of cutting-edge projects and initiatives such as new product development that contributes toward solving society’s problems, strategies to combat climate change, sustainable use of resources, realizing economic revitalization at the community level, and reducing environmental impact.
The award is given to individuals, divisions, and business groups that are recognized as having achieved particularly outstanding results. The best practice highlighted through the award is shared throughout the entire TDK Group, and is disseminated horizontally. Through this award program, we are encouraging the provision of products and services that contribute toward the sustainability of society.

Participation in Initiatives and Associations

The TDK Group respects international norms and standards, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ISO 26000, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the international labor standards of the International Labor Organization (ILO), and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (the “Ruggie Framework”), and promotes business with the aim of realizing the common global objectives cited in the SDGs. Furthermore, in editing and issuing our sustainability website, we refer to the GRI Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative, the international standard.

Endorsement of the TCFD*

In May 2019, TDK expressed its support for the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which makes recommendations for analyzing and disclosing information on the impact of climate change on corporate finance.

*The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) was founded in 2015 by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), an international body seeking to achieve the stabilization of the financial system.

Membership of the RBA and RMI

In February 2020 the TDK Group joined the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), the world’s largest industrial coalition dedicated to CSR in the global supply chain. The TDK Group fully supports the RBA’s vision and mission and, in accordance with the RBA’s code of conduct, makes continuous efforts to improve the human rights of workers, health and safety, and the environment in the TDK Group and primary suppliers. TDK also participates in the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) and strives for responsible mineral procurement.

Membership of Other Associations

TDK belongs to the following associations and promotes efforts to solve social issues that are difficult for a single company to tackle.
Click on the name of the organization to go to their website.