E :Environment
Living in Harmony with Nature

Biodiversity

KPI Responsible Departments Our position and Targets Review of FY 2024 Activities Future challenges

KPI

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Item	FY 2023 results	FY 2024 results
Implementation rate of biodiversity conservation activities for ecosystems near production facilities	(Consolidated) 50% (12 domestic business locations, and 9 overseas locations)	(Consolidated) 43% (12 domestic business locations, and 8 overseas locations)
Biodiversity in each area, and impact	Yokohama Tire Retread Co., Ltd. (YTRH) Vicinity of Lake Utonai	Yokohama Tire Retread Co., Ltd. (YTRH) Vicinity of Lake Utonai
Habitats being safeguarded or restored	Satoyama (traditional community-managed forest) conservation in Toyooka Village, Nagano Prefecture; Satoyama conservation in Tsuchiya district, Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture; conservation of Caretta caretta (Loggerhead turtle) egg-laying sites along the Ominato Coast in Ise City, Mie Prefecture, and conservation of breeding grounds of Sialia sialis (Eastern bluebird) at Virginia Plant	Satoyama (traditional community-managed forest) conservation in Toyooka Village, Nagano Prefecture; Satoyama conservation in Tsuchiya district, Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture; conservation of Caretta caretta (Loggerhead turtle) egg-laying sites along the Ominato Coast in Ise City, Mie Prefecture, and conservation of breeding grounds of Sialia sialis (Eastern bluebird) at Virginia Plant
Total number of species included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species or in Japan’s domestic list of species requiring special conservation efforts <Categories of threatened species> ・Critically endangered (CR) ・Endangered (EN) ・Vulnerable (VU) ・Non-threatened (NT) ・Least concern	Rivers receiving wastewater CR+EN: One species: Anguilla japonica (Japanese eel) (Kaname River, Hinokijiri River) VU: Two species: Oryzias latipes (Japanese rice fish) (each river) and Liobagrus reinii (Torrent catfish) (Tenryu River) NT: Five species: Veronica undulata (Kaname River), Diplonychus japonicus (Ferocious water bug) (Sonobe River), Cottus pollux (Japanese fluvial sculpins) (Kuroda River), Pelophylax nigromaculatus (Black-spotted Pond Frog) (Tenryu River), Mauremys japonica (Japanese pond turtle) (Goten River) On premises of plants and satoyama VU: One species: Cephalanthera falcata NT: Four species: Sasakia charonda (Great purple emperor), Psilotum nudum (Whisk fern), Calanthe discolor, Cynops pyrrhogaster (Japanese fire belly newt) Least concern: One species: Vanellus cinereus (Grey-headed lapwing) Beaches near to where wastewater flows out EN: One species: Caretta caretta (Loggerhead turtle) (Ominato coast)	Rivers receiving wastewater CR+EN: One species: Anguilla japonica (Japanese eel) (Kaname River, Hinokijiri River) VU: One species: Oryzias latipes (Japanese rice fish) (each river) NT: Four species: Diplonychus japonicus (Ferocious water bug) (Sonobe River), Cottus pollux (Japanese fluvial sculpins) (Kuroda River), Pelophylax nigromaculatus (Black-spotted Pond Frog) (Tenryu River), Mauremys japonica (Japanese pond turtle) (Goten River) On premises of plants and satoyama VU: Two species: Cephalanthera falcate and Butastur indicus NT: Five species: Sasakia charonda (Great purple emperor), Psilotum nudum (Whisk fern), Calanthe discolor, Cynops pyrrhogaster (Japanese fire belly newt) ,Pelophylax nigromaculatus (Black-spotted Pond Frog) Beaches near to where wastewater flows out EN: One species: Caretta caretta (Loggerhead turtle) (Ominato coast)

Responsible Departments

Each business location

Activities are conducted by each office, with the Biodiversity Committee (which the CSR Planning Dept. serves as a secretariat for) implementing company-wide policy discussions and activities.

Our position and Targets

Why is “Biodiversity” a critical issue to be addressed?
Explanation of the reason and background

Our Company is engaged in business that is dependent on resources available from nature (blessings of nature) including natural rubber. Our production facilities impact natural capital through their use of land, water, and energy, resulting in the release of heat and carbon dioxide. We recognize that negative effects on the natural environment caused by these kinds of business activities are not unrelated to the loss of biodiversity currently advancing on a global scale.
To address these issues, Yokohama Rubber Group established its Biodiversity Guideline in 2010, and has been working on the conservation of biodiversity through its value chain locations. For years, we have been running the Yokohama Forever Forest Program to plant trees and to provide saplings in areas around our production sites. We also perform various biodiversity conservation activities to ensure that the plants and animals living in our production site premises has positive effect on the surrounding regional ecosystem. In January 2023, we joined the "30by30 Alliance for Biodiversity," a coalition of companies and other organizations directing all-Japan efforts to achieve "30by30," an international goal of conserving and protecting more than 30% of land and sea by 2030 toward the goal of nature positive. In the same month, we endorsed the philosophy of the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (hereinafter referred to as TNFD) and participated in the "TNFD Forum," an international stakeholder organization that supports the establishment of a framework for the disclosure of nature-related financial information, as well as in "Keidanren Initiative for Biodiversity Conservation."
We are also expanding disclosure based on the TNFD recommendations.
Yokohama Rubber has identified new materiality, considering both the impact of its business activities on society and the environment, and the impact of society and the environment on its business activities. This revision was conducted in conjunction with the development of Yokohama Rubber’s new medium-term management plan, "Yokohama Transformation 2026 (YX2026)," which was launched in fiscal year 2024. The company has also repositioned its previous CSR slogan, "Consideration for the Future," as its new sustainability slogan. By pursuing initiatives aligned with its new materiality, Yokohama Rubber aims to achieve sustainability management.
Yokohama Rubber has identified the following as material issues related to natural capital:

Coexistence with Nature: Promoting initiatives towards a nature-positive future
Sustainable Supply Chain Building: Sustainable natural rubber sourcing

Furthermore, Yokohama Rubber will effectively address social issues through the integrated resolution of these material issues with others.

Yokohama Rubber Group Biodiversity Guidelines

The Yokohama Rubber Group revised its Biodiversity Guideline in December 2023, based on the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022, and the Japanese Government's Cabinet decision on the National Biodiversity Strategy 2023-2030 in March 2023. We will continue to work for the conservation, restoration and rehabilitation of biodiversity throughout the value chain.

<Basic Policy>

Yokohama Rubber Group’s businesses depend on the blessings of nature (ecosystem services) and they impact biodiversity at the same time. To achieve a “world living in harmony with nature”, based on this recognition, Yokohama Rubber Group complies with global goals, initiatives, and regulations such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and reduces negative impacts on biodiversity throughout its entire business and promotes the restoration/regeneration of nature to contribute to a nature positive world.

<Action Guidelines>

Recognize the issue of biodiversity as a business challenge and continually monitor the sustainable use of natural resources and biodiversity conservation.
Yokohama Rubber Group recognizes the issue of biodiversity as a business challenge and promotes sustainable use of natural resources and biodiversity conservation. Furthermore, we regularly assess risks and opportunities related to nature and build a system in which management monitors them.
Understand the relationship between business and impacts on biodiversity and its dependency on nature by scientific approaches.
We strive to understand the relationship between our business and impacts on biodiversity and its dependency on nature in relevant locations throughout the entire value chain from the procurement of raw materials to disposal of products by scientific approaches. We identify business activities that greatly impact biodiversity, set goals, and conduct continuous monitoring.
Reduce negative impacts caused by our business activities, while increasing positive impacts.
We strive to avoid/reduce negative impacts on biodiversity caused by our business activities such as land use, resources use including natural rubber and water, climate change, pollution, and alien species accompanied by our business activities, and restore/regenerate nature to increase positive impacts, thereby contributing to biodiversity conservation.
Promote the sustainable use of natural resources throughout the entire value chain through technological innovation.
In addition to the negative impacts in the production phase such as use of resources, we also aim to suppress negative impacts caused downstream of the value chain including the disposal phase, and promote innovative technological development to promote sustainable use of resources.
Have the integrated perspective to solve social issues including biodiversity and climate change.
We promote solutions that are effective for eliminating the trade-off relationship of biodiversity and climate change and increasing the effects of activities at the same time. We also act from an integrated perspective to solve social issues such as human rights, labor issue, and poverty. We give particular consideration to the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, and to gender equity.
Promote biodiversity conservation in collaboration with suppliers to increase sustainability of natural resources.
Our business uses various natural resources such as natural rubber and water. We strive to promote conservation of such resources and ensure traceability in collaboration with suppliers including farmers to increase the sustainability of natural resources throughout the supply chain.
Support employees so they can contribute to biodiversity conservation.
We support employees in biodiversity conservation in the course of their work as well as in local communities through raising their awareness of biodiversity and behavior change leading to practice.
Build a trust relationship through communication and collaboration with stakeholders to increase the effectiveness of initiatives.
We build a trust relationship with various stakeholders such as national agencies and municipalities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), research/educational institutes, and local communities and strive to improve initiatives and enhance capabilities to increase the effectiveness of our initiatives.
Actively disclose information on a regular basis about efforts for biodiversity conservation in accordance with these policies.
We actively disclose information about our efforts related to biodiversity in accordance with these policies by making use of various opportunities on a regular basis to gain understanding of internal and external stakeholders to promote sustainable management.

Disclosure of information related to natural Capital (TNFD disclosure)

Vision and targets
Short-term and medium-term goals

1.Sustainable Natural Rubber Procurement

Item	Targets	Achieved year	Progress in FY2024
Number of natural rubber plantations surveyed	Cumulative total of 1200	FY2030	Total 861 units
Percentage of natural rubber suppliers surveyed（Tier1）	100%	FY2023	100% (relative to supply)
Implemented grievance mechanisms	Completed	FY2023	Completed

2.Promoting Agroforestry（※）

Item	Targets	Achieved year	Progress in FY2024
Number of saplings provided to natural rubber plantations for agroforestry	Cumulative total of 130,000 trees	FY2030	Cumulative total of 96,000 trees
Number of farmers introducing agroforestry	Cumulative total of 170	FY2030	Cumulative total of 486 units

Agroforestry is a term created from the words agriculture and forestry, and refers to the grazing of livestock and cultivation of crops between planting trees. Yokohama Rubber is promoting agroforestry in natural rubber plantations.

3.Yokohama Forever Forest Programs

Item	Targets	Achieved year	Progress in FY2024
Number of trees planted and saplings provided	Cumulative total of 1.5 million trees	FY2030	Cumulative total of 1.4 Million trees

Yokohama Rubber's business activities depend on ecosystem services generated from natural capital such as forests, soil, water, air, and biological resources, including natural rubber. We recognize that management that takes natural capital into consideration and biodiversity conservation are important issues for sustainable business activities.
Yokohama Rubber is committed to the realization of a society that coexists in harmony with nature through its business activities.
In the preservation of biodiversity, we evaluate the impact that our business activities have on the natural environment and upon ecosystems, and then implement conservation activities in order that this impact can be further mitigated. Additionally, we aim for harmony with nature and the development of employees with an awareness of the environment.
YOKOHAMA Forever Forest project achieved its goal to plant 500,000 seedlings in both our domestic and overseas production sites and related department sites in September 2017. Going forward, the project is working toward the new target of planting 1.5 million trees by 2030 through afforestation at production sites and related department sites and the provision of seedlings to communities.

<Overview of Yokohama Rubber’s Activities to Conserve Biological Diversity>

Measures for vision achievement

Among all our business activities, we think that our dependence on biodiversity and business risks are especially high in the raw material procurement stage and the production stage.
In the raw material procurement stage, natural rubber procurement is considered to have the highest biodiversity impact, while in the production stage, land use and water intake and discharge by our production sites have the highest biodiversity impact. Our production sites are located in widely varying conditions in terms of geography, history, and culture. Since ecosystems surrounding these sites also differ, we believe it is necessary to accurately understand the biodiversity situation surrounding each site and we deploy our biodiversity activities in stages. After gaining a general picture of the site location, including what bodies of water and vegetation exist in the area, whether any nature reserves are nearby and whether it is close to residential areas and other factories, we conduct surveys on the water quality of rivers that could be possibly affected by our production activities, and monitor living organisms that are found in the areas surrounding the production site. In particular, we select a number of specific living creatures for continual monitoring targets. Through continuing such monitoring throughout the year, we assess the impact of our business activities, determine which organisms require conservation practice and conduct such conservation activities, and disclose the findings.
As part of water quality surveys, we measure the water temperature, electrical conductivity, pH, etc. For the monitoring of living organisms, we conduct bird-watching, vegetation survey, insect and also observe aquatic organisms.

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	Business location	Location	Water quality^*	Aquatic life	Vegetation	Wild birds	Insect	Other
In Japan	Mie Plant	Within premises	○	○	○	○	○
	Mie Plant	Outside premises	○	○	○	○	○	Loggerhead turtle
	Mishima Plant	Outside premises	○	○		○
	Shinshiro Plant	Within premises	○	○	○	○	○	Increasing Semisulcospira libertina
	Shinshiro Plant	Outside premises	○	○	○	○	○	Amphibians
	Onomichi Plant	Within premises			○	○	○
	Onomichi Plant	Outside premises	○	○	○	○
	Hiratsuka Factory	Within premises	○	○	○	○	○
	Hiratsuka Factory	Outside premises	○	○	○	○	○
	Ibaraki Plant	Within premises	○		○	○	○	Creating an environment for Grey-faced buzzard (Amphibians, Reptiles)
	Ibaraki Plant	Outside premises	○	○	○	○
	Nagano Plant	Outside premises	○	○	○	○
	Yokohama Tire Retread Hokkaido Plant	Outside premises	○	○	○	○	○
	Yokohama Tire Retread Nagoya Plant	Outside premises	○	○	○	○	○	Mammals (Satoyama Animals)
	Yokohama Tire Retread Onomichi Plant	Outside premises	○	○	○	○	○
	Yokohama Mold	Outside premises	○	○	○	○
Overseas	YTMT (Thailand)	Within premises	○			○	○
	YTRC (Thailand)	Within premises	○	○		○
	Y-CH (China)	Outside premises						Laojunshan Project
	CHZY (China)	Within premises			○	○	○
	CHZY (China)	Outside premises	○	○	○	○	○
	CSZY (China)	Within premises			○	○	○
	YTPI (Philippines)	Within premises			○	○	○
	YTPI (Philippines)	Outside premises			○	○	○	Watershed conservation
	YTMV (United States)	Within premises			○	○		Mammals
	YTVI (Vietnam)	Outside premises			○

Presence or absence of biodiversity activities

Yokohama Forever Forest Program

A cumulative total of 826 thousand trees had been planted in the activity by the end of 2024. Combined with saplings provided in the activity reached 1.4 millions. The target for combined tree planting and sapling provision by 2030 had been revised to 1.5 million trees. As of the end of 2024, the achievement rate stands at 93.3%. In order to assess the growth and environmental impact of our Forever Forests, we conduct surveys on the tree growth (measurement of tree heights and chest-height diameters) and wild birds observed within plant premises. From the result of surveys on the growth amount of saplings, we have calculated the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed and fixed by all the trees planted in the Forever Forest Program. We estimated found that the entire our Forever Forests had absorbed 2,112 tons of CO2 by the end of 2024.

Bird Survey

To measure the impact of initiatives like 'YOKOHAMA's Thousand-Year Forest' and biodiversity conservation efforts at our various plants, we conduct bird surveys at several locations. At the Hiratsuka Plant, for example, employees have been conducting monthly bird observations and monitoring surveys with experts from the Wild Bird Society of Japan since tree planting began in 2007. As a result, 61 species of birds have been observed on the plant's grounds to date.
From In the third year of our tree planting initiative, we began to see Turdus chrysolaus (red-bellied thrushes) that have a preference for forests. We believe this reflects how the Forever Forest is functioning as it should as a forest for wild birds. We also observed Phylloscopus coronatus (eastern crowned warblers) and Acrocephalus orientalis (oriental great reed warblers), which are normally seen near bodies of water) were observed, which seems to show that our Forever Forest is serving also as a stopping point for migrating wild birds during their travel. Furthermore, it has been observed that the forest is used by Zosterops japonicus (warbling white-eyes) and other various wild birds to build nests and raise their children, suggesting that the forest contributes to the breeding of wild birds as well.

A kestrel perched atop the highest carbon tank at the Hiratsuka Plant.

Trend of Bird Species Confirmed at the Hiratsuka Factory (December 2023 - December 2024)

Juvenile Fish Release Event at Hiratsuka Fishing Port

Yokohama Rubber, following its relocation of headquarters to Hiratsuka City in 2023, has been supporting the Hiratsuka Tama Saburo Fishing Port (Hiratsuka New Port) in the city of Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, by participating in juvenile flounder release events and donating to the Kanagawa Prefecture Cultivated Fisheries Association. These efforts aim to contribute to the promotion of community activities in Hiratsuka City, the preservation and increase of local marine resources, the revitalization of the fishing industry, and the improvement of citizens' lives.
In 2024, the event was held for the third time, and approximately 100 fifth-grade students from Hiratsuka City's Minato Elementary School participated by releasing juvenile fish from three vessels anchored off the coast of Hiratsuka City.

Hiratsuka Minato Elementary School Students Releasing Juvenile Flounder From Aboard a Vessel

Hosting a Biodiversity Roundtable (Panel Discussion)

Since 2014, Yokohama Rubber has been hosting "Biodiversity Roundtables (Panel Discussions)" to engage employees, local governments, educational institutions, environmental NGOs, and other companies in discussions about the importance of biodiversity. These roundtables feature presentations on recent domestic and international developments related to biodiversity, as well as Yokohama Rubber's initiatives. We also actively incorporate feedback from participants into our ongoing activities.
On March 12, Yokohama Rubber held its 11th annual Biodiversity Roundtable, themed “What we can do to acheve Nature Positive*”, The panel featured Kaori Fujita, Senior Editor at Nikkei ESG and Professor at Tohoku University, and Tetsuya Kitazawa, Director of Ecology Path Co., Ltd. and Lecturer at Edogawa University, serving as moderator.
Following Ms. Fujita’s keynote speech titled “Considering Nature Positive Initiatives in Factories.” presentations and discussions were held on biodiversity conservation activities at Yokohama Rubber's Shinshiro Plant and Yokohama Tire Retread Corporation's Hokkaido Office.
The participants gained a deeper understanding of the importance of conducting steady conservation activities alongside factories and local communities to achieve global goals.

An approach aimed at halting biodiversity loss and setting it on a path to recovery.

Nutrient cycling to maintain soil health

In the "YOKOHAMA Forever Forest," which covers a large portion of our plant’s green spaces, we generally do not remove fallen leaves or branches. On the forest floor, these materials accumulate and undergo natural decomposition by microorganisms and soil organisms. This organic matter infiltrates the ground, resulting in the formation of rich, soft, dark-brown soil.
We maximize resource efficiency by collecting fallen branches and pruning debris to be composted on-site. By reintegrating this finished compost into our seedling nurseries, we actively foster a circular ecosystem that minimizes waste and enhances the material cycle.

Compost Area (Ibaraki Plant)

Formation of rich, dark-brown soil(Ibaraki Plant)

Natural decomposition of leaf litter on the forest floor (Mie Plant)

Leaf Litter Yard (Mie Plant)

Review of FY 2024 Activities

Various initiatives underway to make natural rubber a sustainable resource

Yokohama Rubber announced the "Sustainable Natural Rubber Procurement Policy" in October 2018, which is an undertaking to make natural rubber a sustainable resource. We also joined the international platform Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) as a founding member and began taking action as part of the platform. Furthermore, we revised our procurement policy in September 2021 to incorporate GPSNR's policy framework into our procurement policy, clarifying our intention to achieve the sustainability of natural rubber at a higher level. In 2019, Yokohama Rubber started a survey on rubber farms in the Suratthani province of Thailand, visiting 861 farms by the end of December 2024. So far, we have not found any human rights violations or illegal deforestation; however, through the survey, we have learned about problems faced by farmers and issues we need to work on. The information gained from the surveys, along with the communication with farmers, is invaluable. Therefore, we plan to continue this survey effort, aiming to visit 1,200 farms by 2030. Not only the information we have gained through the survey, but also the communication and partnership we have developed with the local farmers through the survey activities have proved to be highly valuable. We are planning to continue these survey activities on an ongoing basis.
In January 2020, Yokohama rubber signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Rubber Authority of Thailand (RAOT) to collaboratively support the management of natural rubber farmers and improve traceability in order to ensure the transparency and soundness of the supply chain.
Under the MOU, seminar events for natural rubber farmers have been held since December 2020.
To date, eight such events have been held, attended by a total of 540 farmers, and a total of 129 tons of fertilizer utilizing RAOT's findings has been provided free of charge.

Employee education

We are working on biodiversity conservation through our business activities, and in order to ensure that all employees are aware of the blessings of biodiversity and act accordingly, we are working to spread awareness of biodiversity among employees through human resources development. One of the mandatory training courses for young employees covers biodiversity.
Our biodiversity conservation training covers the following topics:

Fundamental knowledge of biodiversity conservation
Purpose of monitoring
Data collection, analysis, and utilization
Connection to our company's operations
Dependencies and impacts within the supply chain
Importance of information disclosure

Additionally, we conduct actual monitoring activities (vegetation surveys, bird surveys, water quality surveys, aquatic organism surveys).

Field training session for biodiversity monitoring activities

Case Studies (Domestic) Case Studies (Overseas)

Future challenges

Regarding planetary boundaries, the integrity of the biosphere (biodiversity) is reported to be in an extremely critical state.
We, who operate our business activities relying on the benefits of natural capital such as natural rubber, deeply recognize the potential impact of our operations on ecosystems and the importance of biodiversity conservation.
Therefore, we will advance business activities incorporating the following interrelated measures:

Climate change countermeasures
Resource circulation countermeasures
Broad environmental impact reduction measures, including biodiversity conservation
Measures toward a nature-positive transition

We will further advance the analysis of risks and opportunities related to climate change and natural capital in line with the TCFD and TNFD recommendations, and incorporate these into our business strategy.
We will also collaborate with suppliers to enhance the sustainability of natural resources throughout the entire supply chain and promote the restoration and regeneration of nature.
Through these activities, we aim to contribute to Nature Positive.