From the PresidentSustainability Initiatives8Sustainability has been introduced as an additional main theme for the new Medium-Term Management Plan. Over the years, Yamaha Motor has been engaged in various initiatives for contributing to society. Going forward, we will be seeking to contribute further based on a concrete action plan formulated with a focus on issues we consider of utmost importance and in areas Yamaha Motor most needs to address. I would now like to take some time to talk about what areas will be given particular priority under this plan. The first is carbon-neutrality initiatives. In the Yamaha Motor Group Environmental Plan 2050, we define both our target of achieving carbon neutrality across the entirety of our business activities and supply chain*1 by 2050 as well as our basic policy of reducing per-person CO2 emissions from transportation. To reduce Scope 3 emissions, we bolstered our R&D capabilities with a new facility at the headquarters completed in fiscal 2021 with the aim of ramping up powertrain technology development. The building’s new equipment includes test benches for assessing and testing the performance of electric motors, hydrogen supply equipment, and carbon-neutral fuel storage tanks. This new equipment will be used to develop various powertrain technologies primarily targeting battery-powered EVs, fuel cells, and hydrogen and synthetic fuel systems. At the same time, we are accelerating the development of EVs through our platform strategy, with the goal of introducing at least 10 battery-powered electric mobility models by 2024. On this front, we launched the NEO’s electric scooter with a removable battery in Europe in June 2022, and we plan to begin releasing the E01 electric scooter, which employs a fixed battery design, as a model for proof-of-concept testing*2 in Japan, Europe, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia starting in July. strategies, another of our sustainability initiatives. Digital transformation will enable us to connect directly with customers to provide services that cater even more to their needs. I remember around when I had just become president, some four years ago, a woman rider told me that she had not even put Yamaha among her purchase options because she felt that the seats on our models were too high and that her feet could not reach the ground. This was something the Company was, of course, aware of and we take steps to ensure the ride is comfortable even with a high seat height. However, customers often make their decisions I would now like to talk about our digital transformation based on the figures for seat height in the brochure, so if that number does not become smaller, customers such as that woman will be unwilling to ride a Yamaha. This is a rather simple issue when you think about it, and my encounter with this woman made me realize that we had perhaps been neglectful in our response to the purchasing patterns of some customers. Digital transformation will allow us to connect directly with and receive input from customers around the world. We will also be able to track statistics like where and how our products are being used and the current state of said products. Currently, Yamaha Motor is aggressively rolling out connected products, such as motorcycles with smartphone connectivity, in order to transform our business through an even greater emphasis on customers while also delivering new experiences by connecting with them. Moreover, we have defined the number of registered Yamaha Motor IDs as a key performance indicator (KPI) for the development of customer touchpoints and the creation of lifelong customers through both digital and physical means. We look to grow the number of such users to 4.7 million by 2024, which will represent a sixfold increase from 2021. Another area of our sustainability push is human resource strategies. Our employees are the drivers of our growth. In order to better energize our employees, we have made employee engagement a KPI and we are promoting diversity, inclusion, and human resource development to achieve improvements in that regard. For example, I personally sat down to hold discussions with groups of 20 new employees on 50 occasions over the past year, thereby meeting 1,000 employees myself. Our viewpoints and the breadths of our perspectives are as diverse as our people, and these meetings exposed me to various outlooks and opinions. I was also reminded of the diverse capabilities of our employees. At the same time, around 70% of the issues raised during these discussions were those that were close to home for employees. Specifically, many cited that their workplace leaders were often too busy with their own work to talk with or provide support to their subordinates, leading to a lack of training. I therefore think that there is a need to reform our target management and human resource frameworks in order to allow leaders to spend more time on their more managerial duties. The last of our sustainability initiatives that I would like to highlight is our efforts for ensuring the safety and peace of mind of riders. More than ever, we must focus on this if we
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