Our mission is to collect, integrate, process, and deliver the information needed to provide patients with efficient, high-quality healthcare. In addition to our corporate mission and vision, we integrate sustainability into our strategy by applying ESG pillars: Environment, Social and Governance. By doing so, we continue to embed sustainability into our corporate DNA, products and services, and our contribution to society as a whole.

During the course of the year, we prepared our new Sustainability & Diversity Promotion Office, which became officially active on January 01, 2024. Prior to the establishment of this new organisation, Canon Medical Systems Corporation were already conducting social activities, and will continue to strengthen these under the initiatives led by the Sustainability & Diversity Promotion Office. Internally, we further strive to reduce our environmental impact in all business processes and at every stage of the product life cycle, such as procurement, R&D, manufacturing, sales and post-sales processes, including customer service and disposal/ recycling. All these activities will be part of our newly established Minimum Energy 360 program.

We defined environmental initiatives as one of the most important management issues. We believe that creating environmentally friendly medical equipment and systems is an obligation for Canon Medical Systems as a global business. We are moving forward with our plan to reduce Scope 1 and 2 by 42%, and for Scope 3, we have set a target of 25% reduction by 2030, based on the 2022 standard. We are currently setting goals in 2024 to progress in our mission even further. Our approach is working with our customers, suppliers and other stakeholders to achieve these important goals.
 

We believe that strengthening internal governance is essential for a company to steer itself and society towards achieving sustainable growth that is not temporary or intermittent. We have established governance systems to improve internal controls and implement audits, and much more. It is my task to constantly review how to continually improve these systems.

A next step is to further improve the consistency of financial reporting and sustainability across the business, and to establish a structure to guarantee objectiveness and transparency. Under the slogan "Made for Life," which epitomises our management philosophy, we will continue to contribute to the realisation of healthy lives for people around the world and enhance living.

Toshio Takiguchi, President and CEO, Canon Medical Systems Corporation

Our goal is to provide medical professionals with the solutions they need to improve the health and well-being of patients across the globe.
Underpinning this goal is our Made for Life philosophy, which inspires us to create technologies that provide faster, more accurate diagnoses, better treatment outcomes and enhanced patient care.
Our philosophy drives us to create a better world for everyone in line with our sustainability policy. Through technological innovation, partnership building and sustainable practices, we are focused on contributing to the third, eighth and thirteenth Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Canon Medical Systems Corporation’s materiality topics, which form the basis of our ESG approach to sustainability, were identified in 2021 through extensive consultations with stakeholders including customers, employees, and government authorities. To determine the materiality issues, we considered our stakeholders’ expectations and their involvement with our business activities.

We aim to create societal value for each of our material issues.


1 Creating new value and solving medical issues
1.1 Become a leading innovative global company in the medical field.
1.2 Make progress in medical treatments with the support of medical imaging equipment.

2 Working together with society / contributing to the local community
2.1 Work as a unified global company enriching local communities.
2.2 Continue supporting local communities.
2.3 Support global initiatives with impact on local communities in the medical field.

3 Active participation by and development of people from diverse backgrounds
3.1 Aim for gender composition targets of 70% men and 30% women by the end of 2023, and 60% men and 40% women by the end of 2025.

4 Building a robust and healthy organisation
4.1 Continue improvement of Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S).
4.2 Ensure that all employees have periodic performance reviews in 2023.
4.3 Ensure all subsidiaries have a mechanism available for reporting ethical and equality related issues by 2023.

5 Protection and conservation of the global environment
5.1 Contribute to the prevention of climate change.
5.1.1 Carry out CO₂ reduction activities in accordance with Canon Inc. standards in production bases with high environmental impact.
5.1.2 Decide quantitative CO₂ reduction targets in 2022 and develop activities from 2023.
5.2 Further develop activities to recycle waste and reduce chemical substance emissions in accordance with Canon Inc. standards in production bases with high environmental impact.
5.3 Improve water use efficiency.
5.4 Pursue the protection and restoration of nature and its biodiversity globally.

Our new Sustainability & Diversity Promotion Office became active on January 01, 2024. It consolidates two approaches to sustainability:

Proactive Sustainability:
To contribute to business by collecting global trends and requirements on ESG from international stakeholders, translating them into actual guidelines and action plans, disclosing them appropriately and appealing to external parties.

Protective Sustainability:
To promote full conformity with various ESG-related laws, regulations and standards, and ensure thorough compliance within the Canon Medical Systems.

The team will further work on diversity and inclusion by the creation of an environment in which every employee can be active, regardless of personal attributes such as gender, nationality, or disability.

Representatives from all our subsidiaries were invited to participate in a global Sustainability meeting in 2024. Data from the year 2023 was collected through a survey, based on standards from the Global Reporting Initiative. Combined with data from Headquarters, a report was created and published in the second quarter of 2024. The Dutch Sustainability Consultants were invited to facilitate and provide advice on the content.

At Canon Medical Systems Corporation, the Sustainability and Diversity Promotion Office coordinates and promotes sustainability activities for the entire group in cooperation with relevant departments.
Important sustainability-related matters are reported to and consulted on for approval by the Sustainability Committee, which is headed by the President and CEO, and by the Board of Directors when it is necessary.

This report summarises the sustainability activities carried out by Canon Medical Systems Corporation in 2023 at its headquarters in Japan and subsidiaries around the world: Japan, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, India, Turkey, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Italy, UK, USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand.

Please contact our CSR Coordinator if you have any questions about the process and this report: Contact us (link to Canon Medical global website)