Initiatives with Suppliers
| Supplier Evaluation |
| Before starting business dealings with a new supplier, Canon conducts an assessment based on the Canon Sustainability Supplier Guidelines and other reference standards of whether the company fulfills all requisite standards in terms of corporate ethics, environmental conservation (chemical substance management, prevention of air pollution and water pollution, proper disposal of waste, initiatives aimed at conserving energy and resources, reduction of GHG, and biodiversity conservation), finance, and production structure. Only those suppliers who meet these criteria are accepted as suppliers. We aim to preferentially deal with suppliers evaluated highly in our comprehensive assessment including our annual supplier survey as well as each supplier’s trade performance. In addition, we conduct on-site audits of suppliers with low evaluations, providing guidance and instruction for improvement. In particular, Canon may choose to terminate business with suppliers if they are not complying with laws and social norms covering areas such as human rights, labor, and the environment. |
| We request major suppliers to sign an agreement concerning actions related to the RBA Code of Conduct. In 2025, agreements were signed with 367 of 374 major suppliers, equivalent to a consent rate of 98.1%. |
| Canon also uses an RBA-approved Self-Assessment Requirements of the Canon Green Procurement Standards Questionnaire (SAQ) to identify and assess labor, health and safety, environmental, and ethical risks. Our goal is to consistently achieve a risk assessment response rate of over 95 percent. The response rate was 99.5 percent in 2025 (372 responses out of 374 companies surveyed). Suppliers that did not reply to the survey were followed up individually. No businesses were identified as high risk among major suppliers, but we provided feedback on the results to our major suppliers and requested that they identify weaknesses and improve on them. We also conduct online meetings and arrange site visits to help verify the SAQ responses of a select number of major suppliers. |
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Green Procurement and Guidance to Suppliers
In the environmental area, Canon has established Canon Green Procurement Standards, which outline its environment-related requests to suppliers, and makes compliance with the standards mandatory for all transactions. We view a supplier’s environmental management as consisting of two interrelated elements: business activities and parts and materials. We require that the supplier must operate effective environmental management in each of the four frameworks labeled A–D in the following diagram. If a supplier is found to have a negative impact on the environment, we immediately demand corrective action be taken and check the status of improvements made.
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| Specifically, to actively maximize resource efficiency as stated in the Environmental Assurance Philosophy of the Canon Group Environmental Charter, we require suppliers throughout the supply chain to put in place and operate an environmental management system aimed at reducing the environmental impact of their business activities. It was already Canon’s practice to check the organization and environmental performance of a supplier’s business activities and any corrective measures taken. Now, we have further strengthened our risk management to help prevent pollution in our supply chain. For example, in order to ensure compliance with stricter regulations, we are taking measures to boost information gathering and analysis activities regarding laws and regulations on wastewater and emissions in emerging countries. We also conduct risk management in plating processes, where there is a relatively high risk of environmental pollution associated with wastewater treatment as a certain volume of heavy metals is used. Expanding the scope of risk management in this way helps ensure pollution prevention. |
