Creating Societal Value Through Purpose-Led Sustainability

The purpose of a company is to produce profitable solutions to problems. To be clear – profiting while creating problems for people and our planet is a failure in sustainability. It’s also a failure on our part as businesses.

Takeda’s 240-year history began in Osaka in 1781 when our founder, Chobei Takeda, established a small market stall to sell traditional Japanese and Chinese herbal medicines. He created a profitable business by remaining true to an Omi merchant philosophy called SANPO-YOSHI – “Good for sellers, good for buyers and good for society.” Chobei served patients with integrity, driven by his purpose, and it’s his leadership and commitment to run a good business that made all the difference. Those patient- and society-centric values he brought to life continue to guide us today. We call it “purpose-led sustainability” and it’s how we meet patients’ needs over the long-term while also creating greater societal value through profitable business strategies.

Purpose-led sustainability is not just the right thing to do. We believe there is an intrinsic link between a company’s performance in sustainability and its long-term financial performance, and all stakeholders are on alert. In short, purpose-led sustainability is profit-led sustainability and we at Takeda have an important role in redefining this for our industry.

One area where we’ve set ambitious targets is our recently announced accelerated goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in our operations, including scopes 1 and 2, before?2035. Additionally, we’re aiming to achieve net-zero GHG emissions across our entire value chain, including currently estimated scope 3 GHG emissions, before?2040. We’ve set these high standards because we recognize that we can and must do more to protect our planet.

In April 2022, I took on an expanded role of Sustainability Officer to accelerate delivering against our purpose-led sustainability agenda. As we continue to look ahead, we must consider two things: 1) how we will push the boundaries of what is possible in discovering and delivering life-transforming treatments for patients, and 2) how we can do this while remaining profitable and mindful of the health of our people and the planet. That is our challenge, but it is also what drives us – purpose-led sustainability is more than the license to operate, it gives us the license to grow.??

For more stories about our work, please check out our newly issued 2022 Annual Integrated Report.