Emblem of respect for human rights

The Tokyo Electric Power Company Group (“TEPCO Group”) has established and announced its TEPCO Group Human Rights Policy in August 2021, aiming to elevate its previous human rights efforts to a global level and contribute to protecting/promoting human rights across society as a whole, including the international community. We aspire to become a corporate group that continues to be trusted and chosen by society and customers, and respect human rights as the basis of our operation.

1. TEPCO Group Human Rights Policy

The TEPCO Group established and announced in August 2021 the TEPCO Group Human Rights Policy (“the Policy”) that clarifies our stance toward efforts to respect human rights, in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Besides strengthening our previous initiatives for human rights, we will promote human rights-respecting efforts that align with international standards in order to commit ourselves to prevent and mitigate adverse impacts on human rights.

Should the operations, products, or services of not only the TEPCO Group but also our business partners, including suppliers, adversely impact the human rights of our stakeholders including customers and local communities, we will take appropriate actions.

The Policy was established based on international human rights norms and principles (e.g., the International Bill of Human Rights, the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and the Children’s Rights and Business Principles), and by incorporating opinions of external experts.

Commitment to Specific Human Rights Issues

The TEPCO Group respects the following rights and human dignities in accordance with international norms and principles on human rights.

  1. (1) Prohibition of human trafficking, forced labor, and child labor
  2. (2) Freedom of association and respect for the right to collective bargaining, etc.
  3. (3) Respect for diversity and equal opportunity
  4. (4) Prohibition of all forms of discrimination*, harassment, bullying, and unfair treatment
  5. (5) Appropriate management of working hours and reduction of excessive working hours
  6. (6) Securing the minimum wage and supporting the living wage
  7. (7) Ensuring a healthy and safe work environment
  8. (8) Protection of personal information and privacy
  9. (9) Ensuring the safety of consumers and local communities and disclosing information transparently
  • Discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, language, religion, nationality, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual expression, disability, political or other opinions, national or social background, property, family or other status, or any similar reason.

<Relevant regulations>

2. Governance Structure of Respect for Human Rights

With the establishment of the Policy, we reorganized our Human Rights Awareness Committee, the primary goal of which has been to resolve/prevent issues such as discrimination, and accordingly set up the TEPCO Holdings Human Rights Committee (“HD Human Rights Committee”) in February 2022.
The HD Human Rights Committee, chaired by the Chief Human Resources Officer (“Human Rights Chairperson”), chiefly consists of TEPCO Holdings’ relevant department/office managers and human rights directors of TEPCO Power Grid, TEPCO Renewable Power, and TEPCO Energy Partner (“core companies”). Each core company has its own human rights committee, and the committee chairs also serve as members of the HD Human Rights Committee.

As a general rule, the HD Human Rights Committee meets twice a year to engage in such activities as reviewing efforts from the previous fiscal year, deliberating plans for the current fiscal year, and monitoring the human rights due diligence action plan.
The Committee also shares specific cases submitted to human rights grievance mechanisms, and discusses and recommends remedial measures.

Items reviewed/decided upon by the HD Human Rights Committee are reported to the executive committee, and other bodies, if necessary. When considering solutions for and remedying specific cases confirmed by the Committee, and when practicing recurrence prevention measures, we coordinate with internal committees as well as core companies responsible for corporate ethics and risk management. We also take action by coordinating with external experts (e.g., attorneys) and labor unions if necessary.
Here are the details on recent HD Human Rights Committee sessions.

Hosted day Agenda Attendance
First Human Rights Committee Wednesday, February 9, 2022 24 out of 24 (Attendance by proxy: 2)
Second Human Rights Committee Monday, June 13, 2022 24 out of 24 (Attendance by proxy: 3)

Provided below are the recommendations/remedial measures based on discussions from previous HD Human Rights Committee sessions.

<Reference>

3. Human Rights Due Diligence
(“Human Rights DD”)

The TEPCO Group respects human rights in all aspects of its business activities. We built a human rights DD mechanism based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights so that the human rights of all stakeholders, including people impacted by our business activities, are respected, and set ”officers and employees” and “suppliers” as priority response stakeholders. We have also started taking actions for consolidated subsidiaries covered by the Policy.

System for respecting human rights, based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

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Human Rights Impact Assessments on Officers and Employees

To implement human rights DD for officers and employees, we specified adverse impacts caused by our business (human rights impact assessments). With the input from external experts, we analyzed our internal rules, results of employee opinion surveys, previous lawsuits, and contents of human rights grievances, among other information. We accordingly identified human rights issues and assessed them from the perspectives of the scale and scope of human rights violations, and the remediability of fully restoring human rights.

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As a result, assessments showed particularly significant adverse impacts in the categories of harassment, working hours, and personal information. Preventing inappropriate cases related to these three items and minimizing impacts when such cases occur will thus be our focus for FY2022.

Suppliers

We newly established the Sustainable Procurement Guidelines (the “Guidelines) by adding an element of respect for human rights to the Basic Policy on Procurement, with the aim to develop stronger respect for human rights in our supply chain. We also developed a system to reinforce our suppliers’ respect for human rights and started to take action in FY2022. Example endeavors include having suppliers submit a confirmation document that declares they are properly practicing the Guidelines, and distributing a Sustainable Procurement Questionnaire to check the extent to which suppliers are complying with the Guidelines.

System to Reinforce Suppliers’ Respect for Human Rights

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We apply the PDCA cycle to develop stronger respect for human rights in the supply chain.

<Procurement-related policies>

Basic Policy on Procurement

Consolidated subsidiaries

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4. Grievance Mechanism

The TEPCO Group has established both internal and external grievance mechanisms to respond appropriately to human rights-related issues. In addition to ensuring the anonymity of clients or whistleblowers and the confidentiality of the content of their reports, we thoroughly protect the clients or whistleblowers and prohibit unfavorable treatment and retaliation against them.
If it becomes apparent that the TEPCO Group’s operations have caused or were involved in an adverse impact on human rights, we will engage in remediation and redress through appropriate procedures and dialogues.

Primary Consultation and Reporting Contacts for Human Rights

No. Name Availability Format of consultation Open to
1 External On our website (Reports are posted) All stakeholders
2 Human Rights Consultation Desk Internal e-mail Officers and employees of TEPCO Holdings and its core operating companies
External phone (Accepted on holidays / after-hours)
<Reference>
3 Corporate Ethics Consultation Desk Internal e-mail, phone, intranet, postal mail All persons currently and previously involved in the operations of the TEPCO Group
External e-mail, phone
4 Working Hours Consultation Desk Internal phone, intranet
5 Internal On our website (Reports are posted) Suppliers involved in material and equipment procurement

Response System for Consultation and Reported Cases

5. Stakeholder Engagement

We will strive to engage in dialogue with all stakeholders such as workers’ representatives, business partners including suppliers, and local communities, so that we can understand and respond to the human rights-related impacts of the TEPCO Group’s operations from the perspective of the affected stakeholders. We will also refer to the opinions of external experts.

We recognize that the working conditions and safety of contractors are human rights issues peculiar to our industry. Through interviews, we will deepen our understanding of the situation and take further action.

January 2022 We exchanged opinions with a supplier (a construction company) and shared our awareness of issues.
February 2023 We plan to interview multiple construction companies by referencing results of the Sustainable Procurement Questionnaire.

6. Information Disclosure

Pictograms of Information Disclosure

On our website (this webpage) and other locations, we will periodically disclose information about the process of efforts made based on the Policy and results of assessments on their effectiveness.
We will also disclose our efforts on sources such as the Integrated Report and Corporate Governance Report.

7. Information Dissemination/Education on the Policy

The TEPCO Group will provide appropriate education and training to all officers and employees so that the Policy permeates the company. We will also not only incorporate this policy into related policies, procedures, and tasks to properly embed it in our operations, but also work on building the capability of individuals in charge of human rights DD for the effective implementation of human rights DD. Moreover, we will strive to respect human rights throughout the supply chain by thoroughly communicating the contents of the Policy to our business partners, including suppliers.

Commitment of Top Management

Transitioning from “Awareness” to “Respect” for Human Rights

To aim for the next level—transitioning from “teaching and learning” human rights efforts toward having each individual voluntarily “respect” human rights—we have changed the phrase “human rights awareness” that we have been using in our tasks and other scenes to “respect for human rights.”

Training

Results of Other Human Rights Education (FY2021)

Name of training Content Total number of participants
2021 New employee training 521
e-learning 25,928
Workplace training 26,478

Creative Approaches for Enhancing Sensitivity to Respect for Human Rights

Launching in the intranet a portal site on respect for human rights (July 2022)

Establishing an emblem of respect for human rights and using pictograms

<Emblem of respect for human rights>

Emblem of respect for human rights

Human rights are inherent rights for people to live happily and humanly with dignity.
The TEPCO Group respects human rights, and this mindset underlies our operation.
This emblem likens our consideration for others to an image of a heart, and represents our respect for the human rights of all stakeholders.

<Pictograms representing respect for human rights>

These pictograms are created by the TEPCO Human Rights Committee with the hope that human rights will be respected in all aspects of our business.

Pictograms representing respect for human rights

In addition to the above efforts, the TEPCO Group is making appropriate Policy-based responses for discrimination issues, for which we have hitherto been taking action as well.

How to Respond When We Find Discriminatory Graffiti

Sometimes people write discriminatory graffiti on the TEPCO Group’s electric power equipment, office buildings, and other locations. To avoid taking part in human rights violations, we have developed and internally informed the TEPCO Group of a briefing material and reporting sheet about specific responses to be taken when such graffiti is found, and we thereby strive to take proper and quick action upon discovering such graffiti.

Fair Recruitment

Based on the Policy, the TEPCO Group will fairly screen applicants by respecting their fundamental human rights to ensure equal employment opportunities.

Human Rights Reporting Desk

Access our Human Rights Reporting Desk, which is open to our stakeholders, from the link below.

Human Rights Reporting Desk

The TEPCO Holdings, Inc. has a Human Rights Reporting Desk open not only to employees but also to all stakeholders, such as our customers, local community members, clients, and people who work in the supply chain.

When we receive a report, the responsible division will investigate, consider a remedial measure, and request related departments to remedy the situation. We will also work to protect the privacy of the whistleblower, prohibit retaliatory acts, and prevent him/her from being treated disadvantageously.

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