What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2016 Sustainability Report Nissan identified a range of material issues, such as fuel consumption/product CO2, economic sustainability, renewable energy, product, sales and service quality. Among these, promoting traffic safety worldwide stands out as a key material issue for Nissan.

Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:

“The organization should identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations.”

Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.

Key stakeholder groups Nissan engages with:   

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Customers	·         Customer service interaction ·         Contact through dealers ·         Websites ·         Showrooms ·         Motor shows ·         Events ·         Safety driving forum ·         Customer surveys ·         Media (TV, magazines, social media) ·         Owners’ meetings ·         Vehicle maintenance ·         Mailing service
Employees	·         Direct contact (including whistleblowing system) ·         Intranet ·         Internal events ·         Interviews ·         Surveys
Suppliers and Dealers	·         Suppliers conference ·         Dealer conventions ·         Business meetings ·         Direct contact ·         Briefings ·         Corporate guidelines ·         Websites ·         Dedicated portal site
Shareholders and Investors	·         Direct contact with IR team ·         Shareholders meetings ·         Financial results briefings ·         IR events ·         IR meetings ·         Website ·         Annual Report ·         Mailing service
Governments, Industrial Associations and Business Partners	·         Direct contact ·         Joint research ·         Studies ·         Automotive and non-automotive organizations (Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, WBCSD, etc.) ·         Roundtables ·         Working groups ·         Conferences ·         Events ·         Assistance via foundations
NGOs and NPOs	·         Direct contact ·         Philanthropic activities ·         Partnerships ·         Donations ·         Disaster relief activities ·         Events ·         Assistance via foundations
Local Communities	·         Direct contact to local business facilities ·         Local events ·         Plant visits ·         Conferences ·         Sponsoring ·         Traffic safety awareness campaigns ·         Assistance via foundations
Future Generations	·         Direct contact ·         Philanthropic programs ·         Plant visits ·         Endowed courses ·         EventsAssistance via foundations ·         Websites
Media	·         Contact with PR team ·         Press conferences ·         PR events ·         Press releases ·         Interviews ·         Mailing service ·         Websites

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritize material issues, Nissan carried out interviews with both internal and external stakeholders.

What actions were taken by Nissan to promote traffic safety worldwide?

In its 2016 Sustainability Report Nissan reports that it took the following actions for promoting traffic safety worldwide:

• Implementing educational programs in Japan
• Road safety activities undertaken by Nissan in Japan, include:
  • the Omoiyari Light Promotion, as part of the Hello Safety Campaign
  • Creative Ideas for Twilight-Time Safety Salons
  • the departure ceremony for early-headlight vehicles

• Promoting safety education in the United States
• Nissan’s traffic safety initiatives in the United States include:
  • the Snug Kids program, a child safety seat fit initiative
  • ThinkFast, an interactive awareness program educating students on the importance of safe driving practices
  • a Child Passenger Safety Technician course

• Helping reduce traffic accidents in China
• Nissan (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (NCIC) co-hosted, in August 2015, the ninth China Road Safety Forum. Moreover, Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company (DFL-PV) organized the “Safe Driving Experience Camp 360°” event, to help customers develop safe driving habits.

• Promoting safer mobility in emerging markets
• The “Nissan Safety Driving Forum”, carried out by Nissan in emerging markets, is intended to promote safer mobility and increase road safety awareness. As a result, participants are educated on the importance of road safety through, among others, driving tests on simulators.

• Partnering with the FIA for traffic safety
• Nissan partnered with the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), to promote road safety worldwide through the “FIA Action for Road Safety” campaign, and awareness campaigns aimed to help reduce injuries and deaths from traffic accidents.

Which GRI indicators/Standards have been addressed?

The GRI indicator addressed in this case is: G4-PR1: Percentage of significant product and service categories for which health and safety impacts are assessed for improvement and the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 416-1 Assessment of the health and safety impacts of product and service categories

 

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

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References:

1) This case study is based on published information by Nissan, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:

http://database.globalreporting.org/

2) http://www.fbrh.co.uk/en/global-reporting-initiative-gri-g4-guidelines-download-page

3) https://g4.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx

4) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/

 

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