Collaborating with Society Through Services

Through services utilized by many of its users, the LY Corporation Group (the “Group”) tackles issues surrounding climate change, natural capital, and resource recycling. In its efforts against climate change, the Group works on initiatives for transforming into a societal structure that emits fewer greenhouse gases (mitigation), and for natural disasters that have become more frequent and severe (adaption). As damage from disasters grow ever larger in recent times, the Group has been cooperating with local governments and relevant organizations not only on disaster prevention and mitigation, but also reconstruction efforts. The LY Corporation Group also carries out initiatives on enriching its recycling-oriented services and conserving natural capital, aiming to make a sustainable society into a reality.

Services for a Decarbonized Society

Aiming to further enrich users’ everyday life and society as a whole, the LY Corporation Group has been forging ahead with service design that presents eco-friendly options as more economical and convenient. The Group will continue with its efforts to achieve a decarbonized society through an even larger number of its services.

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Yahoo! JAPAN Shopping

Purchasing Eco-Friendly Products, Specifying Delivery Dates, and More to Make Everyday Shopping Environmentally Friendly

Under the concept of “Shop Green to Sustain Earth’s Future – Getting Started with Yahoo! JAPAN Shopping’s Eco-Friendly Activities,” Yahoo! JAPAN Shopping provides the ECO Challenge minigame to inform users of how much their everyday shopping activities contribute to lessening environmental impact. ECO Challenge gives environmentally-friendly companies the opportunity for customers to patronize their store, while users can deepen their environmental knowledge and get a first-hand view of how their usual shopping practices contribute to eco-friendly efforts.
The minigame also serves as a new touchpoint for users and stores: providing companies yet to list on Yahoo! JAPAN Shopping and first-time users of the service with information on simple and accessible eco-friendly activities when shopping online.
UI and UX improvements were also made to Yahoo! JAPAN Shopping to promote deliveries on specified dates, including the addition of the “pick a delivery date” feature to the same screen as the shopping cart to make the process easier.
Along with expanding use of the “pick a delivery date” system, LY Corporation (the “Company”) will promote, enhance, and add unattended delivery and in-store pickups to the minigame’s missions. Through these initiatives, the Company will continue endeavoring to reduce re-deliveries and do its part for the environment.

An Abundance of Environmentally Friendly Products. Understanding CO2 Reductions at a Glance and Offering Consumers a New Criterion for Choosing Products with “Decarbo Score”

The Earth Hacks platform (stylized as “Earth hacks” ) has a store up on Yahoo! JAPAN Shopping offering eco-friendly products. The co-creation platform helps to decarbonize society through the actions of individuals (or “sei-katsu-sha” ). Its website^*1 introduces and sells environmentally friendly products along with a Decarbo Score^*2 (a label indicating the percentage of reduced CO₂ emissions) that compares their CO₂e^*3 emissions with conventional products, allowing sei-katsu-sha to enjoy participating in decarbonization efforts.

*1 Earth hacks (External website | Japanese only)
*2 Takes its name from “decarbonization”
*3 Expresses the equivalent amount of CO₂

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Choosing Environmentally Friendly Routes with Yahoo! JAPAN Maps, Yahoo! JAPAN Car Navigation, and Yahoo! JAPAN Transit Navigation

Yahoo! JAPAN Maps, Yahoo! JAPAN Car Navigation (a driving route planning app), and Yahoo! JAPAN Transit Navigation (an app for searching public transport connections) began offering a feature that lets users check the CO₂ emissions for a particular route and choose more eco-friendly journeys. The feature is available for all three services on both iOS and Android.
With Yahoo! JAPAN Maps and Yahoo! JAPAN Car Navigation, users can search driving routes and check the different tabs—"Recommended,” “Use Highways,” and “No Highways”^*1—to see how much CO₂ emissions each route would cause based on its distance, slope, and other information. This can help users be habitually conscious of CO₂ emissions and give them cleaner routes to choose from when not in a hurry, or able to take the more environmentally conscious option.
Both Yahoo! JAPAN Maps and Yahoo! JAPAN Transit Navigation also display an “Eco Mark” on routes that emit the least amount of CO₂, instantly communicating to users the greenest way to travel and making them routinely pay attention to emissions.

*1 Tab names in the Yahoo! JAPAN Maps app. Yahoo! JAPAN Car Navigation uses different names such as “Highways” and “Normal Roads.”

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Collaboration with Local Governments and Supporting Organizations against Natural Disasters Associated with Climate Change

As climate change-induced natural disasters become increasingly severe and frequent, the LY Corporation Group has been cooperating with local governments and supporting organizations to quickly respond and minimize damage when a disaster occurs.

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Disaster Alliance

LY Corporation concludes alliances with local governments with the aim of providing residents with timely disaster information in the event of a disaster. The Company provides a cached site for the websites operated by the municipalities that have signed the alliances. By placing the cached sites on the Company's server, local governments can avoid having too much access to their server and therefore are able to continuously deliver disaster-related information. The Company also provides a function that enables local governments to send out critical emergency information, such as early warnings and shelter information, directly to people through the Yahoo! JAPAN and Yahoo! JAPAN Disaster Alert apps. Also, by showing evacuation areas on Yahoo! JAPAN's maps, LY Corporation contributes to raising awareness towards disaster prevention even during normal times.
In 2023, the Company also concluded agreements with all 47 prefectures of Japan on disseminating disaster-related information, etc. (disaster alliances).

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Delivery of Disaster Information through Yahoo! JAPAN Top Page and Yahoo! JAPAN Apps

To reduce the number of victims in the face of increasingly intense disasters, Yahoo! JAPAN Top Page and apps such as Yahoo! JAPAN for smartphones, Yahoo! JAPAN Disaster Alert, and Yahoo! JAPAN Weather, display information on earthquakes, tsunamis, and heavy rains. Especially, through collaborations with the Japanese government and local governments, the Yahoo! JAPAN Disaster Alert app promptly sends push notifications on all kinds of disasters, including earthquake early warnings, tsunami information, heavy rain hazard levels, heavy rain forecast, and information on landslides, river floods, heatstroke, volcanoes, and civil protection. In addition, the app provides a disaster map function that enables users to share the status of disasters and lifelines in their current locations, to facilitate prompt evacuation actions.
By displaying warnings and alerts for rivers and the changes in water levels measured at observation stations every 10 minutes on a map, Yahoo! JAPAN Weather provides river level information that enables early decisions on voluntary evacuation. In addition, the rain cloud radar provides real-time information on the movement of rain clouds, which prepares users for torrential rains. The rain cloud radar also has additional visual features that show areas with linear rainbands and their movement, aiming to ensure users are on guard against heavy rain and spur them to quickly take action to protect themselves.

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Yahoo! JAPAN Internet Fund Raising

Yahoo! JAPAN Internet Fund Raising is an online donation platform that was launched following the 2004 Niigata Chuetsu earthquake. The platform is designed to facilitate continuous support for organizations engaged in activities that address various social issues, such as aid to affected areas of large-scale disasters in Japan and overseas, refugee assistance, child poverty, and conservation of oceans, forests, and rare species.

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SEMA (Social Emergency Management Alliance)

SEMA is an initiative of private companies and civil society organizations (CSOs) for providing support at times of disasters in Japan. SEMA puts together a list of the supplies and services of the member companies and organizations from normal times. When a major natural disaster occurs, it swiftly delivers available supplies to the affected areas based on this list. LY Corporation is one of the members and works as the secretariat for the initiative.
ASKUL Corporation ("ASKUL”) and ZOZO, Inc. ("ZOZO”) in the LY Corporation Group, as well as SoftBank Corp., are also members of SEMA.

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ASKUL

Disaster Alliances with Local Governments

After the fire at its logistics center in 2017, ASKUL Corporation carried out a thorough reinforcement of the disaster prevention framework for its logistics centers, and reviewed the way it operates logistics centers in the community. With the renewed determination to "realize safe and secure operations of logistics centers living up to the trust of the local people and to contribute to the community," ASKUL has sequentially concluded disaster alliances with the governments of municipalities where its logistics centers are located. ASKUL's logistics centers carry substantial stocks of food and essential commodities and are also equipped with a system capable of distributing large amounts of products with speed and efficiency. At a time of disaster, ASKUL will respond to requests from governments and serve as a lifeline for the people in the community by promptly releasing relief supplies, such as drinking water, toilet paper, and other daily necessities, as well as office supplies needed at shelters. ASKUL will make continuous efforts to ensure contribution to the community through its logistics centers, actively pursuing ways to live harmoniously with the community.

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Collaboration with Society through Provision of Disaster Prevention/Mitigation Services and More

The LY Corporation Group is enhancing its disaster prevention and mitigation services in continued efforts to minimize the damage from natural disasters.

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Yahoo! JAPAN News

With the aim of communicating disaster prevention knowledge in a simple manner and helping as many users as possible to acquire life-saving knowledge, Yahoo! JAPAN News works with the Japan Meteorological Agency to disseminate disaster prevention and other educational information using infographics* which are published on Yahoo! JAPAN News. Through such measures, Yahoo Japan endeavors to deliver the needed information in a timely manner.

*Simple diagrams and illustrations used to show data and information.

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Yahoo! JAPAN Weather & Disaster

Yahoo! JAPAN Disaster Alert (iOS & Android version) and Yahoo! JAPAN Weather & Disaster (browser version) have launched the "Disaster Prevention Timeline " nationwide, to prepare for earthquakes and tsunamis. Users can input some simple information in advance to check suitable disaster prevention actions. To leave nobody behind from evacuation in the event of a disaster, the "Disaster Prevention Timeline" provides users with push notifications on when to start acting to prepare for disasters.

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Leveraging the LINE Communication App During Disasters

Recognizing that there needed to be some way for people to contact their loved ones, the LINE communication app came into existence in June 2011 after many found themselves unable to reach their family and friends by telephone and email during the Great East Japan Earthquake. Along with a variety of features for users to use during a disaster and other emergencies, local governments and other bodies also use the app as a disaster response tool.

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Yell Market

Yell Market was launched as a "Recovery Department Store" in December 2011, in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake. It currently serves as a shopping medium that "delivers support,” conveying the feelings of shoppers wanting to protect their loved ones from a disaster or wanting to help reconstruction efforts in disaster-affected areas.

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Initiatives on Enhancing Recycling-Oriented Services and Conserving Natural Capital

The LY Corporation Group aims to create a sustainable society by building a recycling-oriented society that saves resources and reduces waste, working on projects that leverage its services’ unique characteristics to solve issues.

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Providing Recycling-Oriented Services Through the Reuse Businesses of Yahoo! JAPAN Auction and Yahoo! JAPAN Flea Market

As part of its efforts to provide low-carbon products and services, LY Corporation offers Yahoo! JAPAN Auction and Yahoo! JAPAN Flea Market in its e-commerce reuse business to help realize a recycling-oriented society. Reuse of goods leads to reductions in the amount of new resources consumed, elimination of CO₂ emissions associated with manufacturing, and also reductions in waste. Each of these platforms focuses also on charity projects and social contributions.
In 2023, the Company also became a member of the general incorporated association Japan Reuse Affairs Association. With this, LY Corporation will strengthen initiatives to build a recycling-oriented society that further reduces its impact on the environment.

Yahoo! JAPAN Auction

Launched in September 1999, Yahoo! JAPAN Auction, is one of Japan's largest online auction and flea market apps, which enabled the online C2C trading of goods. It strives to take part in the establishment of a recycling society through the promotion of "reuse" by facilitating the sale of goods no longer in use to someone who needs the item.

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Yahoo! JAPAN Flea Market

Launched in October 2019, Yahoo! JAPAN Flea Market is an app that specializes in flea market-type transactions. In this app, individuals can easily trade goods at fixed price.
In collaboration with Yahoo! JAPAN Auction which offers auction deals, the Company endeavors to further develop its business in sustainable secondary distribution.

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ASKUL

ASKUL offers lineups of private label eco-friendly products so that buyers can make their own purchase decisions. ASKUL also strives to evolve its supply chain into a resource recycling platform, reduce waste, and make effective use of limited resources.

ASKUL Product Environmental Standards

Along with establishing Materialities (Key Issues) and a Basic Sustainability Policy as action guidelines for building a sustainable society, ASKUL makes its private label goods environmentally friendly as part of efforts to create new value through its products and services. In October 2022, it created the ASKUL Product Environmental Standards to provide customers with a visual reference on how eco-friendly its private label products were, helping them to make informed choices when shopping.
Based on the Environmental Standards, each private label product is given an environmental score reflecting how green it is. Customers can use these scores to consider products from an environmental standpoint and opt for eco-friendly choices or compare them with similar products.

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Certification of Eco-First Program

On August 7, 2018, ASKUL was certified as a member of the "Eco-First Program" launched by Japan's Ministry of the Environment. ASKUL will promote environmental initiatives to fulfill the four commitments that it submitted to the Minister of the Environment.

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"Come Bag" - Recycling of ASKUL Catalogs into Paper Bags

Since its establishment, ASKUL has produced and delivered new catalogs every year. The expired old catalogs were collected and sold to paper recyclers so that they can be recycled as resources instead of being thrown away as waste. However, ASKUL decided to take its responsibility one step further, and began exploring ways in which the catalogs can be returned to raw materials and to make them into products again. "Come Bag" is a product that was born from ASKUL's challenge of keeping the recycling process within Japan and producing a product that will be chosen by the customers again.
Though the Come Bag was first made from the scraps of original ASKUL paper bags, the third version of the bag that came out in February 2023 added different materials to the lineup and broadened the initiative’s range.

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"1 Box for 2 Trees" - A Project That Connects ASKUL's Copy Paper with Tree Plantation and a Sustainable Society

"Plant, Grow, Harvest"

ASKUL's 5,000 sheets of size A4 copy paper made in Indonesia requires one redwood or eucalyptus tree as a raw material. Therefore, when customers purchase a box of ASKUL original copy paper produced in Indonesia, a part of their purchase price will lead to two industrial tree plantations, which is more than the raw material consumed. ASKUL has worked on this project since August 2010 to ensure that the planted trees can be sustainable raw materials.

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"Certified labels" - Sustainable Use of Forests/Framework for Responsible Forest Management

ASKUL handles a variety of products made from forest resources, including copy paper, envelopes, notebooks, and furniture. FSC Certification* is a mechanism to prevent the degradation of forests used as raw materials and the reduction of forest areas, and to promote the sustainable use of forests. To distribute labeled timber and timber products, distributors must be certified for having a system in place of handling timber and timber products from certified forests separately from other products, for each stage of the distribution process until the products reach consumers (Chain of Custody Certification: COC Certification). Customers can support the sustainable use of forests by purchasing wood-related products with this label.

*FSC Certification is a framework in which an independent third-party organization certifies forests or management organizations that conduct appropriate forest management based on certain standards from three aspects: environment, economy, and society. Timbers and timber products produced from these forests are then labeled and distributed.

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Various Recycling Services

ASKUL collects catalogs, cardboard, used toner cartridges, and used label writer tape cartridges free of charge and put them to good use as recycled resources.

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ZOZO

Use of Original Purchasing Kit "Reusable Bag" for Trade-in Discount Service, "Replacement Discount"

Since the launch of the trade-in discount service in November 2016, ZOZO, Inc. has used the reusable bag, an original purchasing kit that makes it easy for users to pack and ship the clothes that they do not wear anymore. The reusable bags are made from non-woven textile requiring no packaging materials such as cardboard and tape and come with a zipper. Since the bags can be reused after cleaning, about 94% of all the reusable bags are recycled. By using the limited resource more efficiently, ZOZO reduces resource consumption while enhancing convenience for users.

ZOZOUSED's Sustainable Framework

ZOZOTOWN is working to create a sustainable society through activities such as recirculating clothes through redistribution and making packaging materials lighter.
ZOZOTOWN introduces a "replacement discount" service that allows customers to trade in previously purchased products from ZOZOTOWN and purchase new items with discounted prices. In recent years, mass disposal in the fashion industry has become a major issue. In this service, the traded-in items are sold in ZOZOUSED, a used clothing zone in ZOZOTOWN, completing a recycling framework for clothing.

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