News - 2023

• Bridgestone was once again receiving high scores for all environmental, social and governance categories in prominent ESG index, FTSE4Good Index Series.
• A particularly large increase was seen in social scores where Bridgestone continues to advance its initiatives.
• These efforts align with a corporate commitment "Bridgestone E8 Commitment" which accelerates transformation to a sustainable solutions company.

Tokyo (March 27, 2023) ― Bridgestone Corporation today announced that it has been selected for inclusion in the FTSE4Good Index Series, a globally recognized environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment index, for the fifth consecutive year. In addition, the Company was selected for inclusion in the FTSE Blossom Japan Index, which is comprised purely of Japanese companies, also for the fifth consecutive year.

The FTSE4Good Index Series and FTSE Blossom Japan Index are stock indexes compiled by FTSE Russell.^*1 Constituents are chosen by quantitatively scoring companies' ESG initiatives, with only those companies meeting the defined standards being selected for inclusion.

Bridgestone was once again highly rated for its environmental initiatives while also receiving high scores for its social and governance initiatives. A particularly large increase was seen in social scores where Bridgestone continues to advance its initiatives, and that pushed up the overall score. Subcategories that received perfect scores as well as factors that led to the high ratings in each area were as follows.

Environment: "Pollution & Resources", "Supply Chain" and "Water Use"
Bridgestone was highly evaluated for its ongoing initiatives for enhancing material circularity^*2 to contribute to circular economies and for communicating with business partners toward the construction of sustainable supply chains.

Social: "Health & Safety", "Human Rights & Community" and "Supply Chain"
Positive recognition was received for Bridgestone's efforts to build human rights due diligence systems and to reinforce related processes at its own bases and across supply chain while working with independent institutions.

In 2022, with support from third-party institutions, Bridgestone conducted comprehensive human rights risk assessments at three high-priority bases selected based on factors such as geopolitical and industry factors (tire factory in India, diversified products factory in Japan, and natural rubber factory in Liberia) as part of Bridgestone's efforts to develop human rights due diligence platforms. In addition, more streamlined risk assessments, focusing only on priority items, were conducted at all Group bases. Furthermore, Bridgestone took steps to reinforce the corporate governance foundations that are critical to a responsible company and to ensure respect for human rights and responsible labor practices. Examples of these steps included conducting on-site assessments looking at factors such as human rights and environmental risks for enhancing sustainability and launching grievance mechanisms across Bridgestone's natural rubber supply chain.

Governance: "Corporate Governance" and "Risk Management"
Bridgestone earned a strong evaluation for its ongoing development of corporate governance systems and its implementation of risk management systems.

For more information on Bridgestone's ESG initiatives, please refer to Bridgestone 3.0 Journey (2022 Integrated Report) and to the sustainability section of Bridgestone corporate website.^*3

The Bridgestone Group has placed sustainability at the core of its management and business and, with a corporate commitment "Bridgestone E8 Commitment"^*4 as its axis, is accelerating transformation to realize its vision: "Toward 2050, Bridgestone continues to provide social value and customer value as a sustainable solutions company." With "Bridgestone E8 Commitment" which serves as guiding vectors to accelerate its transformation, Bridgestone will commit to the realization of a sustainable society by co-creating value together with employees, society, partners and customers while achieving both sustainability and business growth.

1. FTSE Russel is a major U.K.-based global index provider that is part of the London Stock Exchange Group.
2. Material circularity is a concept that shows the circularity of raw materials. The Bridgestone Group uses the ratio of recycled materials and renewable materials to total raw materials as an indicator of material circularity.
3. For more information, please refer to Bridgestone 3.0 Journey Report (2022 Integrated Report) as well as the sustainability section of Bridgestone's corporate website.
   https://www.bridgestone.com/ir/library/integrated_report/index.html
   https://www.bridgestone.com/responsibilities/index.html
4. The Bridgestone Group established its corporate commitment, the "Bridgestone E8 Commitment," to help it realize its vision: "Toward 2050, Bridgestone continues to provide social value and customer value as a sustainable solutions company." This commitment will serve as the Group's axis to drive management while earning the trust of future generations. The "Bridgestone E8 Commitment" consists of eight uniquely Bridgestone values starting with the letter "E" (Energy, Ecology, Efficiency, Extension, Economy, Emotion, Ease, and Empowerment) that the Group will commit to creating through distinctly Bridgestone purposes and processes, together with employees, society, partners, and customers to help realize a sustainable society.
   https://www.bridgestone.com/corporate/news/pdf/2022030101.pdf