Community Engagement

SUBARU has established the Social Contribution Committee to advance community engagement activities with the aim of making these activities an integral part of the SUBARU Group’s corporate culture and becoming a company that is trusted by stakeholders. With participation of business site directors, the committee works to advance community engagement initiatives. Under the committee, the cross-organizational Planning Subcommittee has been created to discuss issues related to company-wide activities, ranging from planning and preparation to implementation, evaluation, and review. The committee meets every six months to compile reported activity results and issues for the SUBARU Group, and discuss improvement plans to invigorate efforts.

Since FYE March 2023, we have been dispatching instructors to neighboring elementary, middle, and high schools. At lessons, students listened attentively as lecturers presented on SUBARU’s businesses, how it works to be a company “delivering happiness to all,” and how they came to be in their current jobs.

Since FYE March 2022, we have been supporting the Instructor Dispatch Project sponsored by the Tochigi Association of Corporate Executives. In FYE March 2023, the Chief General Manager of the Utsunomiya Plant was dispatched as an instructor to a local school, Utsunomiya City Younan Junior High School. He introduced the plant’s business activities to students, and also discussed important points for the work they do there. In addition, nine employees were dispatched as interview committee members for the selection examination for newly hired public school teachers in Tochigi Prefecture.

As part of its community engagement initiatives, SUBARU carries out cleanup activities on a regular basis in districts where its offices and plants are located. In FYE March 2023, while events were canceled or scaled back after due consideration to the spread of COVID-19, the Utsunomiya Plant conducted volunteer cleaning activities inside the Kanseki Stadium Tochigi, the main venue for the National Sports Festival. As a responsible community member, we will continue with these beautification activities to help conserve local environments.

In March 2021, the Utsunomiya Plant registered for Tochigi Prefecture’s Tochigi SDGs Promotion Company Registration System. In this system, the prefectural government maintains a registry of declarations made by companies doing business in the prefecture on the topics of the environment, society, and economy. This system is designed to promote independent company actions toward the achievement of the SDGs. Going forward, we will be proactive in our actions here, linking growth at our business sites with growth of the region.

The Yajima Plant within the Gunma Plant played host to the Happy Smiley Project, a projection mapping event lighting up the walls of the plant. About 50 employees volunteered to participate in the planning and operation of the event, which brought smiles and excitement to many visitors by projecting pictures drawn that same day by local children.

In cooperation with Subaru Techno Corporation, SUBARU holds Subaru Monozukuri Classes for elementary school students in Mitaka City, where SUBARU has an office. These classes teach students how SUBARU makes its vehicles, offering them the opportunity to model and run their own cars. Participants get hands-on experience, learning things like the differences between two-wheel drive (2WD) and four-wheel drive (AWD) vehicles, such as their design and handling. Each year, we receive more applications than slots available for this very popular event. In FYE March 2023, and with infection control measures in place, these classes were held for the first time after a three-year gap due to the spread of COVID-19. We will continue our activities to bring the joy and importance of manufacturing to as many children as possible.

The SUBARU Summer Festival was held at Yonan 2nd Park in Utsunomiya City for the first time in three years, attracting approximately 2,500 visitors, including local residents, employees’ families, and former employees. In FYE March 2023, a number of infection control measures were taken to help make the event one that visitors could enjoy with peace of mind, such as antigen testing of all visitors, banning alcohol consumption, and shortening event hours.

Of the disposable warming pouches stored as disaster supplies at the Tokyo Office, 2,640 that were about to expire were donated to Mitaka City Hall to be used by the Mitaka City Silver Human Resources Center and other organizations. For this effort, the Mayor of Mitaka City presented SUBARU with a letter of appreciation.

In support of Utsunomiya City’s activities to create places for local children and support children in need in the “Miyakko no Ibasho” Program, we donated tables and chairs from our cafeteria that were scheduled to be disposed of to support organizations. (Total donations: 14 tables and 43 chairs to 5 organizations)

For the 2022 Japan Cup Cycle Road Race, held in Utsunomiya City, SUBARU presented an event booth at one of its venues, Utsunomiya City Forest Park. As a local company, we exhibited panels about our business activities and CSR efforts, and presented a model of the new utility helicopter SUBARU BELL 412EPX, enlivening the event and providing an opportunity to show off our Aerospace Business activities.

SUBARU was awarded a letter of appreciation for its contribution to the stable expansion of the defense infrastructure by deepening mutual understanding of aircraft through exchanges of opinions with the Self-Defense Forces, as well as for contributing to Self-Defense Force missions by hosting training programs for its members.

For the comprehensive earthquake fire drill, which is held at all fire stations in the jurisdiction of the Tokyo Fire Department, we provided some facilities and locations in our Tokyo Office as a training site for the Mitaka and Musashino district fire stations. A letter of appreciation was awarded to SUBARU by the Tokyo Fire Department for our contributions to firefighting operations.

In October 2021, we concluded an agreement with Utsunomiya City regarding the use of facilities in the event of a disaster. Under this agreement, in the event of wind or flooding damage in Utsunomiya City, the parking facilities of the Utsunomiya Plant will be temporarily opened as an evacuation site for vehicles owned by the city’s citizens living in designated flooding zones. In June 2019, the plant was officially registered by the City of Utsunomiya as a Disaster Prevention Cooperation Office, one that will cooperate in local disaster prevention activities, including cooperation in providing human resources and goods support during disasters.

In a partnership between Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) and the NPO AdoptAClassroom.org, SUBARU retailers work to provide supplies to schools in need and students in difficult circumstances. In FYE March 2023, SOA provided support to seven public schools in its head office’s city of Camden, New Jersey through AdoptAClassroom.org for the purchase of writing materials and other school supplies. SOA also held an event to assist in classroom maintenance for the new school year, sending 115 employee volunteers to 11 public schools.
2022 Corporate Impact Report “Subaru Loves Learning”
Subaru Loves Learning – Subaru

Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. (SIA) sponsored National Engineers Day, held at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. SIA also dispatched employee volunteers to the event, which featured a hands-on class on solving problems through science and engineering.

Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. sponsored the Pinewood Derby races, a children’s event organized by the Boys Scouts of America Sagamore Council. In this event, children built and raced model cars from kits containing wooden blocks and plastic wheels.

Since FYE March 2018, SUBARU has been working on the SUBARU Forest Project, an initiative that is directly linked to biodiversity conservation and embodies the idea of coexistence with nature included in the SUBARU Environmental Policies.
SUBARU is working with Bifuka Town in Hokkaido, Gunma Prefecture, and Utsunomiya City in Tochigi Prefecture, where SUBARU has close ties with local communities. We promote forest protection activities, such as for supporting forest management, tree planting and use of thinned wood obtained from forest management work. In our efforts with Bifuka Town, we have purchased J-Credits every year since FYE March 2022. In addition, SUBARU has been utilizing the corporate version of a hometown tax donation program—the government’s tax incentive scheme to encourage companies to support regional revitalization—to donate six million yen to the Hokkaido government’s Matsuyama Marsh* Forest Project over two donations of three million yen and over three years starting from FYE March 2020. The donations are used, among others, for boardwalk improvements in Matsuyama Marsh. The Governor of Hokkaido Prefecture presented SUBARU with a letter of appreciation in recognition of its many years of support for efforts to preserve the environment and improve the attractiveness of the Matsuyama Marsh, and for its significant contribution to regional development in Hokkaido.

*

Matsuyama Marsh (Bifuka Town): Japan’s northernmost high-altitude wetland situated 797 meters above sea level. As the marsh is home to around 200 distinctive plant species, including ferns and mosses, the Ministry of the Environment has selected it as one of Japan’s 500 most important wetlands.
SUBARU, Bifuka Town, and the Hokkaido Government Kamikawa General Subprefectural Bureau signed an agreement to promote conservation of the forest environment in Bifuka Town in 2019.

At the Gunma Plant, we sponsor the Hachioji Hill Fun Trail in Ota running event. Event participants were asked to donate shoes that were still wearable but no longer worn, resulting in the collection of 71 pairs of shoes. The collected shoes were recycled and donated to an overseas NPO that supports children in need.

Since 2020, Subaru of America, Inc. has operated a partnership with Philadelphia Union, a team participating in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the U.S. The team’s stadium, named Subaru Park, has become the first zero-landfill-waste MLS stadium. In one of the related sustainability initiatives, more than 70 volunteers participated in the Subaru Park Garden for Good organic cultivation program at the stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania. In 2022, the program donated around 2,000 pounds of fruit and vegetables, equivalent to 8,000 servings, to local foodbanks. It also keeps 357,480 pounds of trash out of landfills, half of which is recycled thanks to the help of fans.

At the Utsunomiya Plant, SUBARU serves as the president of the southern Utsunomiya branch of the Tochigi Prefecture Association of Driving Safety Supervisors. We work with community associations located around the plant and the Utsunomiya Minami Police Department to promote local road traffic safety activities in order to raise awareness in the southern Utsunomiya district.
In March 2022, the Chief of the Utsunomiya Plant, Shoichiro Tozuka, received a letter of appreciation from the chief of the Utsunomiya Minami Police Department for his longtime efforts in safe driving management as the chairman of the Association of Driving Safety Supervisors in the Utsunomiya Minami district.

We supported an initiative sponsored by Fukushima Broadcasting Co., Ltd. to distribute desk pads to all new schoolchildren in Fukushima Prefecture to warn them about traffic accidents, and cooperated in local traffic safety activities.

SUBARU sponsored a Safe Driving Support Vehicle Experience event, held by the Kanagawa Prefectural Police and a non-life insurance company at a driving school, and loaned a vehicle to the event. Two hands-on sessions were held for elderly adults in the community, with a total of about 50 participants. SUBARU presented driver assistance using actual vehicles and delivered lectures.

The “How to Run Faster” Class was held by the Oizumi Town Sports Culture Promotion Foundation at the Subaru Sports Park in Oizumi Town, coached by five of SUBARU’s track and field team members and one of its coaches. Around 40 local elementary school children learned basic movements in running and studied practical training methods.
In addition, the Gunma Prefectural High School Baseball Skills Training Course was held by the Gunma Prefecture High School Baseball Federation at the Shikishima Baseball Stadium, with players from SUBARU’s baseball team serving as instructors. Instructors provided practical guidance on pitching, batting, and fielding to high school baseball club players in Gunma Prefecture, who showed sincere dedication to the course.

In order to produce hand towels for distribution at the National Sports Festival and the National Sports Festival for People with an Impairment, held in Tochigi Prefecture, we installed used clothing collection boxes at the Utsunomiya Plant and the SUBARU Research and Experiment Center, both of which are located in the prefecture. Approximately 54 kg of clothing was collected from employees over the course of a month and donated to Tochigi Prefecture.

The Takofes Christmas Concert was held by the Higashi Ebisu Store Association at the EBiS303 (Ebisu Subaru Building). This concert, celebrating its seventh year since launching in 2016, was held free of charge with the joint support of local residents and companies, including SUBARU as a local corporate sponsor. Like in previous years, the FYE March 2023 concert was held with rigorous measures taken to prevent COVID-19 infection. The 283 attendees enjoyed a powerful and splendorous performance from the professional orchestra.

Subaru Canada, Inc. held a drive-in movie viewing for SUBARU owners. In FYE March 2023, viewers in approximately 200 cars enjoyed a drive-in cinematic experience. The event has been well received by participants as an opportunity to deepen exchanges among SUBARU drivers.

In July 2022, SUBARU donated to the Ota City Fire Department a vehicle designed to suppress droplet circulation and transport infectious patients. This vehicle was developed by the Engineering Management Division of Gunma Plant. This transport vehicle’s driver’s seat and rear seats are separated by a special transparent film, and the driver’s seat area is constantly pressurized in order to prevent secondary infection from the patient riding in a rear seat. We also used a 3D printer to create parts that allow the air conditioner in the driver’s seat to blow air to the rear seats, making it possible to transport patients with peace of mind and comfort.

The partitions were made from lightweight and durable carbon materials and fiberglass left over from the manufacturing process. Continuing from FYE March 2022, a total of 48 sets were donated to the Tochigi prefectural government and medical institutions in Tochigi Prefecture. In July 2022, the Governor of Tochigi Prefecture awarded us a letter of appreciation for these activities.

Since FYE March 2015, the Intellectual Property Department has been holding charity bazaars utilizing commercialization rights at local community events and in-house bazaars. At these bazaars, SUBARU sells free samples received from manufacturers selling its minicars. Proceeds from sale are donated to organizations supporting children orphaned by traffic accidents.
In FYE March 2023, the Utsunomiya Plant carried out two bazaars, while the Tokyo Office carried out one, with both donating the proceeds. In addition, in May 2023 we held a charity bazaar at a traffic safety event sponsored by the Utsunomiya Minami Police Department and others, donating the proceeds.

At the request of a university in Tochigi Prefecture, we gave a lecture on occupational health as part of the university’s public health science occupational health practicum. In June 2022, we welcomed students from the Dokkyo Medical University School of Nursing, and in November 2022, students from the Jichi Medical University School of Nursing.

SUBARU donated an RPH-2, a large unmanned helicopter used for spraying agricultural chemicals and observing volcanoes, to Fukushima Prefecture for use in social education of local students. The RPH-2 was exhibited at the Fukushima Robot Test Field operated by the Fukushima Innovation Coast Promotion Organization.

Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. (SIA) has been running a blood drive twice a year since 1991. In FYE March 2023, SIA donated 799 units of blood, helping to save approximately 2,400 lives. In the span of over three decades, SIA has provided approximately 16,000 units of blood to more than 80 hospitals in Indiana.

Subaru of China, Ltd. (SOC)’s labor union facilitated a donation program, sending unused clothing to people living in places needing support, such as mountainous areas. A total of 484 items of clothing were collected from 277 SOC employees and donated.