Brother Included in "FTSE4Good Index Series" ESG Investment Index for the First Time

Brother Industries, Ltd. (President: Ichiro Sasaki) today announced that the company has been included for the first time in the globally renowned FTSE4Good Index Series ESG investment^*1 stock index. The FTSE4Good Index Series is a series of indexes established by London Stock Exchange Group company FTSE Russell. It consists of companies that have met standards for evaluating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.

At the same time, Brother has also been included in the FTSE Blossom Japan Index, another ESG index, which was adopted by Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), which manages the largest pool of funds in the world. As a result, Brother has also been included in three ESG indexes adopted by Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF): the FTSE Blossom Japan Index, MSCI Japan Empowering Women (WIN) Select Index, and S&P/JPX Carbon Efficient Index.

The Brother Group is committed to ESG activities as a way of remaining in a trusted position with its stakeholders. In the area of environmental activities, it formulated the Brother Group Environmental Vision 2050 in March 2018 and is working to reduce CO₂ emissions from the entire value chain. For social activities, the Group is identifying priority areas to improve, through which it is helping to achieve the Social Development Goals (SDGs)^*2 and create social value through its business. In addition, in fiscal 2019, it signed the United Nations Global Compact^*3 and announced that it will make further contributions to sustainable development of society. In terms of governance activities, it has been working to strengthen governance in line with the "Brother Group Basic Policies on Corporate Governance" that it established in 2015.

The Brother Group remains committed to building long-term trusting relationships with all stakeholders by developing its business and fulfilling its social responsibilities.

1. ESG investment is investment that prioritizes and selects companies based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.
2. The Sustainable Development Goals are a set of common goals for the international community, consisting of 17 goals and 169 targets, that were adopted by the world's leaders at a UN summit in September 2015.
3. The United Nations Global Compact is a voluntary initiative where, through responsible and creative leadership, participating businesses and organizations act as good members of society to build a global framework for the realization of sustainable growth.