ESG Spotlight June 2024
Global ESG Activities
Advantest America Employees Volunteer to Rebuild Local Historical Houses
On April 20, volunteers from Advantest’s San Jose office participated in an event organized by Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley. The event aimed to preserve the historic Pallesen Apartments, located at Fourth and Reed, from demolition and convert them into affordable housing for four families in San Jose. The volunteers felt inspired and fulfilled by the opportunity to give back to the community, contributing affordable housing to families in need and preserving local history. With skilled construction staff providing valuable support throughout the event, Advantest volunteers exhibited exceptional teamwork and completed the construction project ahead of schedule.
Advantest China Participates in Conservation Efforts for the Dalonggu Forest
In March, volunteers from Advantest China once again volunteered with the Dalonggu Forest Conservation Camp in Anji, Zhejiang. They participated in several conservation-related activities including bamboo forest nurturing, forest road reconstruction, and forest transformation.
Volunteered worked alongside local forest rangers to perform bamboo cutting, pruning, and bamboo forest maintenance to increase the carbon sequestration and water retention capacity of bamboo forests. Volunteers also used locally sourced, eco-friendly materials to construct forest roads and trails. These trails are essential to allow rangers to monitor the forest for fire hazards and biodiversity. In terms of forest transformation efforts, volunteers planted 13 trees, including plum, persimmon, and pear trees to increase biodiversity in the Dalonggu Forest.
Advantest Singapore Collaborates with Singapore Polytechnic for Community Outreach
In March, Advantest Singapore celebrated the company’s 70th anniversary by teaming up with volunteers from Singapore Polytechnic to participate in a community outreach event with local nonprofit, GoServe. Singapore Polytechnic is a post-secondary education institution partnered with Advantest Singapore.
At this event, 35 volunteers from Advantest and Singapore Polytechnic worked with GoServe staff to package bags full of essential living items such as rice, cooking oil, noodles, and coffee for underprivileged familied in the Boon Lay Constituency, a suburb on the west side of Singapore. Volunteers packaged over 1.7 tons of food essentials into 280 individual bags for local families. The GoServe community outreach campaign highlighted Advantest and Singapore Polytechnic’s shared commitment to social responsibility and sustainability, serving as a great way to commemorate Advantest’s 70th anniversary.
Biotope Update
This quarter’s biotope update chronicles the unique plants and trees that grow in the winter. Deciduous trees that leaves turn beautiful shades of red and yellow in autumn, completely lose their leaves in winter, revealing their trunks and branches.
Our biotope contains many different varieties of trees, including the Japanese maple tree, which displays beautiful, red foliage in the fall, completely loses its leaves in the winter. The bark of a young maple tree is green and smooth, while the bark of a mature tree turns light brown and has shallow vertical cracks.
The biotope is also home to the crape myrtle tree. The Japanese name for this tree is “saru-suberi” or “monkey slip,” which is derived from the fact that the trunk is so smooth and slippery, even a monkey may have difficulty climbing it. The bark is reddish brown and very smooth, and the trunk and branches grow in a sinuous pattern from side-to-side. Some crape myrtles can reach up to 10 meters in height.
Recent ESG Recognition
Advantest Receives "White 500" Certification from METI for Fourth Consecutive Year
Advantest announced that it has been recognized under the 2024 Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organizations Recognition Program, which is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Nippon Kenko Kaigi (Japan Health Council), as one of the organizations in the large enterprise category. At the same time, METI has certified Advantest as one of the "White 500”--the top 500 corporations recognized under the program--for the fourth consecutive year.
This year, as in the previous year, all seven of Advantest’s domestic subsidiaries were certified. Since formulating its Declaration of Health and Productivity Management Policy in September 2019, Advantest has been working together with domestic subsidiaries, health insurance unions, and labor unions to encourage employees to get health checkups, improve the adoption rate of specific health guidance, and implement mental health measures. In addition, the company has built up a portfolio of activities that directly affect the health of employees and their families, such as online diet and smoking cessation programs, exercise promotion using health promotion apps, and health literacy education.
Advantest will continue to strive to create a workplace where each employee can work in good physical and mental health, and will contribute as a corporate citizen to the development of humanity’s sustainable future.
