Seven & i Holdings collaborates with NPOs and other organizations to undertake measures that help prevent global warming and preserve biodiversity.

Seven & i Holdings participates in Seven Forest creation activities run by Seven-Eleven Foundation at 16 locations across Japan to help prevent global warming and contribute to the maintenance and conservation of biodiversity. Seven Forest creation activities are carried out by employee volunteers from 7-Eleven franchised stores and locals under collaboration agreements with governments nationwide, NPOs, and others throughout Japan.

In addition, encouraging greater use of wood materials collected by forest thinning initiatives can lead to solving issues with Japan’s forests. Based on this, wood material collected from Seven Forest is used within the Group for store materials and office supplies, as well as in commercialization to promote use of national resources.

Seven-Eleven Foundation was established in 1993 for 7-Eleven stores and Seven-Eleven Japan to work together as one on environmentally-themed social contribution activities. Using money collected from in-store donation boxes and donations by Seven-Eleven Japan, the foundation engages in projects related to environmental citizenship activity support, nature conservation, public engagement, and disaster reconstruction assistance. In the fiscal year 2021, in-store donations totaled \436,809,753 and \138,350,724 were used to make grants to 272 environmental citizenship projects (including ongoing projects), which supports environmental activities led by local citizens.

Seven-Eleven Foundation, in cooperation with various organizations, and based on the theme of restoring a rich natural environment, has continued its Seven Forest Creation activities to protect the natural cycle of forests, riparian forests, and ocean, as well as to increase CO₂ absorption and oxygen production. For our Mountain Forest Creation initiative, we carry out nurturing activities from tree planting to weeding and thinning, which leads to the conservation and restoration of abundant forests. Furthermore, as for Seven Forest Creation in the Sea project, the foundation is working to increase the amount of eelgrass, which purifies seawater quality and helps preserve biodiversity by absorbing CO₂ in the sea and accumulating carbon. Seven-Eleven Foundation has concluded agreements with governments/municipals and NPO corporations, and is working with 7-Eleven franchised stores and citizens towards the goal of creating our natural environment where rich biodiversity can co-exist with the local people.

In March 2021, Seven-Eleven Foundation concluded the "Cooperation Agreement on Environmental Conservation and Collaborative Efforts" with the Ministry of the Environment, and the Environmental Partnership Council (EPC), which is an organization entrusted with the Global Environmental Outreach Centre (GEOC).

The foundation also operates the Kuju Furusato Nature School and Takao Forest Nature School under the foundation’s basic philosophy of "learning from nature on the coexistence and co-prosperity of people and nature, the natural environment and local communities.” Both schools collaborate with government agencies, companies, and educational institutions through activities to protect and preserve the natural environment. The schools also contribute to human resource development by providing learning experiences such as the importance of biodiversity, local nature, history, the culture of the region, and pass them on to future generations. Not only educational activities but the schools also engage with research activities. The Kuju Furusato Nature School has been registered as a monitoring site to the "Monitoring Site 1000" project operated by the Biodiversity Center of the Ministry of the Environment and has been monitoring flora and fauna since 2007. The Takao Forest Nature School has also been registered since 2018. Kuju Furusato Nature School's "Decade of Rice Paddy Biodiversity Enhancement Project" is registered as an authorized collaborative project of the United Nations Decade of Biodiversity Japan Committee (UNDB-J).

Seven-Eleven Japan supports the Umi-to-Nippon Project (Ocean and Japan Project)—run by the Ministry of the Environment and the Nippon Foundation—and carries out the UMIGOMI Zero WEEK (Sea Waste Zero Week), among other regional cleanup projects. The company has also participated in events such as a cleanup project in the Shonan Enoshima area in May 2019, followed by another in May 2022 in Shibuya Center Street, as well as implementing other local cleanup projects. Franchise store owners, employees, and Head Office employees participated, along with employees of the Group companies and others. We remain committed to creating a beautiful community and conserving the environment through environmental beautification projects all over the country.

Sogo & Seibu is promoting the use of “green wrapping,” for customers when they order gifts, which sends the message of “keeping the earth’s environment in mind,” This involves the purchase of a wrapping ribbon with a leaf-shaped tagmascot for an additional price of \100 (including tax), of which \50 is donated to tree planting and growing activities. One tree is planted for every 80 ribbons sold. In addition, customers purchasing ochuugen and oseibo (summer and winter) gifts who agree to simple packaging also contribute to tree planting, with one tree planted for every 4,000 gifts that use the simple packaging option. (Between 2009 and the end of February 2022, a total of 18,233 trees were planted under this initiative.)

Ito-Yokado sells a rice series that is cultivated with measures designed to protect the environment and biodiversity in place. It not only uses fewer agrichemicals and chemical fertilizers, but also encourages agroecology, in which rice fields also serve as wildlife habitats. A portion of sales are donated for the purpose of making environmental improvements. In the fiscal year ended February 28, 2022, sales of Koshihikari Rice Nurturing White Storks provided approximately \40,000 for nurturing oriental white storks, while sales of Sado, Niigata Prefecture- Produced Koshihikari Rice Certified by the Creating Villages Coexisting with Crested Ibis Program provided approximately \70,000 to the Fund for the Improved Habitat for the Japanese Crested Ibis.

Ito-Yokado has been participating in the Green Down Project, the objective of which is appropriate disposal and recycling of down products. As of March 2020, Ito-Yokado stores have perfected their systems for collecting down jackets, now enabling drop-off of down futons and down jackets at all times. Also, as of November 2020, approximately 70 store locations had begun selling products made of down collected and recycled through this project.

From March 2020 to December 2021, a total of 3,268 down items were collected from customers through this project. The revenues garnered from selling these items, approximately \760,000 (excluding tax), were donated to the Kiritappu Wetland National Trust, an organization that works for the conservation of key habitats for water fowl.

The three companies of Ito-Yokado, York-Benimaru, and York, are working on reducing plastic bag use, intending to resolve such global environmental issues as ocean plastics pollution and CO2 emission reduction. To further curb the negative impact on environment, the companies have been selling only environmentally-friendly plastic bags to customers since July 1, 2020. Revenues^※1 of the three companies from these bags totaled approximately \63,920,000^※2. The revenues were gifted to approximately 20 organizations, including municipal governments, for broad use in environmental conservation initiatives.