GMO Payment Gateway: Driving Sustainability and Stakeholder Trust Through Strategic CDP Disclosures

GMO Payment Gateway, Inc. provides comprehensive payment and financial services for businesses, connecting merchant clients, including online stores, NHK, the National Tax Agency, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, with various payment companies to handle contracts, payment information, and financial transactions. The company has introduced payment systems, platforms, and deferred payment services to corporate clients and financial institutions promoting cashless and digital transformation (DX) solutions. The annual payment processing value of the organization exceeds 11 trillion yen as of September 2022 on a consolidated basis.

As cashless adoption expands, the company offers a one-stop connection for merchants to accept diverse payment methods. Research indicates that cashless transactions contribute positively to environmental goals; for instance, a 2017 study by the Dutch Central Bank found that cash payments emit more CO2 through transportation and ATM operations than card payments. Consequently, GMO Payment Gateway believes that promoting card payments and cashless commerce in Japan directly supports CO2 emissions reduction.

While the organization had already been advancing independent decarbonization initiatives, such as switching to renewable energy and offering paperless payment services, it lacked the internal resources necessary to focus heavily on sustainability-related disclosures. Responses to evaluation agencies like MSCI and FTSE remained insufficient, and the company had not yet responded to the 2021 CDP questionnaire, which impacted its accountability to shareholders. Recognizing the need for a proactive approach, management launched a dedicated ESG team in August 2021 under the leadership of Executive Vice President Muramatsu to initiate full-scale efforts.

However, navigating the complex CDP questionnaire proved difficult initially. While researching case studies of similar companies and gathering information on disclosure requirements, management decided to adopt ASUENE’s CDP response support service.

The reputation of ASUENE was already well known to GMO Payment Gateway. Although the company had attempted to calculate its own CO2 emissions independently, a lack of specialized knowledge regarding CDP responses created a significant bottleneck. Among the various services evaluated at the time, ASUENE stood out due to its comprehensive, one-stop capabilities in the decarbonization sector and its extensive accumulated expertise. The deep knowledge demonstrated by ASUENE’s sales and consulting staff served as a primary deciding factor for the partnership.

The initiative began with an analysis of climate change risks and an evaluation of how the company’s DX payment services could capture business opportunities emerging from the broader decarbonization trend. Visualizing CO2 emissions, particularly for Scope 3 calculations, presented a high degree of difficulty. The CDP questionnaire itself posed a substantial challenge, consisting of nearly 200 highly complex questions that required descriptive explanations backed by quantitative evidence.

To address this, the organization established structured response patterns and compiled the necessary quantitative data while building consensus across internal departments. The ASUENE consulting team provided critical guidance on optimal response strategies and shared relevant reference examples. The consultants also demonstrated exceptional responsiveness, providing prompt support even up to two days before the submission deadline. Throughout the two-month engagement, ASUENE delivered outstanding speed and expertise, with their practical case studies proving particularly valuable for understanding industry best practices.

While the official CDP evaluation results were pending at the time of the interview, management expressed strong confidence that collaborating with ASUENE enabled them to submit far superior answers than would have been possible on their own. The engagement also yielded significant long-term benefits, as the compiled data and insights can be leveraged to expand corporate disclosures in alignment with Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations, which are increasingly required under the Corporate Governance Code.

Through its comprehensive CDP response, GMO Payment Gateway successfully fulfilled its accountability to stakeholders regarding climate change mitigation. The process also served as an excellent opportunity to deepen internal understanding of sustainability management and elevate environmental awareness across the organization. To further accelerate these efforts, the company is actively working toward achieving carbon neutrality for its Scope 2 emissions by the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023. Moving forward, personnel within the Global Management Planning Department of the Corporate Value Creation Strategy Division plan to expand these sustainability initiatives from Japan into international markets.

GMO Payment Gateway remains committed to contributing to a decarbonized society by actively promoting cashless and DX solutions through its core business activities. While immediate efforts focus on visualizing and reducing its own operational emissions, the company is concurrently working to address and mitigate Scope 3 emissions.

Following the release of its CDP scores, management intends to scale up its sustainability management framework. This includes addressing non-climate change categories within the CDP assessment and pursuing Science Based Targets (SBT). As nations collectively move toward carbon neutrality goals, the company anticipates that the acceleration of carbon credit trading will generate new, high-potential business opportunities.

Given that many merchant clients using the platform are equally eager to implement decarbonization measures, GMO Payment Gateway aims to collaborate closely with them to support their respective transitions. Guided by the corporate philosophy to pursue both the material and spiritual enrichment of its employees by contributing to the progress and development of society, the company seeks to drive social innovation. Strong demand from customers for sustainable, paperless, and DX solutions reinforces this mission. By leveraging its payment and financial technologies, the organization will continue to foster a convenient, comfortable, and clean society through the expansion of online and cashless transactions.