East Japan Railway Co

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Direct Lobbying Transparency

Overall Assessment	Comment	Score
Comprehensive	East Japan Railway Co provides extensive, specific disclosure of its climate-related lobbying. It names several distinct measures it has engaged on, including the “Eco-rail line project” led by the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, proposed amendments to the “High Pressure Gas Safety Law” to permit hydrogen storage tanks on moving trains, and two separate tax-based incentives for low-carbon rolling stock—the fixed-property-tax reduction for energy-efficient trains and the “Preferential measure relating to the new passenger railway vehicles contributing to low carbonization.” The company is equally clear about how and with whom it lobbies. It describes “closely collaborating with the government officials,” participation in an MLIT study group on rail decarbonisation, “multiple discussions with [the] Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT),” and formal “request[s] to the government to extend the relevant taxation system,” explicitly identifying MLIT and the Ministry of the Environment as its targets. Finally, the company sets out the concrete outcomes it seeks: effective use of regenerative braking power, legal amendments to allow hydrogen-powered rolling stock and related financial support, and the extension of vehicle-related tax incentives and property-tax reductions to accelerate the purchase of low-carbon trains. By explaining why each change is needed—such as offsetting the higher cost of hydrogen or making new trains affordable—East Japan Railway demonstrates a high level of transparency across the policies it lobbies, the mechanisms it uses, and the results it aims to achieve.	4

Lobbying Governance

Overall Assessment	Comment	Score
Moderate	East Japan Railway Co has implemented a structured process to ensure its policy engagement aligns with its climate strategy: the Corporate Planning Department circulates internal environmental measures through “the Sustainability Strategy Committee, which is the supreme decision-making body engaging in environmental issues,” then “each organization then confirms whether their engagement activities are in line with our climate change strategy or not, and reports the results to the Corporate Planning Department,” guaranteeing that “our policy engagement do not conflict with our climate change strategy across multiple business units and regions.” It also affirms a “public commitment or position statement to conduct your engagement activities in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement,” answering “Yes” to that question. Direct engagement is overseen by the Sustainability Strategy Committee, which meets twice yearly to “discuss actions that we must take to realize a decarbonized society,” and then “engage with multiple ministries to gain support to achieve our climate commitment and execute the transition plan.” While these disclosures demonstrate clear processes and accountability for direct policy engagement, we found no evidence of any mechanism for aligning indirect lobbying through trade or industry associations, nor of any external audit or dedicated public report on lobbying activities.	2