Business customs can differ, particularly among emerging  countries. for this reason, i believe that it is crucial to con- duct business activities with an even higher awareness of  compliance in these countries. (dr. aikawa) Are there any points that should be considered with regard to  environmental activities? rEduCiNG ENvirONMENTal iMpaCT Mr. Goto: I believe that companies developing  business globally must be aware of water issues;  that is, they must pay close attention to using  water resources efficiently. There are many water- stressed* regions overseas. Most multinational  companies already understand this point and are  responding to water issues. Furthermore, stead- fast efforts to reduce energy usage are needed to  address climate change mitigation measures. astellas:  In our case, industrial-use water sourced from Japan  accounts for 97% of our water withdrawal in R&D and manu- facturing activities. Therefore, it is unlikely that water with- drawal will pose any major issues for us in the near future.  However, we must give due consideration to water resource  issues when moving into developing countries going forward. starting to show signs of catching on more widely in the  stock market. Notably, ESG investment appears to now  represent around half of the total investment in the stock  markets in Europe. It may be helpful to keep these sorts of  changes in mind when communicating with stakeholders  outside the Company. Ms. kuroda:  Astellas already seems to be taking a variety of  interesting initiatives, such as measures to improve access to  healthcare in developing countries and to accept research  fellows from developing countries. I would recommend com- municating these initiatives using a story line that is easier for  readers to understand, such as organizing measures around  the MDG’s agenda. dr. aikawa:  Business customs can differ, particularly among  emerging countries. For this reason, I believe that it is crucial  to conduct business activities with an even higher awareness  of compliance in these countries. Mr. Goto:  Approaches to facilitation payments* can differ  among different countries, creating an extremely vexing prob- lem. The question of how to address this problem as a global  enterprise is an issue that demands real decisiveness on the  part of companies. On a slightly different note, approaches to  CSR-related investment have been changing considerably.  Until now, CSR-related investment had been fairly limited in  scope. Under the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI)  approach, a limited number of investors actively invested in  companies that were recognized to be fulfilling their social  responsibilities. Investments were selected from among a  group of investment target companies that had been  screened by market research firms from the standpoint of  CSR. However, we are now seeing more Environment, Soci- ety and Governance (ESG) investment activity. Under this  approach, investors proactively base investment decisions on  a company’s CSR activities, particularly its ESG activities, in  order to execute long-term, stable investments. This trend is  For information about communication with our stakeholders, please visit the following website: http://www.astellas.com/en/csr/communication/ Annual Report 2014 _  Astellas Pharma Inc.  35 Business Strategy * Water-stressed: Refers to a condition where the water available for use per  person is below a certain threshold, causing inconveniences in daily life. iN ClOSiNG Are there any other issues besides those discussed  so far that Astellas should address? Ayako Sonoda Naoki Aikawa astellas:  Through this dialogue, Astellas increased its under- standing of what society expects of the Company and its  main issues. At the same time, we obtained many valuable  insights. The dialogue reaffirmed to us the importance of  strengthening stakeholder engagement. We are currently  reviewing our CSR issues in terms of their materiality and  examining specific CSR measures. We intend to utilize and  incorporate the opinions expressed in this dialogue session. * Facilitation payments: In certain countries and regions, the Company is required  by public officials and others, although not by relevant laws, to pay a small fee in  order to receive smooth public service operations such as customs, inspections  and issuance of entry visas. 