P.39 Message from the CSO & CSDO

39 02. Foundations for Accelerating Transformation

Message from CSO and CSDO

Committed to addressing social issues, we will enhance corporate value through business portfolio transformation, organizational reinforcement, and

sustainability management.

Achieve sustainable growth by addressing social issues

Based on Sumitomoʼs Business Philosophy and Management Principles, we remain steadfast in our commitment to achieving sustainable growth by leveraging our competitive advantages and addressing social challenges identified as the Material Issues. Contributing to a sustainable society and achieving the growth of the Group are inseparable. For this reason, we will continue creating value from a medium- to long-term perspective.

Accelerate business portfolio transformation

As Medium-Term Management Plan 2026 enters its final year, we are seeing firsthand how the results of two core themes̶“Growth leveraged by strengths” and “Strengthen driving force for growth”̶are helping us transform our business portfolio. Under our business portfolio transformation, we use four strategic categories to allocate management resources to growth businesses while accelerating portfolio renewal through asset replacement. This has enabled us to achieve steady growth, particularly in such growth areas as digital, leasing, real estate, and energy solutions. Meanwhile, we are working to improve the profitability of our business portfolio by carefully assessing the business environment and performance of each segment, flexibly adjusting their strategic categories, and steadily delivering higher growth. In addition, we analyze risks and opportunities from multiple perspectives by leveraging intelligence from our offices around the world. We are also advancing discussions aimed at further transforming our business portfolio through Management Council meetings and Board meetings.

Elevate organizations to support self-directed and

disciplined decision-making To support this business portfolio transformation, we must establish a framework that enables our sales teams̶who know our business best̶to engage relevant stakeholders and make sophisticated, self-directed decisions. By introducing our SBU system, we have clarified our strategy and accelerated the pace of strategy execution. Moreover, even groups overseeing multiple SBUs have begun to adapt their organizational structures in an agile manner, including consolidation or reorganization of SBUs in line with strategic reviews. At meetings of the Management Council, our principal management decision-making body, discussions have become more robust following a review of its membership and decision- making processes. From a company-wide optimization perspective, we strive to make timely and appropriate decisions by focusing on management resource allocation, business portfolio transformation, and discussions on investment and divestment opportunities. These organizational changes, combined with past discussions and initiatives, have helped us steadily implement large-scale investments and asset replacements in recent years. Furthermore, new combinations of SBUs within the Diverse Urban Development Group and the Energy Transformation Business Group̶both established under the current medium-term management plan̶have enabled us to integrate diverse experiences and insights as well as enhance our ability to identify and develop new projects. We are seeing tangible results in these business expansion efforts.

Coordinate non-financial and financial factors

to enhance corporate value I am convinced that addressing issues like climate change, respect for human rights, and the protection of natural capital̶while taking a holistic view of the entire supply chain̶goes beyond mere risk management and will lead to new business opportunities for integrated trading companies. For this reason, we aim to embed sustainability initiatives into our frontline operations and establish a system where each organizational unit identifies sustainability-related risks and opportunities as well as addresses them appropriately. As a first step, in FY2025 we introduced a process across our various business units to identify climate-related risks and opportunities, develop strategies, and formulate and monitor action plans. Through disciplined execution of the PDCA cycle, we will continue entrenching these initiatives. The growth strategies of each business organization are rooted in Sumitomoʼs Business Philosophy and our belief that sustainable growth is achieved through businesses that help address social issues. Ensuring that this principle is consistently reflected in our business strategies and investment decisions is critical. Through these initiatives, we will drive business portfolio transformation and work to enhance corporate value over the medium to long term. Drawing on the trust we have built up over Sumitomoʼs long history, we will continue to engage in sincere dialogue with our stakeholders and strive to incorporate their feedback into our management decisions.

※Makiko Eda

Managing Executive Officer Chief Sustainability & DE&I Officer CSO and CSDO

※ROE

Improve profitability (margin)

Improve PBR

Increase the expected growth rate

Reduce the cost of capital Enhance shareholder returns