Kao Releases Progress Report on its ESG
Strategy – the Kirei Lifestyle Plan

Kao Corporation, a leading Japanese consumer goods company in the beauty segment with brands such as Goldwell, John Frieda, Guhl and Molton Brown, released this year’s progress report on its ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) strategy “Kirei Lifestyle Plan”. The report presents major updates, initiatives and achievements for the total of 19 Key Leadership Actions set out in the Kirei Lifestyle Plan to achieve a sustainable and desirable lifestyle.

Among other things, this year's Progress Report includes an important update on Kao's leadership action on
“Decarbonisation”. The company recently set new decarbonisation targets that aim to make Kao carbon-free by 2040 and carbon-negative by 2050. To achieve these targets, Kao received certification for the 2.0°C target from the Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTi) in 2019 and amended its target to be in line with SBTi's 1.5°C target.
 
Contributing towards Kao’s “Responsibly Sourced Raw Materials” leadership actions, which include utilization of 100% certified-sustainable palm oil for consumer products and industrial purposes by 2025, Kao, together with Apical Group and Asian Agri, launched a program helping Indonesian palm oil smallholders to enhance productivity and acquire sustainability certification for their palm oil. This program
is aimed at building a sustainable palm oil supply chain.
 
As an update for “Zero Waste”, the report also touches on a Molton Brown Hand Refill collection with a glass bottle that can be regularly replenished. The plastic used to manufacture a single refill pouch is 80% less than that used for two of the standard 300ml bottles and will cut single-use plastic and the amount of plastic waste.

Dave Muenz, Executive Officer in charge of Kao’s ESG Division, commented on the release of the Kirei Lifestyle Plan Progress Report: “2020 was a challenging year with the entire organization adapting to the myriad of changes triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this did not hinder but rather accelerated our commitment to ESG. Our efforts to minimize plastic waste saw the launch of MyKirei by KAO in the US with our innovative thin air-in-film packaging. Addressing climate change continues to be one of our top priorities, and Kao will pursue its RE100 and CO2 reduction goals aligned to SBTi 1.5 degrees scenario in order to achieve our ambitious targets of Carbon Zero by 2040 and Carbon Negative by 2050.”
 
The full “Kao Sustainability Data Book Kirei Lifestyle Plan Progress Report 2021 is here: