Report on the Kao Life-in-Harmony Foundation’s First Year Activities

Due to topography and infrastructure constraints in Indonesia, some regions experience water shortages despite rainfall. Consequently, severe shortfalls affect many residents, who must spend much of their income on buying water. The Kao Life-in-Harmony Foundation, partnering with GIB under the Program RAIN (Rahmat Allah untuk INdonesia^*1 ), has begun working toward a solution by utilizing rainwater. In 2024, seven 5,000-liter-capacity GAMA-Rain Filter (GRF)^*2 systems were installed in Girimulyo, Panggang City, Gunung Kidul Regency, in the Special Region of Yogyakarta for public use in community centers and areas where several households can have access to them. GRF filters and stores rainwater without using electricity and is a sustainable system that can be maintained by residents. Local people participated in installing the systems, which also provided temporary employment opportunities. Working together with residents and the local authority, this project aims to help remedy the water shortage and contribute to a clean, healthful environment for all.

The Foundation aims to provide care and enrichment to all people and create a safe and harmonious future by supporting each individual and through various systems and solutions that promote clean, beautiful, healthy, and thoughtful living.

Over the past 130 years, Kao has worked to improve people’s lives and help them realize more sustainable lifestyles—a Kirei Lifestyle. The Japanese word “kirei” describes something that is clean, well-ordered, and beautiful all at once. For Kao, this concept of “kirei” not only describes appearance but also attitude—a desire to create beauty for oneself, for other people, and for the natural world around us. Aiming to realize a more sustainable way of living, in April 2019, the Kao Group established its ESG strategy known as the Kirei Lifestyle Plan. By 2030, Kao aims to empower at least 1 billion people, to enjoy more beautiful lives. Kao also strives to have 100% of its products leave a full lifecycle environmental footprint that science says our natural world can safely absorb.
Please visit the Kao sustainability website for more information.

Kao, a Japan-based manufacturer of personal care and household products, cosmetics, and specialty chemicals creates high-value-added products and services that provide care and enrichment for the life of all people and the planet. Through its brands such as Attack laundry detergent, Bioré and Jergens skin care products, Laurier sanitary products, Curél, SENSAI, and MOLTON BROWN cosmetics, and Oribe hair care products, Kao is part of the everyday lives of people across Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Combined with its chemical business, which contributes to a wide range of industries, Kao generates about 1,630 billion yen in annual sales. Kao employs about 32,600 people worldwide and has more than 130 years of history in innovation. As an enterprise that provides products people use on a daily basis, the Kao Group takes responsibility to actively reduce the environmental footprint of its products throughout the product lifecycle. This is laid out in Kao’s ESG strategy, the Kirei Lifestyle Plan, which launched in 2019.
Please visit the Kao Group website for additional information.