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Kao Enters into an Agreement to Make Future Purchases
of Palm Oil Alternative from Future Origins
- Signed an agreement to make future purchases of palm oil alternative from Future Origins. Kao plans to purchase a majority of Future Origins’ first manufacturing plant’s capacity.
- Kao is globally expanding the use of palm oil alternative as a raw material and derivative throughout the chemical business, and will also promote its utilization in its own consumer products.
- This agreement will contribute to Kao’s decarbonization goals of achieving carbon zero in 2040 and carbon negative in 2050.
Tokyo, March 31, 2025—Kao has recently signed an agreement to make future purchases of palm oil alternative from Future Origins of the United States. Future Origins is a U.S. joint venture founded by industrial biotechnology leader Geno, partnered with Kao, Unilever and L’Oréal, with the aim of commercializing and manufacturing ingredients for widely used surfactants in home and personal care applications. Kao announced its investment as a founding member in 2022.
The palm oil alternative for this purchase agreement is Future Origins’ C12/C14 fatty alcohol, NALO. Kao plans to purchase a majority of their first manufacturing plant’s capacity, and will expand the use of NALO and its derivatives globally as a chemical business.
Daisuke Hamada, Senior Executive Officer in charge of Kao’s chemical business, comments, “Kao is committed to sustainable material sourcing based on its Mid-term Plan 2027 with the vision of ‘Sustainability as the only path.’ Kao has been collaborating with Future Origins to promote NALO as an alternative for the fatty alcohol produced from palm oil, and has been preparing to introduce not only NALO but also its derivatives to the market through its Chemical Business. This development will be important for supplying enough materials to maintain our quality of life and also essential for protecting palm tree forests to conserve the environment. Kao will also promote these materials to be incorporated into its consumer products. Thus, Kao further reinforces its commitment to responsibly sourced raw materials by establishing transparent and traceable supply chains.”
Kao’s decarbonization goals
Aiming to realize a decarbonized society and sustainable business, Kao is developing innovative technologies and working with stakeholders to reduce CO2 emissions throughout the value chain in order to achieve carbon zero in 2040 and carbon negative in 2050.
Related Information
About the Kirei Lifestyle Plan
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.
About Kao
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.
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