Environmental Awareness Activities Inside and Outside Japan

Stores are the locations where direct communication with customers occurs. With this in mind, we are collaborating with local governments and retailers to promote ideas and products for more eco-friendly everyday life, using informative educational materials that can be readily understood by children. In the ten years between 2009, the year we announced the Environmental Statement, and 2019, the number of people that joined our initiatives reached a total of 670,000 people. Kao will continue to create opportunities to think together about what we can do to be more eco-friendly, including conducting surveys and research, or hosting workshops with other companies and universities.

Since 2012, Kao has worked in collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection to organize a nationwide cleanliness and water conservation campaign. Headed by the government and Kao, the campaign's purpose is to address and raise awareness regarding water shortages in China, a pressing challenge.

From March of each year, water conservation activities are conducted across cities in China under the slogan "10,000 Liters Per Household Per Year." Since 2015, Chinese colleges and universities have also started participating in the campaign.
We also organize annual events at Chinese colleges and universities to encourage students to come up with ideas for environmental protection. Students are asked to submit their proposals at the end of March and put their plans into action. The inauguration ceremony for 2021 is planned to be held in July. The scope and content of the activities and research themes have continued to expand and, in recent years, have come to include topics such as biodiversity, soil protection, waste disposal, and water conservation.

In 2021, Kao carried out microfinancing for environmental conservation projects. Through WeChat with the theme "Nationwide Cleanliness and Beauty", there were a total of 129 applicants from 22 ministries and 79 universities. Ultimately, a total of 10 projects awarded first, second, third place and so on were selected through expert review and online voting, including a project from Harbin Normal University.

These types of environmental education activities, cohosted with municipal governments and distribution companies, are expanding further, and now include locations such as Taiwan and Singapore.