Kao, the Japanese beauty powerhouse, has achieved climate neutral operations across its sites in the UK and Germany as it continues its journey towards a more sustainable future.
Working with ClimatePartner, which provides businesses with solutions for corporate climate action, the owner of Molton Brown and John Frieda has taken action to cut emissions across its Kao EMEA arm including switching to 100% renewable electricity since 2014, reducing energy consumption by 31% since 2010, cutting its water waste volume by more than 12% in 2016 and switching to sustainably sourced, FSC certified paper in 2015.
Guido Kirchhoff, Vice President Supply Chain at Kao EMEA, said: “Becoming climate neutral in two key markets of the EMEA region is a big milestone for us on our way to zero CO2 emissions.
“However, we do not stop here. Reducing our carbon footprint continues to be one of our key priorities at Kao and we are already planning the next steps to further minimise our emissions along the entire supply chain.
“The collaboration with ClimatePartner is a great support and will help us on our path to full climate neutrality for all EMEA branches of Kao.”
As part of its ongoing ESG strategy – dubbed the Kirei Lifestyle Plan after the Japanese for 'clean, well-ordered and beautiful' – the conglomerate is seeking to replace all its fossil fuel heating with alternative technologies by 2030, with the ultimate goal of reducing its global carbon emissions to zero by 2040.It plans to achieve this by reducing its water consumption, implementing low-energy processes and reducing waste across its production sites in the EMEA region, which comprises 18 sites across 14 countries, as well as certifying certain brands and products as climate neutral.
In addition, Kao is working with ClimatePartner to offset its unavoidable emissions through activities such as supporting a wind farm project in Tangier-Tétouan, Morocco, which aims to help reduce the country's dependency on fossil fuels and support women in the region by providing employment, training and medical care to strengthen their role in society, according to the company.
Meanwhile, last month, Kao teamed up with rival Japanese cosmetics player Kosé to work together to develop solutions to help the beauty industry move towards a sustainable future through initiatives such as introducing more eco-friendly packaging and raising awareness of diversity issues to bring about social change.
