KAO Environmental Report 2023

Kumon Group Environmental Philosophy

In order to solve global environmental problems, it is necessary to combine the knowledge of people from all around the world.

The Kumon Group strives to develop individuals who will make contributions to the society. Accordingly, the Kumon Group believes that one of our core values is to fulfil our responsibilities and obligations with regard to solving global environmental problems.

The Kumon Group views the preservation of the global environment as an important challenge to be met as we carry out our business activities. We will incorporate this environmentally-friendly vision into our business planning and will work on a permanent basis to protect our precious planet and sustain its natural resources for current and future generations.

Kumon Group Environmental Policy

The Kumon Group will endeavour, throughout all our business activities, to conserve natural resources and preserve the natural environment through the development of human resources.

• The Kumon Group will strive to recognise how our business activities affect the environment. We will work to conserve energy and resources, as well as to carry out recycling, in order to reduce the amount of waste we produce. Our overriding aim is to prevent damage to the environment and to reduce pollution.
• The Kumon Group will work together with associated parties and business partners in order to reduce the impact of our activities on the environment. At the same time, we will act positively to protect the environment by promoting activities aimed at forest regeneration.
• The Kumon Group will operate in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations in all of the countries and regions in which we have business activities, and will permanently work to preserve the environment.
• The Kumon Group will strive to make each and every Kumon staff member more aware of environmental issues through education and consciousness-raising activities. At the same time, as a responsible corporate citizen, we will make information related to the environment publicly available.

KAO GREEN INITIATIVES
Hence in Kumon Asia & Oceania (KAO), in all our business activities, we endeavour to reduce the usage of electricity and paper and thus the CO2 emissions, and encourage paper recycling so as to reduce the organisation’s impact on the natural resources. We have launched Environmental Management (“EM”) efforts to reduce non-essential printing, power management, and recycling. We have measured our efforts using the following indicators.

ANNUAL USAGE STATISTICS
Electricity
We are encouraging the member countries to continue energy-saving practices such as turning off lights when not in use, installing energy-saving devices such as LED lights, etc., where possible. The electricity usage has gradually increased when staff is back in the office. Another reason affected was because of the weather climate, it has drastically become warmer and required more energy to cool down the office space areas.

Electricity usage in 2021     1,002,464 kWh
Electricity usage in 2022     1,125,175 kWh

Paper
KAO members continued to practise paperless activities such as conducting paperless meetings, holding seminars online, and switching document submission and storage electronically.
Paper usage in 2021     1,340,478 sheets
Paper usage in 2022     1,608,659 sheets

Paper Recycling
As a result of conducting activities online, thus reducing printing, and converting to submitting documents electronically, the quantities of paper sent for recycling reduced substantially.
In 2021     19,677 kg
In 2022     18,491 kg

CO2 Emission
CO2 is the primary greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming and electricity usage is one of the main sources of CO2 emission. For commercial buildings, it also increases substantially when emissions from electricity end-use are included. This is due to the relatively large share of electricity use (e.g., heating, ventilation, air conditioning; lighting; and appliances). As such, KAO members’ efforts to continue to reduce electricity usage in the workspace.
In 2021 666     t-CO2
In 2022 749     t-CO2

EXAMPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL EFFORTS IN KAO
Since Nov 2022, KAO RSO-KSG office has moved to a new premise with a reduced space from 10,990 sq ft to 6,700 sq ft. The design of the office was to embrace a new way of working to support the evolving needs of a hybrid and inspiring workplace. The design materials selected come with eco/green certification: vinyl flooring, acoustic panel, emulsion paint, system furniture, LED lights etc.

The front of the house or multipurpose space serves not only as an opening area for employees to recharge or reenergise but also as an alternative work point or collaborative zone for informal discussion.

During daylight hours, keep the blinds open to allow natural sunlight to flow into the space. For larger-scale events, operable walls between the pantry and meeting rooms can be retracted to host company functions or award ceremonies.