KAO Environmental Report 2022

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 individual who will contribute to society. Accordingly, the Kumon Group believes that one of our core values is to fulfill 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 environmental-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 endeavor, throughout all our business activities, to conserve natural resources and to preserve the natural environment through the development of human resources.

• The Kumon Group will strive to recognize 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), at all our business activities, we endeavor to reduce the usage of electricity and paper and thus the CO2 emissions, and encourage paper recycling so as to reduce the organization’s impact on the natural resources. We have launched Environmental Management (“EM”) efforts to reduce non-essential printing, power management, recycling. We measure our efforts using the following indicators.

ANNUAL USAGE STATISTICS

Electricity

We continued to encourage member countries to practice energy-saving practices such as turning off lights when not in use, install energy-saving devices such as LED lights, etc., where possible.  Such efforts have helped to further reduced electricity usage.

Electricity usage in 2020 1,217,020 kWh

Electricity usage in 2021 1,002,464 kWh

Paper

KAO members continued to practice paperless activities such as conducting meetings and seminars online, and switching documents submission and storage electronically.  This effort has paid in in further reduction of paper usage during the year.

Paper usage in 2020 1,500,609 sheets

Paper usage in 2021 1,340,478 sheets

Paper Recycling

As a result of doing activities online, thus reduce printing, and converting to submitting document electronically, the quantities of paper sent for recycle reduced substantially.

In 2020 78,344 kg

In 2021 19,677 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. As the result of KAO members’ effort to reduce electricity usage, CO2 emission was down by 15.9%.

In 2020 784 t-CO2

In 2021 659 t-CO2

EXAMPLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL EFFORTS IN KAO

Under the slogan of “Protect the environment, protect our lives,” Kumon Vietnam has engaged in the following activities:

1. Saving energy (electricity)

• Outside of working hours (lunch hour, break time, etc.), all unoccupied spaces should turn off all electrical appliances in unoccupied spaces.
• Replace all incandescent lights to fluorescent lights
• Control electricity and water index daily.

This enables us to notice that we have forgotten to turn off a light, or if our underground water system is malfunctioning.

2. Posters in restrooms to promote hygiene and conservation of tissue and water.

3. Saving on usage of A4 papers, reusing papers that has one unused side. Collecting two-sided used papers to sell to a recycler.
4. Placement of greenery in the office area.