Kirin Holdings

Sustainable development strategy
Through a materiality assessment, Kirin Holdings has identified human rights, environment, health and well-being, among others, as priority topics. It has set targets for all priority topics and reports progress against them.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions
Kirin Holdings has set a net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions target by 2050, which applies to scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. It has disclosed progress against the target since 2015. Its scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction target is approved by the Science Based Targets initiative and is aligned with a 1.5-degree scenario.

Plastic use and packaging waste
Kirin Holdings has set a target to ‘work toward 100% sustainable packaging and containers that use recycled materials and biomass by 2050’. The company has also set other targets and discloses progress against these.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the nutrition measurement area.

Farmer and fisher productivity and resilience
Kirin Holdings has set a target to have 10,000 farmers certified by the Rainforest Alliance by 2025. The company had certified 120 as of 2019. Also, with Kirin Holding’s support, 87 farms gained Rainforest Alliance certification and 789 small farms were provided certification training in 2019.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
Kirin Holdings discloses that oversight of and responsibility for its sustainability commitments lie within the executive team. The company also has a Group Creating Shared Value Committee, which is chaired by the company president and chief executive officer. The company discloses its remuneration policy, which shows that environmental, social and governance performance is linked to trust-type stock compensation. However, it is unclear whether remuneration incentives include topics across the environment, nutrition and social inclusion dimensions.

Stakeholder engagement
Kirin Holdings discloses its process for engaging its stakeholders and what the outcomes of this engagement are. The company also provides examples of the impact of these dialogues, such as in drafting its human rights policy. However, the company does not disclose a process for how it identifies stakeholders.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity, and fertiliser and pesticide use
While Kirin Holdings states that it will ‘strive to cultivate, expand and procure sustainable agricultural raw materials and contribute to making raw material production areas sustainable under our new long-term strategy’, there is no evidence of sustainable sourcing practices that improve soil health or optimise the use of fertilisers and pesticides.

Water use
While Kirin Holdings discloses the results of its water-risk assessment, as well as its water use and consumption rates, it has not set a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawals.

Food loss and waste
Kirin Holdings has a time-bound target to reduce the ‘rate of product waste’ across its operations by 75% in 2025, compared to a 2015 baseline, and reports progress against it. It has an opportunity to improve by providing evidence of activities to collaborate with value chain partners to prevent food loss and waste.

Availability of healthy foods
Kirin Holdings has set two goals: to expand sales of no- and lower alcohol products and to develop and expand sales of no- and low-sugar, low-calorie products and products with positive health effects. However, it does not disclose its definition of healthy.

Clear and transparent labelling
Kirin Holdings does not disclose that it provides nutritional information through clear, transparent and accurate labelling.

Responsible marketing
Kirin Holdings does not disclose a responsible marketing policy, nor guidelines specific to marketing to children.

Workforce nutrition
Kirin Holdings does not disclose a workforce nutrition programme that prioritises making healthy foods the standard in the workplace.

Food safety
Kirin Holdings discloses which of its companies are certified to food safety schemes and states that 95% of its operations are certified by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). Kirin Holdings is part of the GFSI steering committee. The company can improve by ensuring that 100% of its own operations and, if relevant, suppliers are certified to a GFSI-recognised food safety scheme.

Child labour
While Kirin Holdings prohibits child labour in its own operations, it only expects its suppliers to comply with its policy. The company can improve by requiring suppliers to have an age-verification system in place.

Forced labour
While Kirin Holdings states that it opposes forced labour, it does not disclose a commitment to prohibit forced labour in its operations and/or supply chain.

Living wage
The company does not disclose that it pays its workers a living wage or requires its suppliers to do the same. Neither has it set targets to do so in the future.

Kirin Holdings commits to respecting human and workers’ rights. The company has an approach to identify its human rights risks and impacts, assesses them and takes action to prevent, mitigate and remediate salient human rights issues. However, the company does not disclose the categories of stakeholders whose human rights may be affected by its activities. Further, the company does not have a grievance mechanism accessible to either its workers or external stakeholders, such as communities.

Kirin Holdings discloses the percentage of its workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements, has a commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment and discloses the percentage of women managers and directors in the company. It also publicly commits to protecting the health and safety of its workers, and expects its supply chain partners to do the same, while disclosing little information around their implementation and monitoring. Further, it does not commit to paying its workers a living wage, nor does it show that it does not require workers to work more than regular overtime hours.

A global tax strategy and a policy statement prohibiting bribery and corruption are disclosed. However, the company lacks reporting on the amount of corporate tax paid in each jurisdiction and the steps it takes to identify and address bribery and corruption in its businesses. The company also does not commit to protecting personal data, nor does it have an approach to lobbying and political engagement.