Kyokuyo

Lobbying
Kyokuyo discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member.

Stakeholder engagement
Kyokuyo discloses the channels it uses to engage with its stakeholder groups and how its stakeholder engagement activities impact its sustainability strategy.

GHG emissions
The company reduces its scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions.

Solid and air pollution
Kyokuyo demonstrates commitment and engages in activities related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging.

Water
Kyokuyo has a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawal in its own operations and reports progress against it.

No leading practices were identified in the social inclusion and community impact area.

Provide and promote decent work
Kyokuyo has a publicly available statement of policy that expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers. Additionally, it discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category.

Lobbying
The company has an opportunity to disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with its sustainability targets and to report (potential) misalignments.

Stakeholder engagement
The company has an opportunity to disclose an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company has an opportunity to disclose its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability topics and impacts. Also, while the company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate, it could establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain and report consistently against all its targets. Additionally, although it states it has a sustainability committee, it could disclose having persons, teams or committees who are responsible for the implementation of its sustainability strategy and assign decision-making and oversight responsibility for its sustainability strategy to the highest governance body. Furthermore, the company has an opportunity to link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. Lastly, while the company could disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics beyond nutrition.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
No evidence was found regarding the company’s efforts to avoid ecosystem conversion, including deforestation, or promote restoration. It has an opportunity to develop a strategy and publicly report on specific, time-bound targets.

GHG emissions
While the company has set a target to reduce CO2 emissions by 1% by 2021 and reported progress against it, no evidence that it has a forward-looking target to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions in place. Additionally, the company discloses its progress against CO2 emissions intensity, however, the absolute reduction in its scope 1 and 2 emissions is not clear. It should set a time-bound targets to reduce its scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions as well as report progress against them. Crucially, the company needs to reduce its scope 1,2 and 3 emissions and its targets need to align with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company has an opportunity to disclose assessments of its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its own operations and in its supply chain. It also has the opportunity to disclose its dependencies on nature within its own operations and upstream business relationships.

Invasive species
The company has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive alien species in its own operations.

Key areas and species
While the company has taken the step to disclose endangered species involved in its operations, it has an opportunity to broaden this by disclosing all species existing in or adjacent to its locations, and by aligning this information with national and international conservation lists. Additionally, the company can disclose areas within its own operations that are important for biodiversity, as well as similar information concerning the locations of its suppliers.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
The company has an opportunity to disclose its inputs according to an international standard, and to report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance. It also has an opportunity to disclose activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices, to disclose a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices and to report progress against it.

Solid and air pollution
The company does not disclose relevant information related to pollution in its operations or supply chains.

Water
The company has an opportunity to further improve water withdrawal by showing year-on-year reductions in water withdrawals, disclosing water withdrawals in water-stressed areas, and engaging with suppliers. It does not disclose relevant information on rights to water in its operations or supply chains.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company does not show if it is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights or land rights of local communities.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
The company has an opportunity to commit to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders. Moreover, it should track its actual or potential negative impacts on the health of local communities.

Act ethically
While the company strives to prevent corruption, it has an opportunity to use a stronger language to turn the statement into a formal commitment. It could describe the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts, and include related clauses in its contracts with business relationships. Although a mechanism exists for stakeholders to raise bribery and corruption concerns, it could disclose that it is accessible to all stakeholders, and that complainants have the option to identify themselves or remain anonymous.

Moreover, the company has an opportunity to have a policy setting out its lobbying and political engagement approach and disclose its expenditure on lobbying activities. While it states that it makes political donations in compliance with relevant laws, it has an opportunity to disclose whether these are made only by exception, declare the criteria for making these exception, and mention about other political contributions apart from donations.

Provide and promote decent work
The company states that it strives to maintain a healthy and safe workplace environment and expects its suppliers to cooperate in its monitoring activities. It thus has an opportunity to use a stronger language to show a commitment to health and safety, and disclose how it monitors supplier performance.

Additionally, while the company pays wages in compliance with local labor laws, it has an opportunity to commit to paying a living wage by setting a time-bound target. Related, the company has expectations on the wage paid by its suppliers, and could add a requirement for them to pay a living wage and disclose how it supports the payment.

Moreover, while the company is committed to diversity, equitable employment and women’s empowerment, it has an opportunity to commit to gender equality, and formalise these commitments in a policy document. It could further disclose related time-bound targets, and divulge information on the ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement supporting international norms regarding human rights, as well as specific workers’ rights in its operations and supply chain. It, however, has an opportunity to use a stronger language to turn these statements into a formal commitments, and reference all the ILO fundamental rights at work.

Additionally, while it states that it identifies human rights risks pertaining to its business activities, it can describe the process for identifying human rights risks and impacts covering its operations and supply chain. It could further describe how it assesses and identifies its salient human rights issues. While the company discloses that it remediates human rights violations, it could disclose a global system to act on all its salient human rights issues in all its activities.