KOSÉ

Guiding Principle for Sustainability

In 1946, Kozaburo Kobayashi, the founder of KOSÉ Corporation, established KOSÉ Corporation with an unbounded passion for creating cosmetics that give dreams and hope to people’s minds.
Since then, we have steadily grown to the present day as a company that creates beauty by taking the lead in creating unique values with "Create a culture and values embodying a distinctive beauty through a sophisticated fusion of sensuousness and intelligence" as our Statement of Purpose.
This growth has been made possible by the many customers, business partners, employees, and local community members with whom we have built beauty partnerships since our foundation, and by the bounty of nature.
We believe that we need to apply our wisdom and sensibility to our business more than ever, in order to pass on this partnership to the next generation, to solve social issues through our business, and to realize the vision of our founder, a society in which “people’s hearts and minds are filled with richness and color through beauty”.

In order to create a society in which everyone can pursue the way they want to be while valuing their individuality, and to create a global environment in which everyone can live with peace of mind, we have established our corporate message of "Creating Beauty in a Sustainable World" as our sustainability guideline, and will continue to put them into practice.

Fundamental Policy

“Mind to Follow the Right Path” is the motto of Kozaburo Kobayashi, the founder of KOSÉ.
These words have been at the core of our corporate spirit since our founding, and are held up as a “Behavioral Charter” to be followed by all employees of the KOSÉ Group. In the same way as the Behavioral Charter, which is the basis of our corporate governance system, our policy is to remain a public entity of society with transparency and fairness, with “sincerity” (sincere attitude) which is reflected in our company name.

To follow the right path requires
Courage
Patience
Wisdom and Effort
Flexibility and Honesty
Each moment, each day,
deepen your commitment
to staying on this path

Kozaburo Kobayashi, Founder of KOSÉ

We are governed by the Mind to Follow the Right Path motto of our founder that is part of our Behavioral Charter, which is the core of the Group’s code of conduct. We endeavor fully to become a company trusted and supported widely by society through actions based on honest and trustworthy decisions and the respect of the human rights of each person involved.

Corporate Philosophy (Corporate Information)

Policies Related to Sustainability Strategy

Signing the United Nations Global Compact

The “United Nations Global Compact” (UNGC) advocated by the United Nations was signed and registered on July 2017. UNGC is a voluntary effort to participate in the creation of a global framework in order to realize sustainable energy growth and act as a good member of the society by showcasing responsible and creative leadership by each company and organization.

Our company, which is based on the guiding principles of “Creating Beauty in a Sustainable World.” and “Mind to Follow the Right Path” shall support and put into practice the 10 principles of the UNGC throughout the four fields of “human rights”, “labour”, “environment”, “anti-corruption” and aim for the realization of a sustainable society as a member of the global society.

Sustainability promotion structure

KOSÉ has furthered ecological efforts that include zero emissions to substantially decrease waste in production facilities and non-production departments through the organization of the Global Environment Committee in 1997. We established cross-organizational CSR and Risk Management Compliance Committees headed by the president as their chair in 2013 to promote CSR activities aligned with our corporate message “Creating Beauty in a Sustainable World.” We will continue our efforts at each department to achieve the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) for 2030.

Note:In 2019 the names of “CSR Committee” and “CSR Promotion Committee” were changed to “Sustainability Committee” and “Sustainability Promotion Committee” respectively.

Corporate Governance (Corporate Information)

Our Sustainability Promotion Practice

At KOSÉ Group we identify issues based on ISO26000 and prioritize them with taking the changing international community into consideration. We carefully choose issues that need specific focus and we believe we can address, to choose appropriate SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) defined by the UN Global Compact (UNGC). In practice Sustainability Promotion Committee orchestrates collaborative efforts within the Group to promote practical sustainability activities by each department.

Cooperation with leading organizations

The KOSÉ Group supports the Japanese government's goal of “Net Zero Emissions by 2050” and the agreements reached in the Paris Agreement. We also support the national laws and regulations related to climate change including the Energy Conservation Act and the Act on Promotion of Global Warming Countermeasures, and collaborate with policy makers as appropriate by reporting annually to the government on our greenhouse gas emissions, including the amount of energy used and the achievement of energy reduction targets. In 2020, we also expressed our support for the TCFD, and in FY2022, we made a new decision to aim for carbon neutrality, with virtually zero CO₂ emissions by 2040, and revised upward our CO₂ emission reduction targets to be in line with the SBT 1.5°C target by 2030.In the same year, we were selected by the Ministry of the Environment’s Carbon Footprint (CFP) model project. The project aims to create an advanced role model for the calculation, labeling, and utilization of CFP for products and services, as well as retailers' efforts to procure and label their products and services using CFP, for the purpose of promoting climate change mitigation. In this model project, we were able to calculate CFP for our main products, acquire the expertise, and identify issues. At the same time, we are actively communicating issues and requests for this model project to the Ministry of the Environment. We also participate in the Japan Climate Initiative (JCI), and through JCI's activities, we have continued our dialogue with the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, and make proposals and requests to raise CO₂ emission targets, expand renewable energy, and more. At the same time, we effectively promote diverse sustainability initiatives through participation in relevant industry associations and collaboration with various NGOs and other organizations. As an industry organization, we are members of and participate in the Japan Cosmetic Industry Association (JCIA) as an executive member and work together on various themes common to the industry. In particular, in the area of the environment and sustainability, we as a member of the Sustainability Promotion Committee have contributed to the promotion of climate change measures in the cosmetics industry through collaboration on the development of the 2015 “Japan Cosmetic Industry Association Sustainability Guidelines” in 2015 and its revision in 2023. Information about the sustainability initiative is currently available on the JCIA website. These guidelines recognize the importance of activities in four of the six ISO 26000 areas in which companies that manufacture and sell cosmetics should be involved: consumer issues, environment, human rights and labor practices, and community involvement. The guidelines also recommend companies formulate and implement voluntary activity policies that encompass the entire value chain of their business. For the Environment, the Guidelines call for the industry to actively prevent the climate change and address the preservation of the biodiversity under the themes of "developing products and services that realize the co-existence of beauty and eco-friendliness" and "reducing environmental impact and environmental conservation activities in business activities," and we actively support and endorse these guidelines.
We joined the RSPO in 2019 and are adopting the practice of using certified oils with the goal of sourcing sustainable palm oil. Since 2020, we have also participated in JaSPON, the Japanese Network for Sustainable Palm Oil, and work with JaSPON members to promote sustainable palm oil procurement and consumption.
In FY2021, we joined Sedex (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange; https://www.sedex.com/ja/) to promote efforts that address human rights and other issues in the supply chain, becoming the 15th AB member in Japan. We will continue to work with our suppliers to address human rights issues and other issues to build a sustainable and responsible supply chain utilizing various resources of Sedex.

Sustainable Palm Oil Response

Participation in Sedex