ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: ACTIONS
Environmental Education
We provide training opportunities to raise employees’ awareness about environmental conservation, learn the knowledge necessary for accomplishing our environmental goals, and gain the expertise to deal with emergencies. These opportunities include briefing sessions about environmental law, which are provided by the ISO Promotion Office, workshops for training the auditing team, and an assortment of training provided by each corporate division. In fiscal 2024, as in fiscal 2023, we saw an increase in employees attending general environmental training as a result of organizing an internal event called Sustainable Academia Weeks. The event, designed to improve sustainability awareness among all employees, included a seminar on the circular economy, which was attended (in some cases online) by 359 employees. The 2024 result for briefings on environmental targets and legislation represented an increase because we held more workshops about the law concerning asbestos.
| Education and training category | Number of attendees (training programs attendees + drill attendees) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| General environmental education | 2,611 | 3,466 | 2,628 |
| Briefings on environmental targets and legislation | 1,711 | 1,657 | 2,062 |
| Accident/emergency response drills | 234 | 316 | 303 |
| Training for internal audit team | 17 | 17 | 52 |
| Other training | 68 | 94 | 51 |
| Total | 4,641 | 5,550 | 5,096 |
(KOKUYO’s Shinagawa Office)
(KOKUYO’s Shinagawa Office)
-
※Simulated emergency: An oil discharge from a hazardous goods warehouse
Internal (First- and Second-Party) Auditing and Third-Party Auditing
Internal audits (first- and second-party audits) are performed to ensure conformity across our corporate group, with a focus on legal compliance. In first-party audits, the auditee (a group company) performs the audit on itself. In second-party audits, our ISO Promotion Office performs the audit on the auditee. In 2024, first-party audits were performed from June 18 to August 7, second-party audits were performed from August 1 to September 3, and third-party (ISO 14001) audits were performed from November 25 to December 6. The first- and second-party audits identified 31 instances requiring corrective action, one of which was a major nonconformity. The nonconformity concerned transactions with a partner who purchases office furniture for reselling. In some cases, the fees paid exceeded the proceeds from the sale. The auditor noted that we might be in violation of the Act on Waste Management and Public Cleaning if the partner continued to supply its removal and transportation services without a consignment contract. We have already taken corrective action (by concluding such a contract). The total number of instances requiring corrective action was higher than in 2023. This reflects the wider scope of the audit (the audit covered items that were not covered in previous years). We will improve our compliance activities accordingly. Among the nonconformities identified in the first- and second-party audits, those related to operational management were the most frequent with 13 cases.
The third-party (ISO 14001) audits highlighted 21 good aspects, a ten-year record. It is also true, however, that a minor nonconformity was highlighted in relation to our processes for evaluating and maintaining compliance, as a sales company’s business office failed, during the audit, to produce its consignment contract for the disposal of its industrial waste or a copy of the contractor’s license. We have submitted to the auditor a plan for corrective action. The business site in question has been reevaluated for compliance and the situation has been rectified. To ensure that a similar problem never occurs in other business sites, we are requiring all business sites to undertake self-checks regarding their process for evaluating compliance and to give staff basic training in environmental law. The ISO Promotion Office will conduct an extraordinary audit of the sales company in question.
The third-party audit in 2024 was a recertification audit.
Audits/supervises internally
| Year | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sites audited | 72 | 79 | 72 |
| ・First-party audits | 56 | 63 | 56 |
| ・Second-party audits | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| ・Extraordinary audits | － | － | － |
| Issues identified | 26 | 20 | 31 |
| ・Serious nonconformities | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| ・Minor nonconformities | 6 | 5 | 10 |
| ・Issues requiring corrective action | 20 | 14 | 20 |
Third-Party Audits
| Year | 2022 surveillance audit |
2023 surveillance audit |
2024 recertification audit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sites audited | 14 | 18 | 25 |
| Excellent aspects | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Good aspects | 10 | 17 | 21 |
| Minor nonconformities | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Opportunities for improvement | 25 | 16 | 23 |
(KOKUYO Marketing’s Nagoya office)
(KOKUYO Product Shiga Co., Ltd.)
(KOKUYO Supply Logistics’ Nanko distribution center)
(KOKUYO’s Shinagawa Office)
(KOKUYO’s Mie Plant)
(KOKUYO Logitem’s Kansai distribution center)
Overview of Third-party Reviews of Environmental Performance Data
We underwent a third-party review by Bureau Veritas Japan to receive opinions from an independent standpoint regarding the accuracy, transparency, consistency, validity and completeness of the environmental performance data (environmental burden data and Scope 3) of 39 companies in the KOKUYO Group. It also visited workplaces to see how data was being measured and managed. Three Japanese workplaces were visited: (KOKUYO MVP’s Aoya Plant, Nikkan’s main plant, and KOKUYO Supply Logistics’ Fukuoka distribution center). One overseas workplace was visited: (Dongguan Lamex Furniture’s Dongguan plant). The review identified six excellent aspects and 10 opportunities for improvement. It also identified 29 issues requiring corrective action and 29 aspects requiring better transparency. During the review period, we rectified the issues requiring corrective action and aspects requiring better transparency. The review concluded that information was transparent on the basis that a third party could easily understand how primary documentation is categorized, recategorized, aggregated, and calculated. It also noted, however, that certain data items were aggregated or inputted inaccurately. In light of the issues raised, we will continue working hard to improve the accuracy and precision of disclosures both internally and throughout our supply chains.
| Year | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excellent aspects | 11 | 8 | 6 |
| Opportunities for improvement | 12 | 9 | 10 |
| Issues requiring corrective action | 38 | 31 | 29 |
| Aspects requiring better transparency | 7 | 23 | 29 |
Third-party audit certification
A third-party audit
(KOKUYO MVP’s Aoya Factory)
A third-party audit
(Nikkan’s main plant)
A third-party audit
(KOKUYO Supply Logistics’ Fukuoka distribution center)
Sites subject to third-party audits
| Consolidated group companies | Equity-method affiliates | |
|---|---|---|
Within Japan |
KOKUYO Co., Ltd. | KOKUYO Hokkaido Sales Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Tohoku Sales Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Kitakanto Sales Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Hokuriku-Niigata Sales Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Tokai Sales Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Sanyo-Shikoku Sales Co., Ltd., Kispa Inc., Nikkan |
| Kaunet Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Marketing Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Supply Logistics Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Logitem Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Product Shiga Co., Ltd., KOKUYO MVP Co., Ltd., LmD International Co., Ltd., Actus Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Finance Co., Ltd, KOKUYO & Partners Co., Ltd., Origin Co., Ltd., Estic Corporation | ||
Overseas |
KOKUYO Vietnam Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., KOKUYO (Shanghai) Management Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Commerce (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Furniture (China) Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Design Consultants (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., KOKUYO International Asia Co., Ltd., KOKUYO International (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., KOKUYO Vietnam Trading Co., Ltd., KOKUYO CAMLIN Ltd., KOKUYO Hong Kong Ltd., Global Known Ltd., Lamex China Investment Ltd., Lamex Trading Co. Ltd., Dongguan Lamex Furniture Co., Ltd., Lamex (S) Sales Pte. Ltd., KOKUYO-IK (Thailand) Co., Ltd., KOKUYO International (Thailand) |