Company Profiles

Kao

Japan

Kao Corporation is the largest manufacturer of household products in Japan, including detergents, soaps, and personal care products. The company uses life-cycle analysis and strives to reduce the environmental impact of its products by promoting environmental considerations in the product design stage. The evolution of Kao's leading laundry detergent, Attack, provides a good example of the company's design for environment principles. Attack was first launched in 1987 and since then it has been reformulated and repackaged 20 times. These refinements have included concentrating detergent ingredients and achieving reductions of over 50% in the amount of materials and packaging used. Kao expresses an understanding of ecological constraints and recognizes the risks and opportunities associated with its dependence on plant-derived oil, petroleum, and pulp raw materials, as well as climate-related risks. To monitor its performance, Kao created innovative metrics—the eco-points and eco-efficiency indices—which have indicated mixed results but are an excellent evaluation tool. Portfolio 21 has asked Kao to increase its reporting to include facilities outside of Japan as well as transparency regarding research and development on products that use renewable raw materials rather than petroleum oil as primary feed-stocks.

Biotechnology Involvement

Kao Corporation utilizes industrial biotechnology mainly in the manufacturing of laundry detergents and in the development of cooking oils. Although the company does not have a publicly available biotechnology policy, through direct communications Portfolio 21 has confirmed that there are no GMOs present in any of Kao's final products. Additionally, the company sterilizes, or deactivates, the genetically modified organisms used in the production process. As a result of the nature of Kao's application of biotechnology, along with the company's procedures for handling the associated wastes, Kao meets the requirements of Portfolio 21's biotechnology policy. Read Portfolio 21's full Biotechnology Policy.

To the best of our knowledge the above information is accurate and was obtained from sources we believe to be reliable. Neither the information presented above nor any opinion expressed shall be construed as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy the security. The views expressed are those of portfolio management as of 8/31/07 and may not reflect current opinions or subsequent events.