L’Oréal, Firmenich, Kao and Shiseido receive glowing environmental accolades

13 Dec 2022 --- The CDP has recognized L’Oréal, Firmenich and Kao for its environmental achievements on climate change, forests and water security. Meanwhile, Shiseido has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the Dow Jones Sustainability Asia Pacific Index.

More than 680 investors with a combined worth of US$130 trillion in assets and 280 major purchasers with US$6.4 trillion in procurement expenditure requested companies to disclose data on environmental impacts, risks and opportunities through the CDP platform. Roughly 18,700 companies responded. 

“With the EU’s groundbreaking new reporting regulation, the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), now agreed, CDP A List companies are showing they are ahead of the game – taking clear action to reduce emissions and to address environmental impacts throughout their value chains,” says Maxfield Weiss, executive director, CDP Europe.

Scoring for the planet
L’Oréal was recognized for the seventh year in a row with a triple-A score for environmental achievements on climate change, forests and water security. The company was recognized for its progress in corporate transparency, ecological performances and efforts to stave off climate change. 

“CDP saw nearly 20,000 companies disclose environmental data this year, including 70% of European companies by market value,” says Weiss. 

“We must cut emissions by half and eliminate deforestation by 2030, alongside achieving water security on the same timescale – there is no route to 1.5°C without nature,” says Weiss.CDP views the environmental transparency and actions the companies carry out as necessary to prevent ecological collapse.  

Kao Corporation, a manufacturer of personal care, household and cosmetic products, was included in the CDP A list across three categories for the third year.

Kao has now been included in the Climate Change A list for the fourth time, the Forests A list for the third time and the Water Security A list for the sixth time.

“Being included in this selection reassures us that we are taking the right steps to realize a sustainable lifestyle for each consumer. We must all take certain and urgent action across society to tackle climate change,” says Dave Muenz, director and managing executive officer of Kao’s ESG division.

Kao has committed to carbon zero by 2040 and carbon negative by 2050. 

In addition, the company has accelerated efforts to switch globally to renewable energy by 2030 by having all its 55 logistics hubs and the Sakata Plant in Japan use renewable energy. In the forests area, Kao promotes the Smallholder Inclusion for Better Livelihood & Empowerment program designed to support palm oil smallholders in Indonesia. 

Fifth time’s a charm
Fragrance and taste giant Firmenich has been recognized for global environmental leadership with a fifth CDP triple A award. It is one of two companies worldwide to achieve top ratings in climate, water and forests for five consecutive years. 

“Sustainability and good business are synonymous – our journey demonstrates that businesses can drive urgently needed change for the planet, and we are determined to keep raising the bar,” says Gilbert Ghostine, CEO at Firmenich.

Firmenich aims to achieve absolute carbon emissions reduction by 2030 in line with limiting temperature rise to 1.5˚C and net-zero emissions by 2039 across its direct operations and value chain.

In its audited ESG Report 2022, the company reported that Scope 1 and 2 emissions were reduced by 36.1% compared with 2017, while three manufacturing sites in Norway, Singapore and South Africa became carbon neutral, all operating without the use of offsets. 

The company achieved a Sustainalytics score of 7.5.

 Topping global sustainability indexesCDP uses an independent methodology to assess the candidate companies and allocates a score based on the level of disclosure and awareness of the environmental risks.
Shiseido has again been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the Dow Jones Sustainability Asia Pacific Index.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices analyzes and evaluates companies’ economic, environmental and social performances. In 2021, 3,500 companies were reviewed, with 332 companies, including 36 based in Japan, and selected for inclusion in the DJSI World.

In the Asia Pacific region, out of approximately 600 entrants, 156 companies were included in the DJSI Asia Pacific, among them 74 from Japan.

Shiseido received high evaluations for “innovation management” and “materiality” in the governance and economic dimension, “environmental reporting” and “environmental policy and management systems” in the environmental dimension, and “social reporting” in the social dimension.

Additional industry CDP scores
CDP uses a detailed and independent methodology to assess the candidate companies, allocating a score of A to D based on the comprehensiveness of disclosure, awareness and management of environmental risks. The companies must demonstrate best practices associated with environmental leadership, such as setting meaningful targets. Those that provide insufficient information are scored an F. 

Givaudan was recognized for its global supply chain in CDP Supplier’s Engagement Leaderboard. The leaderboard acknowledges companies that have received the highest ratings in CDP’s Supplier Engagement Rating (SER). The company has also received A ratings for water risk and climate change response. 

Meanwhile, Coty received a B score in the CDP 2021 climate change disclosure for its action to reduce climate impact. CDP is a global non-profit that operates the environmental disclosure platform.

Edited by Inga de Jong