Since its establishment, the Kumon Group has been insisting on its mission, which aims to cultivate children who will contribute to society. With this human-centric mission, we have been fostering talents around the world and hope to fulfill our social responsibilities and obligations, which include making a concerted effort for solving global environmental problems. Facing the vital challenge on global environmental protection, we have endeavored to incorporate the environmentally friendly vision into our business planning, while exerting ourselves to protect our precious planet and achieve sustainable development in natural resources.
In order to enhance the awareness of all associates at Kumon China (KCN) towards environmental issues, the KCN Green Team has been striving to collect environmental data, encourage associates to protect the environment in the workplace, request all branches to submit a report on environmental protection in each quarter, and publish green tips quarterly for motivating associates to live a green life. Below are the environmentally friendly measures applied and the environmental data collected by KCN in the annual year 2018 – 2019 for general reference.
1) Recycling and Reusing Paper
One of the sources which has easily caused waste is on the daily printing of company documents and the use of paper boxes for transporting materials. Hence, all branches of KCN have adopted plenty of ways to decrease paper usage. For example, Kumon Guangdong has used recycled papers to print out the Travel Reimbursement Form (applicable in Guangzhou city only), Kumon Beijing has recycled and reused single-sided printouts, Kumon Shanghai has reduced the times of distributing printed handouts during large-scale conferences. Regarding the abandoned paper boxes, Kumon Beijing and Kumon Shanghai have collected and reused them for material storage and transportation. With the dedicated efforts of KCN and its branches, KCN’s overall paper usage was reduced from 847,495 sheets in 2017 to 837,990 sheets in 2018, and 9,505 sheets were saved in total.
2) Reducing Energy Consumption
Global warming has been a crisis that brooks no delay, and its main cause, greenhouse gas emissions, is aggravating the situation. KCN has been undertaking the social obligation to help alleviate global warming by striving the principle of “Reducing Energy Consumption”, so less greenhouse gas will be emitted, and the crisis of global warming can be improved. Most of the branches of KCN have taken green actions to reduce electricity use. For instance, Kumon Beijing has bought an energy-saving robot vacuum to cut down energy consumption; Kumon Beijing Trading and Kumon Guangdong have posted green reminders on electronic equipment or devices to remind all associates to turn off or adopt energy-saving mode when not in use; Kumon Hong Kong has turned on an electric fan in the conference room to improve air ventilation when necessary, resulting in the raise of the air conditioners’ temperatures and the reduction of electricity usage. Despite the slight increase in KCN’s overall electricity usage from 2017 to 2018, Kumon Hong Kong has lowered its electricity usage from 22,873 kWh between January and March in 2017 to 20,701 kWh during the same period in 2018, with a total reduction of 2,172 kWh.
3) Working at a Low-carbon Environment
When plastic products are being produced, a large amount of carbon dioxide is emitted which causes the problems of global warming and plastic pollution. To diminish the negative impacts brought by these problems, KCN and its branches have enthusiastically encouraged all associates not to purchase and use plastic products, but using reusable materials, such as adopting reusable cutlery, using porcelain cups instead of paper cups, reusing document folders and trays. Furthermore, it is common knowledge that green plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during photosynthesis. To build a low-carbon workplace, numerous associates have placed green plants in offices which can help purify the indoor air, decorate their tables, and relieve eye fatigue.
4) Promoting a Low-carbon Diet
The KCN Green Team has quarterly published green tips to all associates, encouraging them to take green actions in daily life. In March 2019, Green Team has launched green tips related to a low-carbon diet as the first quarter promotion, in which associates have been prompted to decrease carbon dioxide emissions through changing eating habits, like choosing appropriate food and cooking methods. Apart from sending green tips to inform all associates through email, offices have also printed out the leaflets and posted them on the noticeboards at the offices for reminding associates on those green tips.
“One Small Step for Green Life Every Day, One Giant Leap for Environmental Protection Every Year.” If you are willing to take green actions every day, you can help solve global environmental problems. From today onwards, with the unity and the participation of all associates, KCN will continually protect the environment for improving human well-being.
