Kirin Holdings Earns Highest Rating For Seven Consecutive Years in the CDP’s Supplier Engagement Assessment

TOKYO, July 25 Kirin Holdings Company, Limited (Kirin Holdings) has been selected as a Supplier Engagement Leader, the highest rating in the Supplier Engagement Assessment category, by the international environmental non-profit organisation CDP*1, for the seventh consecutive year. Furthermore, in FY2024, Kirin Holdings was also awarded the highest rating of 'A-List' in 'Water Security' and 'Climate Change', making it an award winner in three categories.

The CDP 'Supplier Engagement Assessment' evaluates a company's commitment to climate change based on its responses in four areas: governance, targets, Scope 3 emissions and value chain engagement CDP surveyed companies that responded to the CDP Climate Change Questionnaire (full version), Companies with particularly outstanding initiatives are selected as Supplier Engagement Leaders.

The Kirin Group has set a high target in the Kirin Group Environmental Vision 2050, formulated in February 2020, of achieving net zero*2 GHG*3 emissions throughout the entire value chain by 2050. In November 2020, Kirin Holdings joined RE100*4, and in 2022, Kirin Holdings became the first food company in the world to obtain SBT Net Zero*5 certification. In April 2024, Kirin Holdings launched the Kirin Supply Chain Environmental Program to reduce GHG Scope 3 emissions, and will promote initiatives in collaboration with participating suppliers. We will work with participating suppliers to promote initiatives to reduce GHG Scope 3 emissions.

Kirin Holdings　is also promoting the sustainable use of natural capital*6,which is most affected by climate change, as well as implementing initiatives for the upstream supply chain. Kirin Holdings was the first company in the world to disclose on a trial basis the 'LEAP Approach' proposed by the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD*7) to understand its dependence on and impact on agricultural products, and in December 2024, Kirin Holdings launched a new initiative in collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance to develop a "Regenerative Tea Scorecard"*8 which will be operational and will identify improvements for the transition to environmentally regenerative agriculture*9.

In the future, the Kirin Group will continue to tackle complex and interrelated environmental issues (biological resources, water resources, containers and packaging, climate change) in an integrated manner, and to work together with all those involved in the value chain to connect the desire to enjoy and pass on the bounty of the Earth's bounty to future generations. We will actively promote various initiatives that have a 'positive impact' on nature and people.

*1 CDP is a non-profit organisation that, at the request of institutional investors and major purchasing companies around the world that are highly concerned about environmental issues, requires companies and municipalities to disclose information on measures to combat environmental problems such as climate change, water resource protection and forest conservation, and encourages them to take such measures through such disclosure. In 2024, more than 23,000 companies, representing two-thirds of the world's market capitalisation, and 1,100 In 2024, some 24,800 organisations worldwide will disclose environmental information through the CDP, including more than 23,000 companies and 1,100 cities, states and territories, representing two-thirds of the world's market capitalisation. Over 2,100 Japanese companies responded, including over 70% of prime market listed companies.
*2 A state in which anthropogenic GHG emissions and removals are balanced and GHG emissions into the atmosphere are net zero.
*3 Greenhouse gases
*4 An international environmental initiative comprising companies aiming to generate 100% of their electricity from renewable energy sources.
*5 A GHG emission reduction target consistent with the level required by the Paris Agreement (which aims to limit global temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels (Well Below 2°C) and 1.5°C below pre-industrial levels), established in 2015 by CDP, UN Global Compact, World Resources Institute and The SBT Initiative, established in 2015 by the CDP, the UN Global Compact, the World Resources Institute and WWF, has certified these targets.
*6 Natural capital is the stock of natural assets that supply society with flows of renewable and non-renewable resources and ecosystem services.
*7 Abbreviation for Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. An international organisation that aims to develop and provide a framework for companies and others to disclose information on nature-related risks, with the aim of transforming financial flows so that they are Nature Positive by 2030, halting the decline of nature and putting it on a recovery path.
*8 The Regenerative Tea Scorecard, which supports the practice of environmentally regenerative agriculture, is launched in collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance.
*9 An approach that aims to conserve and regenerate the environment through agricultural activities.

For Reference

・Kirin Group Environmental Vision 2050
https://www.kirinholdings.com/en/impact/env/mission/
・Kirin Group “Environmental Report”
https://www.kirinholdings.com/en/investors/library/env_report/

About Kirin Holdings

Kirin Holdings Company, Limited is an international company that operates in the Food & Beverages domain (Food & Beverages businesses), Pharmaceuticals domain (Pharmaceuticals businesses), and Health Science domain (Health Science business), both in Japan and across the globe.

Kirin Holdings can trace its roots to Japan Brewery which was established in 1885. Japan Brewery became Kirin Brewery in 1907. Since then, the company expanded its business, with fermentation and biotechnology as its core technologies, and entered the pharmaceutical business in the 1980s, all of which continue to be global growth centers. In 2007, Kirin Holdings was established as a pure holding company and is currently focusing on boosting its Health Science domain.

Under the Kirin Group Vision 2027 (KV 2027), a long-term management plan launched in 2019, the Kirin Group aims to become “A global leader in CSV,* creating value across our world of Food & Beverages to Pharmaceuticals.” Going forward, the Kirin Group will continue to leverage its strengths to create both social and economic value through its businesses, with the aim of achieving sustainable growth in corporate value.
* Creating Shared Value: combined added value for consumers as well as for society at large.