The Environmental Department of Kikkoman provides training for newly hired employees to promote awareness of environment-related issues and to familiarize themselves with the basics of them. In April 2023, the training session was held for new employees, where they highlighted environment-related issues on a global scale, clarified the Kikkoman group’s vision and its implemented measures toward resolving such issues, along with the results.

Every year since 2015, the Kikkoman group invited outside experts as lecturers on environmental matters. (C.W. Nicol in 2015; Takeshi Yoro in 2016; Yuji Kishi in 2017; Toshiyuki Minami in 2018).

In October 2019, the Tokyo Head Office and the Noda Head Office of Kikkoman invited Ms. Mariko Kawaguchi as a lecturer on environmental matters at the event titled “Considering delicious memories for the future.”
Ms. Mariko Kawaguchi is Chief Researcher at Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd. She received master's degree in environmental economics from Hitotsubashi University Graduate School. Her specialty includes all aspects of sustainability, including environmental management, CSR, ESG investment, and ethical consumption. She is a member of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan, a part-time lecturer at Waseda University, a board member of the UN Global Compact Network Japan, co-chair of the NPO Japan Sustainable Investment Forum, a board member of the Ethical Promotion Council, a council member of Plan International Japan, a council member of the Sustainability Japan Forum, a board member of WWF Japan, an ad-hoc member of the Central Environmental Council of the Ministry of the Environment (Japan), a member of the Council on Home Appliance Recycling organized under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Japan), and a member of the Tokyo Cap-and-Trade Program Committee. (As of the date of the lecture)
In the one-and-half-hour speech titled “Considering delicious memories for the future” aligned with the Kikkoman group's corporate slogan “seasoning your life,” Ms. Kawaguchi spoke about the sustainability issues that need to be reconsidered, because human activities exceed the earth's environmental capacity, in terms of biological aspects (climate change, desertification, depletion of water and other resources, loss of biodiversity, degradation of ocean ecosystems), as well as social aspects (disparity between rich and poor, refugee and immigrant issues, slavery and child labor, terrorisms including cyber terrorism). She told us to have a sense of urgency in handling problems and emphasized the need for drastic transformation based on a 'backcasting' approach (which starts with a desirable future and consider what we should do at this moment). This is also a tremendous opportunity for us. The Paris Agreement and SDGs are the global initiatives aiming for a paradigm shift from an economy-centered approach to one that considers the sustainability of the planet and society. She emphasized the important roles of finance in changing the economic-centered standards we have pursued so far.
Later on, the company distributed a booklet featuring the lecture content and a special interview with Ms. Kawaguchi and the Kikkoman group CEO during her visit so that the employees who missed the lecture can learn about what was discussed and become aware of the environment-related agenda.

The Kikkoman group regularly organizes “ISO 14001 Certification Training for Internal Auditors,” “ISO 14001 Internal Auditor Capability Enhancement Training,” “Capability Enhancement Training for Environmental Managers,” “Training for Wastewater Treatment Facility Managers,” and “Training for Industrial Waste Managers,” to improve the capabilities of the managers and persons in charge.

In August 2022, we brought in an outside expert and offered a certification training program for internal environmental auditors. Instead of a traditional in-person seminar, this program was provided remotely, one session in the morning and another one in the afternoon, with different participants but the same content.
Sixty employees of the Kikkoman group (30 participants each for the morning/afternoon session) participated in the training and became certified as the internal environmental auditors after learning about the environment management system, ISO14001 requirements, and internal audits on environment.

The Internal Auditor Capability Enhancement Training, intended for those who have completed certification training, provides an in-depth look into specific audit points and techniques for enhancing individual auditing skills. The Kikkoman group have sent its employees from the Environment Department to visit areas (factories and offices) of the ISO14001-certified companies and offers training sessions to educate them about the international standards (as it was revised) for area managers (of factories and offices), environmental managers, EMS Secretariat members, and environment-related facility managers.

In 2022, we conducted an 11.5-hour long intensive course (split into five sessions over two months) where internal auditors (including the candidates) in the group companies can learn about the detailed operations in line with the ISO14001:2015, such as goal settings, compliance, performance measurement, and risk management, in order to further enhance the EMS practices on site. Kikkoman Foodtech Company, a manufacturer of seasonings, held an intensive course between May and July with 14 participants from its four plants. They confirmed problems unique to each plant even for the same production process and acknowledged the importance of preparing plant-specific manuals and establishing a sustainable system.

The Industrial Waste Manager Training is a training program designed for waste management professionals at the major facilities in Japan. This training invites an outside expert as an instructor, and covers a wide range of topics from basics to the latest technologies on waste handling, including waste classification, waste-related legislation, waste disposers’ responsibilities, selection of collection/transportation/disposal vendors, outsourcing contracts, industrial waste management slips (manifest), and handling of the e-manifest (including application, operation, and verification). Achievement test are given at the end of the training to assess the attendee’s proficiency and competency level.

The Training for Wastewater Treatment Facility Managers is a training program designed for wastewater treatment facility managers at the Kikkoman group’s major facilities in Japan. The attendees learned about the latest wastewater treatment technologies from the lecturer, analyzed the wastewater handling at the Kikkoman group’s factories, and exchanged their opinions concerning the problems of each factory and discussed solutions.

The Kikkoman group will continue to offer intensive courses optimized for each company in the group.

Environmental Orientation for Contractors

Kikkoman's Environment Department organizes a round-table meeting once a year with industrial waste disposal vendors to improve the compliance with laws and regulations. The meeting was canceled for the two consecutive years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but in November 2021, the fourth meeting was held with our 10 major outsourcing vendors attended. The participants acknowledged the importance of industrial waste handling in supporting the Kikkoman group's operations and exchanged opinions on the legal compliance aspect of waste handling by discussing failure cases. They also talked about the company’s internal management structure necessary to maintain a sustainable outsourcing contract.