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Environmental Communication

Organizing Environmental Events for Children

Kumon Publishing, in collaboration with JFE Engineering Corporation and Science Education Lab, held the "Social Studies Tour with Science Eyes" on March 19, 26, 27, and 30, 2023, with the theme of carbon neutrality for third grade elementary school students and above.

The event included a tour of a food recycling plant and science experiments to learn about the principles of methane fermentation of food waste and power generation using methane, both of which are being conducted there. We also planned an event where children could comprehensively learn about society and science while having fun playing a specially made board game to think about how a carbon-neutral society should be.

Twenty-eight people participated throughout the four days of the event, and the board game to raise environmental awareness, developed especially for this event, was well received. Divided into environmental warriors and economic warriors, the participants were engaged in heated discussions, using their brains to prevent the increase of carbon dioxide and methane, and calculating funds and costs (e.g., building a recycling power plant) to avoid game over (i.e., the disappearance of the earth). They also learned that microorganisms behave like humans, visited a plant that actually generates electricity using biogas generated from food waste, and tried their hand at generating electricity in the experiment at hand, and were surprised to see that electricity was really generated.

Communicating in English

The Global Immersion Camp (GIC*), where children spend several days together using only English and which began in 2001, was held for the first time in three years,.

In FY2022, 29 elementary school students from all over Japan and 21 leaders from 12 countries and regions enjoyed communicating in English and learning about the world during the 5-day online program.

This time they also learned about "water," which is listed as Goal 6 of the SDGs. With the help of Ms. Katsura (at the time) from the Japan International Cooperation Agency Shiga Office, the children tried their hand at a role-playing game in which they had to deal with an imaginary village that was shaken by a dilemma between economic development and environmental issues related to water.

By listening to various people's stories, they learned about water-related problems and how to solve them, and also thought about what they can do now and in the future for the world. Many interesting ideas that adults would not have thought of were developed.

* Global Immersion Camp (GIC): The name “English Immersion Camp” (GIC) has been changed to in 2022.

Information Disclosure Through Environmental Reports

Since FY2013, the Kumon Group has been posting environmental reports on our website making information public about our environmental preservation activities and data (electricity usage, CO2 emissions, paper usage, and paper recycling), in addition to the Kumon Environmental Philosophy and Environmental Policy.

Environmental Education for Kumon Staff

The Kumon Group is implementing environmental education for all staff members to raise awareness and deepen understanding of the environment.

In FY2022 also e-learning for environmental education was implemented in training for new management staff. Participants learned about global environmental problems, environmental management, and environmental law.

Opportunities for sharing are increasing such as posters raising environmental awareness and environmental data being posted in offices, and environmental awareness in each company is rising each year as staff learn from one another about the environment.

Distribution of In-company Environmental Newsletter

Every quarter, the Kumon Group distributes the Kumon Green News Quarterly in Japanese and English to all Group companies.

The newsletters include quarterly environmental data by region, as well as environmental activity reports sent from each Group company to be shared worldwide.

In addition, some Group companies are distributing environmental news to their staff, etc. We are proactively engaged in environmental communication.

Environmental activities by North America, South America,
Asia and Oceania, China, Europe and Africa, and Japan