Better Health for All

Kimberly-Clark's core products, such as diapers and feminine hygiene, are essential for health and hygiene, contributing to the well-being of a quarter of the world's population daily.

The company's programs positively impacted nearly 120 million additional lives worldwide in 2024. , with a goal to reach 1 billion people in vulnerable communities by 2030. The company actively supports healthcare workforce capacity, training health workers in Indonesia since 2013 and partnering with organizations like APIC and CDC for infection prevention training. It also has extensive health education initiatives, reaching 9.5 million people with education programs and printing health information on millions of product packs, including 100 million Andrex packs and 15 million Scottex packs in 2024. However, the company's philanthropic grants for health equity programs, totaling $13.8 million in 2024, represent approximately 0.06865% of its $20.1 billion sales, indicating minimal funding relative to revenue for these initiatives. The company has no revenue from products with direct negative health impacts.

Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

Kimberly-Clark Corporation is a consumer products company that manufactures and markets personal care, consumer tissue, and professional products. The company does not offer lending, deposit, or other financial services to consumers or businesses. Therefore, all KPIs related to financial products, services, or their impact on economic opportunity for underserved populations are not applicable. The company's activities, such as philanthropic grants (e.g., $14M in 2023

, $13.8M in 2024 from the K-C Foundation), product donations (e.g., nearly 300 million Huggies diapers since 2011 ), and social impact programs (e.g., impacting 311 million lives in vulnerable communities since 2015 ), focus on health, hygiene, and community well-being, rather than financial inclusion or wealth building through financial services. Internal employee financial literacy programs are offered, but the company is not a financial services provider to external customers.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

In 2024, social compliance audits identified 83 facilities with critical/major findings

, including 4 potential forced labor indicators , 4 discrimination findings , 98 health and safety findings , 18 hours of work findings , and 39 wages & benefits findings . The CEO-to-median employee pay ratio was 305 to 1 in 2024 . The Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) for employees was 0.64 in 2024 , with zero employee fatalities , though one fatality occurred involving a contract employee . 38% of global employees were covered by collective bargaining agreements in 2024 . The voluntary global turnover rate was 10% in 2024 . Contingent workers constituted 27.09% of the total workforce in 2024 .

Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing

Kimberly-Clark conducts over 200 supplier audits annually in high-risk regions and industries.

These audits assess compliance with social and environmental performance standards, including checks for child labor, forced labor, discrimination, and workplace health and safety. Non-compliant suppliers are required to complete corrective action plans. The company maintains a Supplier Code of Conduct and enhanced its human rights due diligence and supplier engagement processes in 2023, which included more robust risk segmentation and supply chain mapping.

Honest & Fair Business

While Kimberly-Clark has been recognized as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute for seven consecutive years (as of 2025)

and was ranked third on Barron's 100 Most Sustainable Companies in 2023 , the provided articles do not contain the specific quantitative data points required by the rubric's KPIs. There is no information on the total value of regulatory fines, specific transparency index scores, detailed whistleblower policy metrics (e.g., training frequency, uptake, resolution times), average number of financial restatements, percentage of audit coverage, severity-weighted ESG controversy scores, median complaint resolution times, or the percentage of board members free from conflicts of interest. Although an anti-corruption compliance framework is mentioned as strictly prohibiting bribery and adhering to global legislation , the articles lack the specific details on enforcement, training, or monitoring required to assign a tier for the anti_corruption_policy KPI. Therefore, no KPIs can be scored based on the given evidence.

Kind to Animals

Kimberly-Clark is not considered cruelty-free, with its policy stating that animal testing is performed only if required by law, regulation, or a governmental authority, or if no alternative method is available to ensure human safety prior to product use.

The company admits to voluntarily testing on animals under these conditions, particularly for products sold in markets like China where animal testing is legally mandated. However, Kimberly-Clark does utilize New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), including in vitro methods based on three-dimensional reconstructed human tissues for assessing skin and eye irritation potential, and in silico (computational toxicology) approaches. The company is actively incorporating additional NAMs for allergenicity potential. Kimberly-Clark advocates for regulatory and governmental agencies to support the elimination of laws and regulations requiring animal testing through an internationally harmonized approach. There is no evidence regarding humane certifications for operations, measurable wildlife conservation impact, substitution of animal-derived ingredients, animal welfare supplier audits, cage-free sourcing, animal testing volume, R&D investment in animal-free technologies, animal agriculture ethics, or animal-free R&D collaboration.

No War, No Weapons

Kimberly-Clark Corporation maintains a clear corporate ban on military sales, deriving 0% of its revenue from arms or defense contracts, and does not engage in weapons manufacturing.

The company has no exposure to any weapons, controversial or otherwise, and no defense assets to divest. For conflict minerals, 100% of direct suppliers responded to the supply chain survey with a completed Conflict Minerals Reporting Template or acceptable declaration as of May 15, 2025. Smelters and refiners listed by suppliers were compared to the Responsible Minerals Initiative list, and conformant facilities were confirmed. Due diligence measures were designed to conform in all material respects with the OECD framework, and no high-risk facilities were identified. The Supply Chain Human Rights program assesses more than 200 facilities annually in higher-risk geographies and industries.

Planet-Friendly Business

No specific, quantifiable data points were found in the provided articles that directly match the quantitative thresholds of the KPIs in the rubric for Planet-Friendly Business. While some articles mention emissions reduction percentages

or renewable energy initiatives for a single facility , they do not provide the total company-wide emissions in tCO₂e, the current overall percentage of renewable energy, or other specific metrics required by the rubric's scoring tiers.

Respect for Cultures & Communities

Kimberly-Clark's community engagement strategy focuses on women's and girls' empowerment, access to sanitation, and infant health.

Programs like 'Toilets Change Lives' have improved sanitation for over 10.7 million people, and 'No Baby Unhugged' has supported over 3 million caregivers. In 2023, the Latin American team mentored small sanitation businesses in Peru and Honduras. Kimberly-Clark Australia completed its inaugural Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan and launched the Innovate RAP to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, also supporting the Galiwin’ku Baby Hub via the Australian Red Cross. The company's policy addresses indigenous landholder rights and supports FSC certification. Employee resource groups, such as the Latin American Network for Diversity, organize cultural events like Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations.

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

Kimberly-Clark achieved a 16.4% reduction in its plastic footprint as of June 2024

. The company has set several waste reduction targets, including a 50% reduction in its plastic footprint by 2030 , 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable plastic packaging by 2025 , and 30% recycled or responsibly sourced content by 2025 . It has implemented multiple waste reduction initiatives, such as Project Ghar in India, which recycled 22.5 metric tons of plastic into 15 houses , and the RightCycle program, which diverted over 300 tons of non-hazardous lab waste by 2016 . The Huggies Free Recycling Program with TerraCycle also enables customers to recycle plastic packaging . Additionally, Kimberly-Clark collaborated to develop marine-degradable plastic alternatives and launched the GreenHarvest line, incorporating 20% sustainably sourced plant-based fibers into products .