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CSR & Sustainability: How the Beauty Industry is Cleaning up
The beauty industry is cleaning up its image by investing in a
raft of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
& sustainability initiatives.
Beauty companies have historically received
much criticism for unethical and non-environmentally friendly business
practices that include animal testing, unsustainable
sourcing and chemical pollution.
However, pressure from consumers,
the media and retailers such as
Wal-Mart with its Sustainability Index, cosmetic and ingredient
companies are making progress in becoming ‘good corporate citizens’.
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Range of initiatives
Green has become the new black. Whether
sustainability has always been part of their
corporate DNA or not, corporations are falling all over
themselves to demonstrate to customers that they are not only
ecologically conscious, but also increasingly
ethical.
From natural cosmetics firm Burt’s Bees to
global giant Unilever, from premium brand Nuxe
to mass market brand
Ushuaïa (both of
which have launched organic lines),
the entire beauty industry seems to
be jumping on
the green bandwagon. Even ultra-chic
brands, such as La Prairie and
Chantecaille seem to be concerned about
protecting our planet. While La Prairie is giving
EUR 1 to the Ocean Features Society for
each sale of its Advanced Marine Biology Cream, Chantecaille is
donating 5% of sales
from its La Baleine make-up collection to The International
Union for Conservation of Nature.
CSR & sustainability initiatives vary
greatly in the beauty industry. Some
companies, such as the Body Shop, focus on ethical sourcing;
others are focusing on biodiversity preservation
like Yves Rocher, which has planted
more than 5 million trees.
Packaging is receiving much interest because of
its high environmental footprint; many cosmetic companies are
looking at packaging reduction.
For instance, Caudalie
has saved 7.6 tons of paper by
simply printing instructions on the inside
of packaging instead of leaflets. Lush has
gone further by offering 55% of its products with no packaging at
all, while Aveda uses PET bottles made of
100% Post-Consumer
Regrind (PCR) content.
Several beauty companies, especially
large multinationals,
are taking a holistic approach to sustainability
which enables them to tackle various
issues simultaneously.
Such companies are lowering the
environmental impact of their cosmetic
products by using greener formulations,
reducing packaging and also cutting
greenhouse gas emissions, waste, energy &
water consumption; they are also looking at
social dimensions, such as ethical
supply chains and
corporate philanthropy. These
efforts are being acknowledged:
L’Oréal was listed in the Global
100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World in 2008 and 2009.
Avon Products, Procter & Gamble,
Estée Lauder Companies and Colgate-Palmolive
were all in the top 40 of Newsweek 2009
Green Rankings, an environmental ranking of America's 500 largest
corporations.
Greater options available
Huge progress has been made in recent years in the number and
types of sustainable raw materials available. Formulators now have
access to a wide palette of natural, organic and
/ or fair trade ingredients.
Some raw material suppliers - such as
Cognis with its Green Chemical Solutions - are publishing
guides to assist formulators with
ingredient selection and use.
Packaging companies are providing similar green
options, although the idea of making
environmentally-friendly packaging is
nothing new. Almost all packaging firms
offer green solutions: from
lightweight containers to products made of recyclable materials, PCR
plastics or glass, biopolymers or natural
sustainable materials such as bamboo.
However, cosmetic companies should be mindful
that the use of new sustainable
materials can have unknown ethical
consequences. For example, some natural cosmetic ingredients and
bio-plastics such as Poly
Lactic Acid (PLA) are
made from food crops. By harvesting
these crops to make beauty products,
environmentally-conscious companies can
contribute to food inflation in
developing countries.
Consumer confusion
Despite the fact that a growing number
of beauty companies are communicating their green initiatives and
publishing CSR & sustainability annual
reports, research shows that the majority
of consumers do not know or are uncertain what
companies support sustainable values or which products are
sustainable. The growing plethora of eco-labels
and seals is making consumers
sceptical about green claims. Moreover, there is
growing evidence that consumers are unsure of what the word
'sustainability'
means.
In 2009, an
international survey commissioned by WPP
agencies, polled 5,000 consumers
about green products, companies and brands. American consumers
ranked the greenest brands in their country, with
Burt's Bees and Tom's of Maine coming
2nd and 3rd. Unilever’s Dove
surprisingly grabbed the 10th spot. It is hard to
see what makes Dove a green brand. Perhaps Dove's Campaign
for Real Beauty leads consumers
to believe a
brand that wants to free women from beauty stereotypes is also
likely to be green.
The survey highlights the difficulties consumers have in identifying
green brands, and
also the problems
companies have in communicating their CSR & sustainability actions.
Related Report:
#7091-60
Strategic Insights: CSR & Sustainability in the Beauty Industry
Sustainable Cosmetics Summit
CSR and sustainability initiatives in the beauty industry
are a regular
feature of the Sustainable Cosmetics
Summit. The summit looks at how beauty companies can lower
their environmental and social footprints by investing in green
formulations, sustainable packaging, certification programmes,
biodiversity & ethical supply chains. The series of summits features
leading organisations involved in such initiatives.
The
next edition of the summit will take place in
Paris
on 28-30th
November
2012.
More
details are on the
website
Posted: May 18th 2010
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