As The Body Shop turns forty, it has unveiled a new global CSR strategy.
The Commitment is part of the retailer‘s pledge to sustainability, and will be an extensive programme of global activity and measurable targets that touches all areas of the business, to be delivered by 2020.
“The Body Shop courageously pioneered new ways of thinking, acting and speaking out as a company,” said Jeremy Schwartz, Chairman and CEO.
“Our ground-breaking campaigns were ahead of their time and changed laws on animal testing, domestic violence and human trafficking. We were the first in beauty to use community trade and we still have the strongest programme in the industry. We are small, but we lead. Today for all of us, the greatest challenges lie ahead…For us, being truly sustainable means shaping our business to work in line with the planet‘s natural systems so they can replenish and restore themselves…We have set ourselves a significant goal to be the world‘s most ethical and truly sustainable global business.”
Under each of The Commitment‘s three pillars, “enrich our people, enrich our products and enrich our planet,” The BodyShop has specific, measurable targets by 2020 that make the business accountable for delivery.
In total there are 14 targets within the new Commitment which are:
Enrich our People
ӢDouble our Community Trade programme from 19 to 40 ingredients and help enrich communities that produce them
ӢHelp 40,000 economically vulnerable people access work around the world
”¢Engage 8m people in Enrich Not Exploitâ„¢ Commitment mission, creating biggest campaign ever
ӢInvest 250,000 hours of skills and know-how to enrich the biodiversity of local communities
Enrich our Products
ӢEnsure 100% of natural ingredients are traceable and sustainably sourced, protecting 10,000 hectares of forest and other habitats
ӢReduce year on year the environmental footprint of all product categories
ӢPublish use of ingredients of natural origin, ingredients from green chemistry, and the biodegradability and water footprint of our products
ӢDevelop an innovation pipeline that delivers pioneering cosmetic ingredients from biodiversity hotspots and which helps to enrich these areas
Enrich our Planet
ӢBuild Bio-Bridges, protecting and regenerating 75m sq m of habitat helping communities to live more sustainably
ӢReduce the environmental footprint of stores every time they are refurbished or redesigned
ӢDevelop and deliver three new sustainable packaging innovations
ӢEnsure that 70% of total product packaging does not contain fossil fuels
ӢPower 100% of stores with renewable or carbon balanced energy
ӢReduce by 10% the energy use of all stores every year
“Our new Commitment combines all the experience and knowledge of our expert people with new advances in science and technology, added Chris Davis, International CSR and Campaigns Director.
“It means understanding how our business is contributing to our existence on the planet, understanding what we need to change to contribute to a sustainable future by working backwards from a visionary end point to the here and now and asking ourselves what comes next. We‘ll continue to work in partnership with suppliers, NGOs, academics, governments and other businesses to deliver the innovation and changes needed to make our ambitions a reality.”
