Rooted in our history, the Beiersdorf promise to protect, care and nurture is driving positive action for a more sustainable future. Combating and mitigating climate change is the central challenge of our time and as one of the largest skin care companies in the world, we recognize our role in tackling this.
We care for skin and beyond
Since 2020, our CARE BEYOND SKIN Sustainability Agenda has been an integral part of our corporate C.A.R.E+ strategy. Our sustainability agenda is focused on seven areas that look to minimize our impact on the environment, support a more inclusive society and promote the health and well-being of our consumers. All Beiersdorf brands, including NIVEA, are working towards these common goals as, collectively, this is the way we can make the biggest impact as a company.
Our ambitious targets
Our aim is to make a measurable and positive contribution to our environment and society with ambitious commitments to foster a more inclusive society – inspiring consumers to also CARE BEYOND SKIN along the way. Our environmental targets focus on climate, circular resources, water and land use.
We are taking a holistic approach to driving climate protection forward at all levels in our company. We have set ourselves one of the most ambitious targets in our industry: to reduce our absolute greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3) by 30% by 2025 compared to 2018. Our climate target is based on the latest scientific findings and is recognized by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
Furthermore, Beiersdorf has signed a long-term voluntary commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. We have been working with external consulting firms to develop a net-zero strategy in line with the standard published by SBTi in 2021 and which will be submitted to SBTi in 2023.
Our progress
Since 2018, we have succeeded in reducing emissions by 17% in all areas despite corporate growth. Since 2019, we have been using 100% electricity from renewable sources for all production sites and affiliates worldwide. We also converted our first production site in Berlin to operate climate neutral as of January 2022 via the switch to biogas. By 2030 our target is to achieve climate-neutral operations in all our factories.
As protecting forests (and biodiversity) and other natural carbon sinks are crucial to fighting climate change, we have also set ourselves the target of zero deforestation for the sourcing of key renewable raw materials such as palm, soy, and paper by 2025. Already since the end of 2021, the palm (kernel) oil derivatives used in product formulations have been sourced exclusively from sustainable, certified sources. Projects are also underway in cooperation with WWF Germany to train and support local smallholders in Indonesia and Malaysia in sustainable and deforestation-free cultivation. Furthermore, we have also reached a milestone related to water security. As part of the strategic partnership with WWF Germany, we have conducted a global water risk analysis and are currently developing long-term context-based water targets that go beyond the current target to reduce water in the production process by 25% per manufactured product by 2025 (base year 2018).
Due to these efforts and commitments, we were awarded for our outstanding sustainability performance in 2022: We received a “Triple A” rating by global environmental non-profit CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) for excellent scores for target setting, performance and transparency within the areas of climate change, forests and water security. Over 15,000 companies worldwide participate at CDP, and we are among the 13 companies which received a triple A rating. This milestone demonstrates the progress made in recent years towards achieving our ambitious sustainability commitments. More info can be found in our press release here: Beiersdorf recognized with “CDP Triple A” for sustainability progress | Beiersdorf.
Learn more about us here: Our Commitments | Beiersdorf
