Sustainability Factsheet

June 2020 Commentary

Environmental

• Ahead of World Environment Day, Reckitt Benckiser put out a release committing to accelerating its delivery of the Paris Climate Change Agreement goals by reducing the carbon emissions of its sites by 65% and powering operations with 100% renewable electricity by 2030, thereby moving towards net zero carbon emission by 2040. Since 2012 Reckitt has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions and water usage by 42% and 37% respectively.
• Unilever announced that they will invest €1bn into a new “climate and nature fund”over the next 10 years. The fund will back projects including “landscape restoration, reforestation, carbon sequestration, wildlife protection and water preservation”. The company also mentioned that:
  • They continue to pursue the goal of no carbon emissions from Unilever’s own operations and to halve the greenhouse gas footprint of their products across the value chain by 2030. Today they announced a further goal: net zero emissions from all their products by 2039 – from the sourcing of the materials they use, up to the point of sale of products in stores.
  • 89% of their forest-related commodities are certified as sustainably sourced to globally recognised standards.
  • They will achieve a deforestation-free supply chain by 2023. Unilever is planning to monitor its suppliers using satellite images.
  • They will implement water stewardship programmes for local communities in 100 locations by 2030 and will aim to make their product formulations biodegradable by 2030.
  • Finally, they plan to start adding carbon emissions information on product labels. The labels will say how much greenhouse gas was emitted in the process of manufacturing and shipping.

• The PespiCo Foundation is pledging to invest $3m in India to improve access to water in areas with a high risk of drought in West Bengal and Maharashtra. 

• L’Oréal announced that it has developed a “Product Environmental & Social Impact Labelling mechanism” to rate products (on a scale of A to E) according to a system that has been endorsed and verified by independent experts.  L’Oréal has also updated its sustainability targets:

1. By 2025, all L’Oréal sites will be carbon neutral and will use 100% renewable energy.
2. By 2030, 100% of the plastic used in packaging will be from either recycled or bio-based sources.
3. By 2030, L’Oréal will reduce greenhouse gas emissions per finished product by 50% vs. 2016.

Social

• Noting that the restaurant industry is among the ‘most unhealthy’ places to work from a mental health perspective, Starbucks offers free access to the meditation app Headspace. So far, 68,000 employees have taken advantage of this offer and 5,000 employees participated in the company’s Mental Health Matters online forum.
• Estée Lauder’s CEO and Chairman, Fabrizio Freda, addressed all employees in a letter saying that the company:

1. Stands in solidarity with their black employees, black consumers and black communities and firmly believe that black lives matter.
2. Will start buying more supplies from black-owned businesses, will hire more black employees and will expand diversity training programmes.
3. Will donate $10m to racial equality organisations over the next 3 years.

• PayPal declared it will invest $530m in businesses owned by African Americans and under-represented minorities. Of this, $10m will be handed out in $10,000 lumps to help businesses re-open following the lockdown.

Last Month RRI Change

• Stryker’s RepRisk Indicator has increased in June because the UK competition commission raised concerns that the company’s purchase of the Wright Medical Group may create a lack of effective competition in the ankle prostheses market in the UK.