Environmental, Social & Governance
Building a sustainable and equitable future for the businesses that exist within the hair, beauty and wellness industry is one of the British Beauty Council’s long-term goals.
Co-Pillar Presidents:

Jayn Sterland
managing director, weleda uk
Jayn Sterland is Managing Director of Weleda (UK and Ireland), the natural beauty and wellness company founded by Rudolf Steiner nearly 100 years ago.
As a lifelong environmentalist, she is a champion of sustainability and a committed campaigner for cleaner beauty and environmental responsibility.
Jayn has once again been voted No 1 in the industry Top 25 ‘Who’s Who in Natural Beauty, a title she has retained for the past 4 years.

Joanne Cooke
Non-Executive Director
Previously Trading Director for Beauty & Sports Nutrition at Holland and Barrett, Joanne Cook Has been working in the beauty industry developing, sourcing and buying products for UK retailers for almost twenty years.
ENVIRONMENTAL TOPICS AND DEFINITIONS
Sustainable supply chain
Sustainable supply chain
Assessing and managing your supply chains environmental and human health risks. You can do this by working with supply chain partners to adhere sustainable supply chain standards, for example sourcing ingredients and natural materials (e.g., coffee, cacao, cotton, palm oil, and wood, paper, pulp).
Biodiversity and healthy ecosystems
Biodiversity and healthy ecosystems
You should assess the risks and impacts to interconnected ecosystems by business activities. You can mitigate those risks and impacts by supporting biodiversity and protecting, regenerating, and restoring environmental ecosystems.
Climate change resiliency
Climate change resiliency
Develop a long-term strategy to forecast, mitigate, and adapt both your company and communities to physical and transition risks and opportunities posed by climate change. You should try to mitigate impacts of severe weather events and changing climate patterns on both human health and operations, and support the resiliency of communities before, during, and after severe weather events.
Responsible waste management and reduction within operations
Responsible waste management and reduction within operations
Businesses should responsibly and sustainably handle waste materials (e.g., hazardous waste, non-hazardous waste, chemicals, recyclable items, items for potential reuse, and recovered items through waste recovery) from stores, distribution centres, corporate offices and other facilities.
Sustainable products/ packaging and circular economy
Sustainable products/ packaging and circular economy
Reducing the negative impacts of product plastics and plastic packaging in your brand products and goods resold to consumers. Optimise efforts in packaging to reduce plastic use, increase recyclability or composability, and minimise single-use plastics through programmes such as product take-back and packaging disposal.
Energy and emissions
Energy and emissions
Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and air pollution by reducing your energy usage, electrification, switching to renewable energy sources, and driving overall reduction activities in operations and value chain.
Water resources
Water resources
Promoting and fostering the sustainable management of water resources. You should work to improve water efficiency over time and reduce water consumption and use in operations.
DEI TOPICS AND DEFINITIONS
Animal welfare
Animal welfare
Support the humane treatment of animals and contributing to efforts (e.g., research or financial support) to develop alternative methods to reduce or eliminate the testing of products or ingredients on animals.
Diversity, equity and inclusion
Diversity, equity and inclusion
Businesses should mantain and foster a culture that recognises and creates equitable opportunities for a diverse representation of people. Make sure that workplaces are inclusive and respectful of others to be their authentic selves, and free of discrimination to builds a sense of belonging among employees and consumers. Provide meaningful work opportunities for employees who reflect the diverse customers and communities you serve. Strengthening procurement practices to increase the number of diverse suppliers.
Employee health and safety
Employee health and safety
Employees should be kept healthy and safe by maintaining high standard working conditions, complying with regulations, and conforming with company policies.
Health equity, access and affordability
Health equity, access and affordability
Human rights in the supply chain
Human rights in the supply chain
Work with supply chin partners to protect fundamental rights and adhere to standards for supply chain sustainability and human rights (e.g., working conditions, anti-slavery, anti-trafficking, freedom of expression, freedom of association and collective bargaining, conflict minerals).
Employee wellbeing and investment
Employee wellbeing and investment
Commit and invest in human capital by attracting, developing and retaining talent, including the prioritisation of employee mental health and the provision of development opportunities that enable skills development and professional growth. Good practice includes offering fair compensation and benefits to employees and committing to continued employee engagement.
GOVERNANCE TOPICS AND DEFINITIONS
Business compliance and ethical conduct
Business compliance and ethical conduct
Operate with ethics, integrity and comply with relevant regulations and the highest standards of ethical and lawful conduct. You should implement policies and procedures that protect your people and prohibit bribery and other forms of corruption. Fostering a transparent corporate culture where employees, officers and directors practice sound ethics.
Corporate governance
Corporate governance
Strong risk management structure and internal ESG oversight enables fair, effective and transparent governance, stakeholder communication and clear accountability. This structure supports managing economic, political and societal pressures that may pose risks to business if not handled appropriately by national or subnational governments or agencies.
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Data privacy and security
Data privacy and security
Businesses should have safeguards in place against cyber-attacks, security threats, operational disruptions and data breaches.Â
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Engagement in public policy
Engagement in public policy
Advocating on topics of importance to the beauty industry and consumers (e.g. mental health and wellbeing, animal testing, regulation, education and training, sustainability, social mobility).
Innovation and digitalisation
Innovation and digitalisation
Remaining competitive in the marketplace through investment in innovative products, services and technologies.
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Product labelling and transparency
Product labeling and transparency
Fair and responsible marketing communications, as well as access to information about the ingredients of products, and their proper use and disposal, helping consumers make informed choices.Â