Chaired by Jayn Sterland, Managing Director of Weleda UK, the SBC was formed in the summer of 2021 by the British Beauty Council as one of the recommendations from its ground-breaking sustainability report ‘Courage to Change’, published the previous year. The SBC is made up of industry experts, brand owners and industry body representatives from across the sector.
During COP26, the Sustainable Beauty Coalition hosted ‘Planet Positive’ a hybrid event broadcast live from the ICE Hub in Glasgow, hosted by Kathleen Baird-Murray, featuring SBC Chair Jayn Sterland, and members Jessi Baker MBE, Helen Cox, Oriele Frank, Jo Chidley, and Michelle Feeney. The webinar coincided with the launch of the SBC’s first Planet Positive Beauty Guide, which decodes some of the most-found jargon existing within the beauty industry today, helping consumers to better understand some of the key issues and suggest some things to look out for.
Speaking on her appointment as Vice Chair of the Steering Committee, Jo Chidley, says “It’s so motivating to see a unified committee of experts and representatives from various backgrounds in the beauty industry ready to collaborate and share knowledge. There’s a long way to go, but we have achieved a lot of momentum in a short space of time, and the launch of the Planet Positive Beauty Guide which was created to help consumers understand how to make greener beauty choices, has accelerated this.”
When asked about how businesses in the sector can become more sustainable, Jo explained that “sustainability shouldn’t be seen as a marketing tool; it needs to be applied to the essence of a business including ingredients, packaging, people, and sourcing. Honesty, authenticity, and transparent communication with consumers around product claims and packaging is a starting point to becoming more sustainable”.
Find out more about the SBC here.
