Hamburg, December 13, 2022 – The Beiersdorf AG has been recognized by the non-profit organization CDP for its leadership in target setting, performance, and transparency in the areas of climate change, forests, and water security, earning it a place on its prestigious “A List” for all three dimensions. For the Hamburg-based DAX-listed company, this triple A acknowledgement is a milestone and a great recognition of the progress made in recent years towards achieving its ambitious sustainability commitments.
“We are proud and delighted to have been awarded a triple A rating by CDP this year,” says CEO Vincent Warnery to this year’s rating announcement. “We have made great efforts around the globe over the past years to drive the transformation of our business. CDP’s triple A rating is a tribute to our efforts to become leading in our industry in environmental sustainability, not only in ambitious target setting but also in taking action and being transparent. I thank all employees and partners along the supply chain for their strong support in implementing our CARE BEYOND SKIN Sustainability Agenda.”
Based on data collected by CDP on climate change, forests, and water security for 2022 from more than 15,000 companies, Beiersdorf is one of twelve companies to receive a triple A.
Jean-François Pascal, Vice President Corporate Sustainability at Beiersdorf, explains the companies’ climate strategy: “We have set ourselves an extremely ambitious climate target: an absolute 30% reduction in Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions by 2025, and our group’s climate targets are validated by the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi). We have made great progress since 2018. We managed to reduce emissions by 12.7% across all areas, despite the company’s growth.” Converting its skin care products, especially the large global assortments, to deliver significantly lower CO2 emissions is an important pillar of Beiersdorf’s roadmap towards a climate-caring future. Since the end of 2019, the company has been using 100% electricity from renewable sources for all production sites and affiliates worldwide and also converted its first production site in Berlin to be climate neutral as of January 2022 via the switch to biogas. It is the company’s mid-term target to achieve climate-neutral operations by 2030.
Beiersdorf has also made profound progress in the area of forests in the past years: The company has set itself 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 by the company in product formulations have been sourced exclusively from sustainable, certified sources. Projects are also underway in cooperation with the WWF Germany to train and support local smallholders in Indonesia and Malaysia in sustainable and thus deforestation-free cultivation. Furthermore, the company has also reached a milestone on water safety. For the skin care company water is a fundamental component of product formulas, plays a key role in production processes and is important during product use. As part of the strategic partnership with WWF Germany, Beiersdorf has conducted a global water risk analysis and is currently developing long-term 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).
For Maxfield Weiss, Executive Director, CDP Europe, this year’s ranking is remarkable in many ways: “CDP saw nearly 20,000 companies disclose environmental data this year, including 70% of European companies by market value. COP27 showed the need for transformational change is more critical than ever if we are to limit warming to 1.5 °C. I’m therefore delighted that European companies make up nearly half of all A List companies around the world, including 15 with two A scores and 8 with triple A scores for climate change, forests, and water security leadership. We must cut emissions by half and eliminate deforestation by 2030, alongside achieving water security on the same timescale – there is no route to 1.5 °C without nature. With the EU’s ground-breaking new reporting regulation, the CSRD, now agreed, CDP A List companies are showing they are ahead of the game – with approved 1.5 °C-aligned science-based targets for reducing emissions and clear action to address environmental impacts throughout their value chains. This is the type of environmental transparency and action we need economy-wide to prevent ecological collapse.’’
The full methodology and A List criteria can be found on the CDP website.
