“Care beyond skin”: Beiersdorf and WWF Germany partner on climate sustainability and supply chain solutions

04 Apr 2022 --- Global skincare company Beiersdorf and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Germany have strategically partnered on a three-year-long project to bolster the company’s sustainability efforts and its supply chain efficiencies.

Beiersdorf aims to strengthen its contribution to a circular economy by focusing on climate protection, regenerative water use, material circularity and sustainable land use.

“Companies play a crucial role in stopping the ongoing biodiversity loss,” says Dr. Martin Bethke, managing director, markets and companies at WWF Germany.

“As a global skincare company, we find it essential to contribute to our consumers, society and environment,” adds Jean-François Pascal, VP of corporate sustainability at Beiersdorf.

Holistic role of companies
Bethke comments: “They [companies] directly impact accelerating the transition to an economy that can function within the planetary boundaries.” Beiersdorf focuses on climate protection, regenerative water use, material circularity, and sustainable land use.

Beiersdorf has described its holistic approach as its “climate care” mission.

“This includes driving transformation for a sustainable future in their operations, value chains, and market and regulatory environment. WWF is pleased to be doing this with Beiersdorf directly in the company and the supply chain,” says Bethke.

Sustainability agenda and ‘climate care’ mission
“With our Sustainability Agenda ‘care beyond skin,’ we have set ourselves ambitious targets and are vigorously pursuing these,” says Pascal.

Beiersdorf states that measures in the supply chain are to ensure resources are deforestation-free and begin at the start of the supply chain. This also prevents the loss of biodiversity.

The company focuses on building up the sustainable cultivation for its key agricultural raw materials: palm oil, paper, soy and coconut.

WWF advises the company on expanding existing targets and adding new ones.

The company is taking measures such as using renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions released by raw materials, using recycled materials for packaging and sourcing raw materials from sustainable sources.

Partnership history
Since 2016, WWF Germany has provided advice on Beiersdorf’s climate strategy. Furthermore, it has reportedly been scientifically developing Beiersdorf’s climate target for its Consumer Business Segment.

As a result, WWF Germany and Beiersdorf concluded to aim to reduce “greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1-3) by 30% in absolute terms by 2025.”

Additionally, the two players have worked on two projects for sustainable palm oil cultivation and nature and species conservation in Malaysia and Indonesia.

First, in 2018 West Kalimantan, Indonesia, WWF and Beiersdorf implemented a project with smallholder farmers to prevent further deforestation, promote cultivating sustainable palm oil and improve farmer livelihood.

Second, Beiersdorf’s supplier Evonik, with WWF and the company itself, has been in a project since 2019. They provided a conservation area for endangered and rare species in Tabin, Sabah, Malaysia.

“The Tabin project entails three parallel approaches: Protecting existing forests and the species living there, promoting sustainable palm oil production in the adjacent plantations and restoring degraded land to create essential ecological corridors for local wildlife,” says Beiersdorf.

Edited by Venya Patel

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