Natura &Co - one year in to the Commitment to Life

By Deanna Utroske

- Last updated on GMT

© Getty Images \ (wildpixel)
© Getty Images \ (wildpixel)

Related tags Natura & Co Biodiversity equality

This month, the Brazil-based multinational beauty maker shared an update on its Commitment to Life, a corporate social responsibility initiative focused on “some of the world’s most pressing issues” first announced in June 2020.

Natura &Co’s 2030 Commitment to Life objectives encompass climate change, human rights, and circularity. The company references the 2015 Paris Agreement when it comes to issues of climate change and sees regional biodiversity as an underlying factor that can support the agreement’s mandates.

According to a media release previewing Natura &Co’s 2021 update on the Commitment to Life, “The company supports the creation of science-based targets for biodiversity as Natura &Co believes that without a bold plan to reverse nature loss, the goals of the Paris Agreement will never be achieved.”

Natura &Co invests to protect nature and the Amazon biome

Cosmetics Design reported on the beauty maker’s Commitment to Life when it was first announced, noting the company’s plans to protect biodiversity and work toward zero deforestation in the Amazon​.  

Now this month, Natura &Co has announced an Amazon biome monitoring tool called PlenaMata, built in partnership with MapBiomas​ (an initiative of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimation System) and InfoAmazônia​ (a media organization dedicated to geojournalism in the Amazon).

“The climate crisis is the defining challenge of our time,” ​says Roberto Marques, Executive Chairman and Group CEO at Natura &Co, in his remarks to the press this week. “It will be incumbent upon the private sector to step up and push for change in order for the goals of the Paris Agreement to become a reality.”

Explaining further, Marques says, “Our business model holds ourselves accountable to balance profit and purpose, which is why we will always report our social and environmental performance with the same transparency as we do our financial performance. With 75% of Fortune 500 companies not having carbon neutral commitments by 2030 in place, it's clear that the world has a long way to go.”

Equity, diversity, and inclusion key to Natura &Co’s Commitment to Life

Human rights issues are a big part of the company’s 2030 initiative too. And the company that owns global brand such as Avon, Aesop, The Body Shop, and Natura, has captured the attention of the United Nations with its efforts.

“I am grateful to Natura &Co for convening this important dialogue on diversity equity and inclusion,” ​says Sanda Ojiambo, CEO and Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, in her remarks to the press this week.

“While we´ve made some great strides toward the SDGs, persistent inequality threatens to derail our progress with gender inequality the most glaring of all and the COVID19 crisis has made the economic gender gap even wider,” ​explains Ojiambo.

“Embracing diversity and inclusion has proven not only the right thing to do but also the smart thing to do,” ​she adds, continuing on: “I congratulate Natura &Co on their ambitious targets. Target setting is crucial for progress on diversity and inclusion, because what gets measured gets done. Our workforce should reflect the diverse world in which we live in. Responsible business leaders can and must set the tone from the top, because the evidence is clear, when women and other underrepresented groups are empowered, everybody wins.”

Again, Natura &Co CEO Marques emphasizes the role that corporate business can and must play here, saying, “social justice will continue to be an aspiration unless businesses step up to ensure diversity and inclusion through every aspect of their structure and its entire network in which they participate. Our Commitment to Life ​vision is ambitious, but with collaboration, creativity, and care, we will achieve it.”

 

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