The group presents the 2022/2023 report
The Davines group focuses on regenerative sustainability, with an integrated approach and a collaborative perspective. On the 40th anniversary of its birth, the Davines Group, a company active in the professional cosmetics sector with the Davines haircare and Comfort Zone skincare brands, presents the 2022/2023 Sustainability Report.
The Report, in addition to measuring the results achieved, also indicates the objectives to be achieved: a zero-emission future, the complete abolition of virgin plastic, promoting biodiversity and embracing a new concept of water that gives further impetus to sustainability commitments. Since 2016 the company has been certified B Corp and since 2019 it has transformed its legal form into a Benefit Company to reiterate, also at a statutory level, its commitment to generating a positive impact on society and the environment, beyond profit.
Among the three main areas of impact on which the performance of a B Corp is evaluated, People, Planet and Community, the Group stood out with significant performances in all three areas. Among over 5,000 B Corp in the world, the Davines Group is also Best of the World in 2022, i.e. among the top 5% for BIA score in the environmental impact area (B Impact Assessment, the system for measuring social and environmental impact of companies which for B Corp must not be less than 80 points). Since 2016, the year Davines was certified B Corp, the company has earned the award every year. In favor of the Planet, the Group’s commitment focuses on decarbonisation. But also on the circularity that the Group is implementing through the principles of eco-design and waste management, to simplify and reduce the use of materials on the one hand (the main focus is virgin plastic, of which the Group wants to eliminate the use) and on the other optimize waste recovery. For the Group, biodiversity plays a crucial role in sustainability efforts and takes shape in the experimentation of new regenerative organic farming practices, in the use of ingredients of natural origin and biodegradable. Starting from 2023, water has also become a priority in the strategic sustainability plan of the Davines Group, joining the three themes already existing in the Planet area (decarbonisation, biodiversity and circularity).
On the decarbonisation front, for example, in 2022 the Group signed its commitment with SBTI (Science Based Targets initiative) to limit global warming to 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels with the aim of achieving net zero emissions at the latest by 2050; furthermore, the Parma production plant together with the headquarters and branch offices has been carbon neutral since 2018 and another concrete objective is in the pipeline which is represented by the agrivoltaic project which the Group has the ambition to implement in the shortest possible time to reach produce 100% of the energy needed for the Davines Group Village in Parma.
In terms of commitment to biodiversity, thanks to the partnership with the non-profit organization Rodale Institute in the USA, the Davines Group created the European Regenerative Organic Center (Eroc) in 2021, the first European training and research center in the field of regenerative organic agriculture located in front of the Davines Group Village in Parma. The 17 hectares of land allocated to the project allow us to experiment with new agricultural practices to research and identify new organic and high-performance active ingredients for the cosmetics industry, to promote research on topics such as carbon fixation in the soil, biodiversity and the reduction of water consumption, to educate farmers and the public on the principles of regenerative organic agriculture and finally to promote a higher certification standard in the production of organic active ingredients. Not only that: 82.7% of the ingredients used by the company are naturally derived; 78.3% rapidly biodegradable ingredients; 5 ingredients from regenerative organic agriculture used in the formulas, 12 ingredients from Slow Food presidia, 29.4% of the raw materials purchased with social and/or environmental certification.
Circularity chapter: 64.1% of packaging is made of recycled, bio-based and mass-balance plastic, with a positive increase compared to the previous Sustainability Report (62.9% of packaging made of recycled or bio-based plastic); from 2014 to 2022, 903.3 tonnes of fossil virgin plastic were avoided thanks to the use of recycled plastic or from renewable sources, thus limiting the impact of the products.
In the People area the intent is to make sustainability a key variable in decision-making processes and to develop and improve the skills of the Group’s people: 100% of managers at every organizational level of the Parma office have objectives related to sustainability, the latter have also been extended to 100% of the first levels of the branches; 63.1% of managerial roles in the company are held by women and within the Leadership Team, the Group’s governance body, 30% of positions are held by women; 100% of permanent collaborators (one year after hiring and excluding managers) have access to Davines Care, the welfare platform dedicated to the well-being of collaborators and their families based in Parma through the offer of benefits and services.
The Community area is the one in which the results of the integrated and collaborative approach of the Davines Group’s sustainable strategy are most evident. The Community area includes the B Corp Beauty Coalition project, an alliance founded in January 2022 by the Davines Group, together with 25 other B Corporations certified companies, to improve sustainability standards in the beauty industry. In 2022, the B Corp Beauty Coalition more than doubled the number of its members to 58 (to date 70). In March 2023, the coalition released the B Beauty Navigator, an open-access navigation tool created by the coalition’s three working groups to help beauty companies and shoppers make more informed, greener sourcing decisions of ingredients, in the choice of packaging and logistics.
In 2022, the Davines Group reached and exceeded the set target of 6% of the number of suppliers working according to an ethical code of conduct, increasing it by 18% and thus reaching a total of 72.9%. Not only that: sustainability in the supply chain is an important challenge for the Davines Group. To achieve full transparency on each ingredient, suppliers are carefully selected and encouraged to give priority to sustainability: in 2022, 3 new suppliers from the Parma headquarters have become B Corp. Since 2016, thanks to this advocacy activity in favor of the B movement Corp, the Davines Group has encouraged 15 suppliers from the Parma office, 2 international distributors and 2 international salons to become B Corp.
Source-www.adnkronos.com