As we work to build more sustainable sourcing practices throughout our supply chain at Bath & Body Works, an ingredient of immediate focus is palm oil. This is an ingredient we identified through our sustainable sourcing risk assessment, a tool that allows us to better understand the social and environmental implications of the materials used in the most critical areas of our business. One of the sustainability challenges with palm oil is deforestation caused by palm oil plantations that can have negative impacts to wildlife and biodiversity.
This year, we’re making progress on our sustainable palm journey by officially becoming a member of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). RSPO is the leading 3rd party membership organization and certification to promote the growth and use of sustainable palm oil through global standards. Solidifying our membership means a commitment to a reaching 100% certified palm oil. We also want to do our part to support more sustainable production models in the palm value chain. These efforts all contribute to Bath & Body Works initial commitment to source 100% sustainable palm oil through the purchases of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Mass Balance materials and Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) credits throughout our supply chain by 2030. This is an important first step as we pursue sourcing sustainable palm oil.
Getting on this path of ensuring that all our palm oil is sustainably sourced required an enormous amount of collaboration and research. We embarked on our sustainable palm oil journey in 2023. First, we worked to have a better understanding of what products and ingredients in our portfolio contained palm oil. A majority of our palm oil footprint is made of palm derivatives, which is palm oil that is processed further and used in materials that are in some of our most iconic products — like our candles.
Armed with the primary data on our palm oil footprint coupled with our new sustainability risk assessment tool, we established our palm baseline for 2022. We used the North American Sustainable Palm Oil Network’s list of palm derivatives to inform our baseline and start calculating our footprint. In parallel, our ESG data acquisition process which collects data from key packaging and formula suppliers, helped us review primary source and feedstock information where appropriate. All this information combined provided us with a more informed perspective on our palm oil usage. In calendar year 2022, we used approximately 26.5k metric tons of palm oil.1
We look forward to adapting our strategy in the future as we continue to learn, grow and align with evolving market trends and engage with our supply chain.
To learn more, check out our 2023 ESG report at bbwinc.com.
1Our palm oil baseline footprint is based on calendar year 2022 data and was calculated using a formula that multiplied our product weight, by the unit sales, by the percentage of palm derivative ingredients in the applicable products; this included all products that contain a material that is confirmed or potentially palm-derived. This baseline does not include the palm derivatives used to produce our fragrance oils.
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