Natura & Co ramps up environmental efforts with new pledge

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Jul 29, 2019

Natura & Co., the Brazilian global personal care and cosmetics company, has launched a new commitment to the environment as part of its ‘Business Ambition for 1.5°C: Our Only Future’ campaign.

The campaign, announced in anticipation of the UN Climate Action Summit in September, means the company will now pledge to limit its contribution to global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees celsius (2.7 degrees fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels and reaching net-zero emissions by no later than 2050, according to a press release.

The commitment takes its name from troubling data detailed in a special report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which warned of major consequences should global warming exceed 1.5 degrees celsius, some of which may be long-lasting or irreversible.

According to the report, the effects of a global warming crisis caused by a temperature increase higher than 1.5 degrees would disproportionately impact disadvantaged and vulnerable populations, some indigenous peoples, and communities dependent on agricultural or coastal livelihoods, as well as regions including Arctic ecosystems, dryland regions, small island developing states, and ‘Least Developed Countries.’

The IPCC anticipates that an increase in global warming would cause poverty and disadvantage to increase in some populations, and that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius could reduce the number of people both exposed to climate-related risks and susceptible to poverty by up to several hundred million by 2050.

In addition to Natura, 21 other companies have pledged to make the same environmental commitment.
 
"It is very encouraging to see these climate leaders in the global business community taking action,” said Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Climate Action Summit. “By sending strong market signals, these companies are showing governments that they need to urgently ramp up their national plans in line with the latest climate science."

Natura operates as a certified B Corporation, a business committed to ethical social, environmental and legal performance. Its subsidiaries include Aesop, The Body Shop and Avon Products, which Natura finalized an agreement to buy in May. The new environmental pledge marks the first major commitment made by Natura since its acquisition of both brands, the company said.