The Bravo Global Good Award award honors companies that take a proactive approach to environmental, philanthropic and social responsibility issues. In this, its second year of existence, the DSN Awards Panel chose to recognize the incredible work being done by Natura &Co.
Natura &Co is a group of four purpose-driven businesses, Avon, Natura, The Body Shop and Aesop, that believes that business can—and should—be a force for good. That’s why in June 2020, they launched their Commitment to Life Sustainability Vision to do their part in tackling some of the world’s most urgent and challenging issues including:
- Addressing the climate crisis and protecting the Amazon;
- Defending human rights and being what they call “human kind;” and
- Embracing circularity and regeneration.
They strive to always balance profit with people and the planet. They also believe that what gets measured gets done, so these ambitious goals are diligently measured against 31 metrics and targets to ensure Natura &Co is a company that always gives back to the world more than it takes.
We recently sat down with Ana Costa, Vice President of Legal and Government Affairs for Natura &Co Latin America to get her thoughts on how their commitment to be a force for good in the world is helping their business and the planet in equally impactful ways.
Creating Opportunity for Everyone
One integral part in Natura &Co’s overarching mission to make the world a better place through its Commitment to Life is to defend human rights and be “human kind” by creating stringent metrics surrounding inclusion and diversity.
“We believe that a truly inclusive workforce focuses on all aspects of culture, including gender, but also beyond it,” explained Costa. “And with diversity comes greater innovation and creativity; a breadth of skills and perspectives; and higher employee morale. These are benefits that every business should welcome.”
When it comes to women in leadership, Natura &Co’s aim was to go beyond the UN SDG goal of 30 percent of women in leadership, increasing their goal to 50 percent by 2023. They hit that mark two years early in 2021, reaching a 50.4 percent balance.
But Natura &Co plans to go even farther. As Costa shared, “We have also committed to delivering a living wage for our people in more than 100 countries by 2023 and are working towards 30 percent inclusion of underrepresented groups across our management levels. This includes six factors: ethnicity, the socioeconomically disadvantaged, sexual diversity, gender identity and physical or mental disability.
Protecting the Environment
Natura &Co. recognizes the importance of protecting the planet and doing its part to maintain the highest standards of sustainability, integrity and transparency. That is why the company made a bold commitment to become Net Zero across their entire value chain.
To do this, they have pledged to set science-based targets across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 by 2022. These goals—both short and long-term—are in line with the Science Based Targets Initiative. “We’ve been working with the Carbon Trust to consolidate our organizational footprints,” Costa explained. “Throughout 2021, our first step to address our ambition to become Net Zero was to create a task force consisting of people from the group and the brands to calculate our GHG (greenhouse gas) inventory and create a GHG inventory baseline for Natura &Co.”
Additionally, Natura &Co is the world’s largest B Corp which means they are certified as a company that meets the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.
“Being a B Corp means striving for continuous improvement, which is what we all will need to do to create a fairer, more sustainable world. We will never stop reaching higher and going further to generate positive impact,” Costa said.
Making a Difference
Natura &Co’s commitment to being a positive force in the world—both for the environment and for human rights—is impressive and makes them a deserving recipient of the Bravo Global Good Award. Costa accepted the award on behalf of the company via video during the DSN Global Celebration.
“Our channel has proven to be more resilient and relevant than ever before, showing that direct selling can make a great contribution and difference to our society,” she said. “Receiving the Global Good Award is proof that Natura &Co is on a good path. We’d like to express our sincere gratitude and honor at receiving this award. Thank you!”
From the June 2022 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.
