Rituals Cosmetics has taken a big leap forward in its sustainability journey by committing to halving the CO2 emissions per product sold by 2023 (versus 2021), reaching Net-Zero by 2050.

The announcement sets concrete goals for the company, in line with the Science Based Targets initiative (the standard for driving climate action for businesses) and the Paris Agreement (to limit global warming to 1.5°C).

It follows the release of Rituals’ Sustainability Report in 2021, in which the company’s Founder and CEO Raymond Cloosterman stressed the need to “make conscious choices that will have a positive societal and environmental impact for years to come”, and highlighted the company’s recent B Corp Certification. 

“Sustainability remains top of mind for travelling consumers who are increasingly looking to align with brands that contribute to the wellbeing of our planet,” said Rituals Global Travel Retail Director Melvin Broekaart.

“To ensure transparency and accountability, our annual sustainability report details our goals and efforts in this hugely important area. 

“One of these key goals is to join the Net-Zero pathway, the next step in our ongoing journey towards sustainable wellbeing.”

Rituals is actively working to reduce its environmental footprint through its Clean, Conscious & Caring strategy, and is contributing to a low carbon future by reducing the greenhouse gas emissions generated on its own operations and value chain, as well as by supporting a number of nature restoration projects outside of its value chain, such as by planting, protecting and restoring mangroves in India and Kenya.

Over the past few years, the company has recognised a number of key achievements in reducing its carbon footprint, including over 20% of sales coming from refillable products and corresponding refills (avoiding over 4.5 million kg CO2-eq emissions in the process) and saving over 397,598 kg of virgin plastic by introducing recycled plastics for the majority of its PET packaging.

In addition, nearly 80% of product formulations in its scope transitioned to at least 90% natural origin over a two-year period. 

Now, on the pathway to Net-Zero, joining the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for its Race To Zero campaign, Rituals is turning its attention to five ‘hotspot’ areas, including transitioning formulations to low-carbon ingredients, expanding its assortment of refillable packaging and reducing the impact of marketing and store materials. 

Seeking collaborations with suppliers and other players in the beauty industry forms part of this.

Rituals’ goals have been developed and are in the process of being submitted to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), after which they will be validated by the organisation.