Going climate-neutral

When beauty is passion, this should be especially true when it comes to protecting something particularly beautiful: our planet. As an owner-managed company in the third generation, sustainability is part of Babor’s corporate philosophy. Let’s take a look at how it presents its future plans as an example of a company that wants to take care of our future. They call it the Green Agenda 2025 and include three main priorities: CO2, packaging and ingredients. Customers examine how products are made and what ingredients they contain. The decision of what to buy is based on that. It is therefore important to create transparency about sustainability. It is not to be perfect, but honest. For example, not all carbon dioxide emissions can be avoided today. However,the goal is to reduce them by 50% at Babor by 2025.

Bye, CO2

Thanks to green electricity, photovoltaics and climate-neutral natural gas, production at the headquarters in Aachen has been climate-neutral since 2014. The entire company has been carbon neutral since 2020. Together with ClimatePartner, the company has carried out a detailed calculation of the CO2 footprint and is implementing its own measures to offset all emissions that the company cannot yet prevent. Today, it offsets the emissions caused by the company and its employees, as well as emissions related to the supply chain of products – from the delivery of raw materials to the delivery of the finished product to the customer. Overall, this results in a compensation of 8,050,770 kg CO2 – this corresponds to the CO2 emissions of 2,300 long-haul flights from Düsseldorf to New York. A dedicated wind farm in the Philippines helps. At the same time, the company supports the global Plastic Bank initiative. People in Haiti, Indonesia and the Philippines harvest plastic waste from beaches, which also helps increase their income. This plastic is recycled as a social plastic so that new products can be created from it. In principle, it is recommended to focus even more on goals in the future than to compensate for measures.

The office building uses sustainable technology and, thanks to geothermal energy, a gas-powered combined heat and power unit (CHP), special cooling ceilings and heat exchangers, has reduced energy consumption by 45%.

Green and clean

The aim is that all packaging is more than 80% recyclable and that plastic consumption is reduced by 30%. The company already does without plastic fillers in its packaging and uses FSC-certified paper when paper is needed. Packaging developers are currently developing the first packaging solutions from recycled materials, avoiding cellophane packaging of the products wherever possible and re-checking the shipping boxes. All formulations are free of microplastic particles and environmentally critical synthetic polymers. Resource- critical raw materials are replaced by certified resources and alternatives. Every effort is made to develop all new formulations without microplastics and synthetic polymers. By 2023, current formulations will be adapted to alternative formulations as part of  relaunch activities. If necessary, resource-saving and environmentally friendly polymers should be used instead. Only certified palm oil derivatives are used, and their use is also reduced.

Products, people, planet

The ambitious company is supported and coordinated by a cross-industry sustainability committee. The board of directors constantly reviews the processes and creates initiatives to work even more sustainably. The creams manufactured by the company have been delivered by a “green” postman for 14 years: thanks neto a partnership with DHL, the deliveries are CO2-neutral. For shorter distances, employees get into the company’s own electric car. Eight bee colonies found a new home near the Aachen headquarters in April 2020. 15 years ago, the company planted wild service trees on a plantation in the nearby Eifel. Today, these rare trees provide valuable ingredients for a special brand line.

Now this part of the forest is a protected area and the perfect new home for up to 400,000 bees. The bee colonies are a small part of the sustainability concept.