Herbal Essences

Herbal Essences has committed to avoid certain ingredients to lower its environmental impact, including parabens, phthalates, other petrochemical-based ingredients, uncertified palm oil or palm oil-derived ingredients, and microplastics. While it has these ingredient commitments, it still uses some ingredients that pose a significant threat to the climate, including other petrochemical-based ingredients, microplastics, and uncertified mica. Its products incorporate bio-based and/or biodegradable ingredients. It carries products that have certifications from PETA Cruelty-free.

Herbal Essences has made efforts to minimize the amount of material used in some of its product containers, but it doesn't share enough on its packaging materials so we assume it still relies on virgin plastic. Its parent company, P&G, reports using some environmentally-mindful materials across all owned brands, including ones that are recyclable, but it's unclear if this applies to this brand.

Herbal Essences' parent company, P&G, shares information on its overall energy strategy but doesn't provide details at the brand-level. It uses a majority of renewable energy to power its production sites and corporate offices, and is targeting 100% renewable energy by 2030, for which it's on track. It implements energy efficiency measures in its production sites, but doesn't provide many specifics or detail if this extends to its corporate offices. It has water conservation initiatives in its production focused on water restoration and water positivity.

Commons couldn't find evidence that this brand offers any alternative models to lower its waste footprint, such as refills or takeback programs. It offers bulk sizes for some products, which may help reduce packaging waste.

It's unclear if this brand releases new items seasonally or otherwise frequently, which can create excess waste.

Commons is still evaluating this brand's marketing emails.

Herbal Essences has a sustainability page with high-level details on its climate strategy, but this page is hard to find on its website. Its parent company's last annual report was published in 2023. Herbal Essences shares a complete list of ingredients used in its products, on a per product basis.

Herbal Essences' parent company, P&G, internally measures and publicly reports its company-level emissions in partnership with, or with auditing from, a third party. It includes a breakdown by scope and identifies its top driver of emissions. The last reporting period was 2023. In this most recent update, its estimated emissions footprint was 192,739,586 tons CO2e. This is higher than the annual total emissions from many countries, including the Philippines and the Netherlands.

Herbal Essences’ parent company, P&G, has SBTi-approved emissions reduction targets for the medium-term (5-10 years). It has reported on its progress within the past year, and is on track for its scope 1 + 2 targets but not its scope 3 target. Its net zero commitment was recently removed by SBTi for not meeting the deadline to provide science-based targets. Commons couldn't find evidence that this brand offsets any emissions.

Herbal Essences' parent company, P&G, doesn't publish information about its supply chain partners. It publicly shares a supplier code of conduct, which prohibits forced labor, prohibits child labor, and includes environmental clauses. Its code of conduct doesn't disallow unauthorized subcontracting, ensure the right to collective bargaining where not allowed by law, ensure a living wage, or establish grievance mechanisms. P&G has a stated policy of regularly auditing its supply chain partners, which can mitigate human and environmental risks.

Herbal Essences' parent company, P&G, discloses all of its trade association memberships, including those that are climate-obstructive. P&G is a member of 4 large climate-obstructive trade associations: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, Personal Care Products Council, American Chemistry Council. It isn't a member of advocacy organizations advancing climate policy. P&G employs state lobbyists with few fossil fuel aligned clients. P&G donated $500k-1M to climate-obstructive candidates or PACs from 2018-2024. Of this amount, 12.99% more was given to obstructive candidates or PACs than to pro-climate ones.