Urban Decay

Urban Decay doesn't make any ingredient commitments at the brand-level. Its parent company makes some commitments across all owned brands, but it's unclear what applies to this brand. Choice of ingredients is a strong determinant of environmental impact, and Urban Decay still uses many ingredients that pose a significant threat to the climate, including including microplastics, other petrochemical-based ingredients, and uncertified mica. Its products incorporate bio-based and/or biodegradable ingredients. It carries products that have certifications from PETA Animal Test-free.

Urban Decay doesn't share anything about its packaging at the brand-level. Based on its parent company's reporting, it primarily relies on virgin petro-based plastics for its packaging, which greatly increases its emissions and waste footprint. Its parent company, L'Oreal Groupe, has some initiatives to reduce shipping emissions and packaging volumes, but it's unclear what applies to this brand.

Urban Decay's parent company, L'Oreal Groupe, shares information on its overall energy strategy. It uses a majority of renewable energy to power its production sites and corporate offices, and has targets for expanding its use of renewable energy to 100% by 2025. L'Oreal Groupe implements energy efficiency measures in its production sites and corporate offices. It implements water conservation measures, including working to increase its water recycling and wastewater quality. Urban Decay has a global production span, which is standard for the industry.

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 doesn't provide any guidance to help customers properly recycle or dispose of its products.

Urban Decay offers seasonal products or frequent releases, which can encourage overconsumption and production of excess inventory.

Commons is still evaluating this brand's marketing emails.

Urban Decay doesn't appear to have a sustainability page or centralized source of relevant information. It publishes a detailed annual report with a clear, impact-driven strategy and progress reporting. Its last annual report was published in 2024. Urban Decay shares a complete list of ingredients used in its products [, on a per product basis]

Urban Decay's parent company, L'Oreal Groupe, 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 shares select product-level LCAs. The last reporting period was 2023. In its most recent update, its estimated emissions footprint was 8,173,101 tons CO2e.

Urban Decay's parent company, L'Oreal Groupe, has SBTi-approved emissions reduction targets for the medium-term (5-10 years), long-term (10+ years). It has reported on its progress within the past year, and is on track for some of its targets, but is very off track for its scope 3 target. Commons couldn't find evidence that this brand offsets any emissions.

Urban Decay's parent company, L'Oreal Groupe, publishes limited information about its supply chain partners and is working on tracing some of its supply chain. L'Oreal Groupe publicly shares a supplier code of conduct, which prohibits forced labor, prohibits child labor, establishes grievance mechanisms, and disallows unauthorized subcontracting. Its code of conduct doesn't ensure the right to collective bargaining where not allowed by law, ensure a living wage, or include environmental clauses. It has a stated policy of regularly auditing its supply chain partners, which can mitigate human and environmental risks.

Urban Decay's parent company, L'Oreal Groupe, doesn't openly disclose its climate-obstructive trade association memberships. L'Oreal Groupe is member of 1 large climate-obstructive trade association: Personal Care Products Council, and belongs to some pro-climate advocacy orgs, including: Ceres. It employs state lobbyists with few fossil fuel aligned clients. It didn't donate more than $100k to climate-obstructive candidates or PACs from 2018-2024.