K18 Hair

K18 Hair has committed to avoid certain ingredients to lower its environmental impact, including parabens, phthalates, and other petrochemical-based ingredients. Its parent company Unilever makes a few commitments across all owned brands, specifically on eliminating microplastics and using more bio-based ingredients. While it has these ingredient commitments, it still uses a few ingredients that pose a significant threat to the climate, including microplastics and other petrochemical-based ingredients. Its products incorporate bio-based ingredients. K18 Hair doesn't report having any product or company-level certifications.

K18 Hair doesn't publicly share information on its shipping materials and product containers, we assume it still relies on virgin plastic. Packaging is a large portion of the industry's emissions and waste footprint. Its parent company, Unilever, has some initiatives to increase recycled plastic, but is only at 22% recycled so far, and it's unclear what applies to this brand. K18 Hair hasn't made any efforts to concentrate its products or minimize its containers, which increases shipping emissions and packaging volumes.

Its parent company, Unilever, shares information on its overall energy strategy. It uses some renewable energy to power its production sites and corporate offices. Unilever has targets for expanding its use of renewable energy. It implements energy efficiency and water conservation measures in its production sites and corporate offices. K18 Hair 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.

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.

K18 Hair has a prominent sustainability page with high-level details on its climate strategy. Its parent company, Unilever, publishes a detailed annual report with a clear, impact-driven strategy and progress reporting. Its last annual report was published in 2024. K18 Hair shares a complete list of ingredients used in its products on a per product basis.

K18 Hair’s parent company 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 2024. In its most recent update, its estimated emissions footprint was 106,890,000 tons CO2e.

K18 Hair's parent company, Unilever, has SBTi-approved emissions reduction targets for the medium-term (5-10 years) and long-term (10+ years). It has reported on its progress within the past year, and is on track for some of its targets, though one of its scope 3 targets is far off track. Its overall net-zero commitment was removed by SBTi due to failure to meet deadlines. Commons couldn't find evidence that this brand offsets any emissions.

K18's parent company, Unilever, no longer publishes information about its supply chain partners. It publicly shares a supplier code of conduct, which ensures the right to collective bargaining, prohibits forced labor, establishes grievance mechanisms, prohibits child labor, and includes environmental clauses. Its code of conduct doesn't disallow unauthorized subcontracting or ensure a living wage. Unilever doesn't have a stated policy of regularly auditing its supply chain partners. This may increase human and environmental risks.

K18 Hair's parent company, Unilever, discloses all of its trade association memberships, including those that are climate-obstructive. It's a member of 1 large climate-obstructive trade associations: Personal Care Products Council. It isn't a member of advocacy organizations advancing climate policy. It doesn't employ any state lobbyists. Unilever didn't donate more than $100k to climate-obstructive candidates or PACs from 2018-2024.