Kiehl's

Kiehl's and its parent company, L'Oreal Groupe, have made ingredient commitments to lower its environmental impact, including by avoiding parabens, phthalates, microplastics, harmful suncare ingredients, select other petrochemical-based ingredients, and uncertified palm oil or palm oil-derived ingredients. While it has made commitments, Kiehl's still uses many ingredients that pose a significant threat to the climate, including microplastics, harmful sun care ingredients, and other petrochemical-based ingredients. Its products incorporate bio-based and/or biodegradable ingredients. It carries products that have certifications from Cradle to Cradle, though it doesn't clearly identify these on its site.

Kiehl's has made efforts to minimize the amount of material used in some of its product containers, including by lightweighting its plastic jars by 40%. It has made efforts to reduce virgin plastic in its product containers by increasing its use of PCR. It has a goal to eliminate single-use virgin plastic by 2030, though its progress is unclear.

L'Oreal Groupe, the parent company of Kiehl's, 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, for which it's on track at 97%. 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. Kiehl's has a global production span, which is standard for the industry.

Kiehl's utilizes alternative models for most products to avert waste, including promoting a few refills, and offering a takeback program. Its takeback program, Recycle & Be Rewarded, was launched in 2009 and allows customers to return containers from any brand for in-store recycling and rewards. Kiehl's reports on the success of this program. 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.

Kiehl's has a sustainability page, Mission Renewal, with comprehensive details on its climate strategy. Its parent company, L'Oreal Groupe, publishes a detailed annual report with a clear, impact-driven strategy and progress reporting. Its last annual report was published in 2024. Kiehl's shares a complete list of ingredients used in its products, on a per product basis. Its overall ingredient glossary is incomplete and misleading.

Kiehl'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.

Kiehl'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.

Kiehl'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.

Kiehl'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.