Seventh Generation

Seventh Generation has made ingredient commitments to lower its environmental impact, including by incorporating bio-based and/or biodegradable ingredients and upcycled materials, and by avoiding parabens, and uncertified palm oil. While it has made commitments, it still uses some ingredients that pose a significant threat to the climate, including petrochemical-based ingredients. It carries products that have certifications from EPA Safer Choice and USDA BioPreferred.

Seventh Generation offers some of its products in a concentrated format, which reduces shipping emissions and minimizes packaging use. It has made efforts to minimize the amount of material used in its product containers and is working on reducing its use of virgin plastic. It uses eco-friendly materials in its product containers, including ones that are biodegradable, recyclable, or recycled, but it still appears to rely heavily on plastic from a virgin or unknown source.

Seventh Generation shares information on its energy strategy, disclosing that it uses renewable energy to power 100% of its production sites and corporate offices. However, it doesn't state the source of the renewable energy, and doesn't report on its energy efficiency measures or water efficiency initiatives. Its parent company, Unilever, may provide organization-wide reporting on these aspects across the entire organization.

Seventh Generation doesn't explicitly encourage reusing its product containers, but it offers bulk size refill options for a limited set of products.

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

Commons is still evaluating this brand's marketing emails.

Seventh Generation has a sustainability page with high-level details on its climate strategy, but this page is hard to find and some of the information is misleading or data incomplete. It used to publish a detailed annual report with a clear, impact-driven strategy, but it hasn't published one since 2022.

Seventh Generation internally measures its company-level product emissions, including a breakdown by scope, but hasn't published an update since 2022. Its 2022 estimated emissions footprint was 82,673 tons CO2e. Its parent company, Unilever, last reported on its organization-wide emissions in 2023, but didn't provide a breakdown by brand.

Seventh Generation has SBTi-approved emissions reduction targets for the short-term, but hasn't provided an update since 2022. Its parent company, Unilever, has SBTi-approved emissions reduction targets for the medium and long term. It last provided an update in 2023 but wasn't on track for any of its targets. Its 2050 net-zero commitment was removed by SBTi in 2024, though the company is reportedly still working towards internal targets for 2039. Commons couldn't find evidence that either brand offsets any emissions.

Seventh Generation's parent company, Unilever, publishes basic geographic information about its supply chain partners. It doesn't report on the traceability of its supply chain. It publicly shares a supplier code of conduct, which prohibits forced labor and ensures a right to collective action.