We are celebrating our two-year B Corp™ anniversary. Here’s the lowdown on what that means and how we got there. 

It took us three years, over 200,000 bike deliveries and a reassessment of some of our most iconic products, but we did it. In 2020, we were delighted to announce that we became a member of the B Corp™ club, joining the illustrious ranks of 4,000 companies in a commitment to using our power for good. 

 ‘As a brand whose philosophy is to enhance wellbeing, we realised early on that wellbeing can’t just be something we give to our customers,” explains Rituals’ sustainability manager Emma Olde Bijvank. “We have to also think about our employees, our supply chain and the communities around us. And the B Corp certification really fits in with that.’ 

What is B Corp?

B Corp is one of the mosta respected certifications when it comes to social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. In 2006, Jay Coen Gilbert sold his basketball company and announced to a friend on New Year’s Day that it was time companies were held publicly accountable for their stakeholders, employees, and the environment. With two friends, he founded B Lab™ (the brainchild of B Corp) and began their mission to help businesses use their power to address important social and environmental issues. A B Corp company is legally committed to bringing benefit, not just to shareholders, but all business stakeholders, workers, customers, communities and the environment. 

According to B Lab, they believe that a different kind of economy is not only possible, but necessary, and that business can lead the way. They say the B Corp movement is here to change our economic system by changing the rules of the game. So, how are they doing this? By creating standards, policies, tools and programmes that shift the behaviour, culture and structure of capitalism. They mobilise the B Corp community towards collective action to address society’s most critical challenges.  

How do you join the B Corp club?

To apply for B Corp certification, a company is required to fill out an assessment of over 200 questions. 

A company needs to score at least 80 out of 200 to pass and we’re very proud that Rituals was awarded 92.2 points. Once part of the club, you can’t get too comfy, as the certification process needs to be repeated every three years. It can take months for B Lab (the independent verification body) to carry out this 360-evaluation as they dive deep into all aspects of your business. The assessment is split into five areas: Government, Workers, Customers, Community and Environment. It rates everything from CO2 emissions to charitable donations and maternity leave. To achieve certification, a company needs to outline their commitments in these areas, show how they are able to measure their efforts and demonstrate how they’ve made improvements.  

Why is B Corp so important to us?

As it stands, global temperatures are set to increase by 3-5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century if we don’t act now. There has never been a more crucial time for companies to start re-assessing their contribution to climate change. We not only recognise our responsibility in looking after the planet but also caring for our employees, supply chain and the communities around us.  

For a business to become a certified B Corp, it must meet the ‘high standards of verified social and environmental performance’.  

‘At Rituals, we’ve always taken a holistic approach,’ explains Emma, ‘now more than ever, if you want to be a truly responsible business, you have to look at all the aspects of your business before you can call yourself a ‘success’.’ We are focused on making conscious changes. Now, 99% of the palm oil we use is RSPO certified and by the end of 2024, 80% of our personal care products will contain over 90% ingredients of natural origin. 

The majority of our stores run on green electricity, this means that we have renewable energy contracts. Where this was not possible due to running contracts, we acquired guarantees of origins, to prove that our power was generated from a renewable source. We also have energy-saving appliances (like LED lights) and we will continue to ensure this for every new store opening. 

On top of monitoring our environmental impact, a big focus for us is boosting wellbeing, not just for our consumers but those outside our customer reach. To do this, we have been developing programmes that contribute to wellbeing in society. Rituals is a founding partner and proud supporter of Tiny Miracles since 2011. Our co-designed products, handmade by the women of Tiny Miracles in Mumbai, India, provide life-changing income, healthcare and education for them and their families. We have also co-founded the Super Chill foundation which helps to teach school children lessons about wellbeing and how to manage stress from an early age.  

What is integral to the B Corp assessment, however, is showing how all these efforts are measurable, because without this, how can you highlight growth and improvement? That’s why we have created a tool that assesses the environmental impact of our ingredients and a monthly wellbeing survey, to ensure we maintain a high rating of happiness and work satisfaction amongst our employees. 

What have the challenges been?

In all our sustainability efforts, looking after our customers, employees and communities is something that has always come naturally to us as a brand, as wellbeing is part of our DNA. ‘The hardest thing for a business like us is that the beauty industry is highly competitive and is traditionally single use,’ notes Emma. ‘You always want your products to be as beautiful as possible, but at the same time, made using as few materials as possible’. In this way, it takes a lot of hard work and brainpower to think of more sustainable solutions without losing our brand identity and luxury quality. Our introduction of refills in 2017 was a huge milestone for us in cutting back on packaging materials. In all the different shapes and sizes of our products, this is an ongoing project, but our results so far have proved a huge impact. In total, so far, we saved 1.9 million kg in materials, 116.4 million MJ-eq in energy, 6.4 million kg of CO2 -eq, and 57.8 million litres of water. 

Another challenge in recent years has been optimising our formulas to reach our goal of over 90% natural origin ingredients. Sometimes just removing one ingredient can completely alter a scent that has become so iconic. ‘Developing the foaming shower gel to contain 90% natural origin ingredients was quite a challenge,’ explains Rituals’ product manager Faya Maris, ‘as we wanted to keep the fragrance and gel-to-foam experience the same. We managed to reach a super nice result, but we indeed had to tweak some ingredients for natural origin alternatives, as this was an important goal for us.’  

Our B Corp accreditation was by no means our end-goal. We are always looking for ways to boost wellbeing and reduce our carbon footprint. Here are our goals for the future: 

What are we committing to?

• By 2050, we will achieve Net-Zero 

• By 2030, we will achieve a 50% GHG emissions intensity* reduction versus our 2021 figures. 

• As of 2025, all of our cosmetics products will contain over 80% natural origin ingredients. 

• By 2025, our packaging will be refillable, recyclable and/or made of recycled materials. 

• By 2025, our product-related suppliers score at least a silver medal on the Ecovadis assessment. 

For a deeper dive into all our sustainability efforts and commitments, read our sustainability report.