WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY – AND HOW DOES IT RELATE TO AESTHETICS?

Aesthetics business coach and mentor Ron Myers explains the importance of sustainability to businesses

In 1987, the United Nations Brundtland Commission defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”1

Climate change, resource scarcity, environmental degradation, pollution, poverty, and social inequality are just some of the issues that humanity faces.

To meet a rapidly expanding population’s growing demand for food, energy, and water, societies must learn to rethink their current way of operating and strive to live sustainably within the planetary boundaries to ensure a safe space for humanity is maintained.

Sustainable development can be categorised into three interconnecting ‘pillars’ that all need to be addressed: the economy, society, and the environment. These principles are also informally known as profit, people and the planet.

SUSTAINABILITY DEVELOPMENT GOALS

The United Nations, which also hosts the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) has 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs),2 ranging from “no poverty” to “responsible production and consumption” and “climate action” that effectively cover economy, society and environmental concerns related to sustainability.

Each SDG has multiple detailed targets that act as a blueprint for governments around the world to follow and implement.

The UK was at the forefront of negotiating the SDGs, stating that it will be at the forefront of delivering them and has detailed plans to achieve progress against all 17 goals in this country.3

SUSTAINABILITY AND BUSINESS

Although the government can promote policies that incentivise positive changes and discourage negative practices concerning sustainability and running a business, the real change will come from business itself.

Alexander Fech, a member of Forbes magazine’s business council, recently wrote an article about why sustainability will trigger exponential growth: “We are currently at a tipping point in terms of sustainability; our planet is at a tipping point and so is our society, our economy and every one of us as individuals. In the next few years, sustainability will become not only unavoidable but profitable.”4

I believe that the 5.4 million small UK business owners (employing up to 49 people)5 have a powerful opportunity to speed up the process of positive change related to sustainability issues. They can choose how they spend their money with their suppliers and influence hundreds or even thousands of their customers by talking about the things that they are doing in their business and personal lives to make a difference.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE AESTHETICS MARKET?

Over the last three years, there have been positive signs that our industry has recognised that we are at a tipping point, which is being driven in part by consumer behaviour to buy more sustainable brands in the retail personal care sector.

This has led to innovation with new brands emerging to target the “green consumer”, alongside a realisation that there is a need to educate both industry participants and consumers about how to be more sustainable.

The British Beauty Council formed the Sustainable Beauty Coalition in 2020.6 The coalition is made up of industry experts, brand owners and industry body representatives from across the beauty sector. Among other objectives, it exists to “work with government towards its net zero by 2050 commitment”, and “develop and implement a clear strategy, roadmap and initiatives to accelerate our climate positive-impact”.

The coalition published the Planet Positive Beauty Guide7 to decode the jargon with straightforward descriptions of the words most often used by the beauty industry – helping consumers understand some of the key issues when making a purchasing decision. This includes:

● What ingredients is it made of?

● How is it sourced, packaged, and produced?

● What do you know about the company that produces it?

● How do they treat their employees and suppliers?

The detailed guide asks crucial questions that help to educate consumers towards making greener and more sustainable choices.

In January 2022, the B Corp Beauty Coalition was founded with its currently 50-plus members focussing on investing time and effort to improve four key issues that affect everyone and everything – ingredient sourcing and sustainability, greener logistics, packaging responsibility, and consistent, clear external messaging that customers can understand and trust.

B Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.

“As Certified B Corporations meeting the highest standards of social and environmental impact, we have become increasingly uncomfortable with the social and environmental footprint of the beauty industry and concluded our respective solo efforts to enable positive change can be enhanced through a partnership of mutual commitment,” said Davide Bollati, president of Davines (an Italian-based skincare and hair care manufacturer), and founding member of the B Corp Beauty Coalition. “So, we have decided to form a coalition to leverage our combined strengths and deliver tangible benefits to beauty customers, communities, and the planet we share.”8

WHAT DOES SUSTAINABILITY MEAN TO YOU?

Our behaviour and habits are gradually being changed and influenced daily by news articles, government policies and marketing from companies who are actively offering us more “sustainable” choices. However, our greatest influencers can be children, grandchildren, and younger relatives, who are much more concerned about these issues than most of the older generation.

For instance, both of my daughters converted to a plant-based diet some years ago, which has decreased the amount of meat that I now consume every week.

In practice, many sustainable behaviours are driven by individual values and what we feel is important to us or our families. For example, we make positive choices about our carbon footprint in terms of how frequently we fly, whether we car share or use public transport, or cycle more often to nearby locations.

Other behaviours are driven by nudges, such as local councils encouraging us to separate our non-recyclable from our recyclable household and business waste.

There is now a bewildering array of sustainable marketing messages that are also trying to influence our buying behaviour. These are made by companies in every sector of the economy where specific claims are attached to products and services related to the broad range of UN sustainable development goals.

It can make it confusing for consumers to understand what is the most relevant to them in terms of their values, and also what is real vs “greenwashing”, which is a term used to describe vague or misleading information about environmental, social and governance practices.

In order to combat greenwashing, there are now many different types of certificates that we are all becoming more familiar with that aim to guide consumers who are looking for better evidence concerning sustainability marketing messages.

Provenance9 is a UK-based company that aims to help brands make shopper-facing social and environmental impact claims with integrity. They audit and validate specific claims made by companies, including many retail skincare brands, against over 80 different certifications ranging from “Plastic free” to “Coral Reef Safe” and “Organic Ingredients” to “Fair Trade Ingredients”.

WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

We are all on a sustainability journey and our business and personal lives will continue to be impacted as governments around the world legislate to ensure that they hit our country’s commitments to global sustainability targets.

Businesses that strive to develop a close ongoing relationship with their customers, and start to embrace this journey, incorporating meaningful changes and discussing this in their marketing will seem more relevant than those that ignore it.

We are already seeing positive movements and innovation in the beauty/aesthetic sector with companies realising that there is a profit opportunity for brands that can make their products and services more sustainable.

None of this is going to be easy, and many things will be difficult to change in practice, due to innovation issues, or capital requirements – but starting small and gradually making progress will focus you and your team to ensure that this is a subject that you take positive action on, rather than watch others lead the way.

If you’d like to discuss these issues with other like-minded business owners, you are welcome to join us in the Sustainability in Aesthetics Facebook group.

RON MYERS BSC(HONS)

Business Coach and Mentor

Myers helps aesthetic clinics and suppliers to clarify their strategy, maximise profits and maintain sanity in their businesses. With a proven background in identifying and capitalising on aesthetic trends, and with a love of the natural world, Myers is keen to champion and incorporate sustainability issues in the aesthetic arena. linkedin.com/in/ronmyersbsc/