At Forty, The Body Shop Launches Pioneering New Commitment In Drive To Be The World's Most Ethical And Sustainable Global Business

- NEW GLOBAL FRAMEWORK TO DRIVE NEXT PHASE OF BUSINESS SUCCESS -

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Feb 10, 2016, 05:54 ET

NEW YORK, Feb. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As The Body Shop turns forty, it unveils a pioneering new global CSR strategy that will underpin all aspects of company operation. The new Commitment will reaffirm The Body Shop position as a leader in ethical business and will define the next stage of development of The Body Shop business.

The Commitment, which will support The Body Shop in its aim to be the world's most ethical and sustainable global business, is an extensive programme of global activity and measurable targets that touches all areas of the business, to be delivered by 2020. The Body Shop has always believed that business can be a force for good and change. The new Commitment, entitled Enrich Not Exploit ™, embraces the bold ethical principles from which The Body Shop was built.

Jeremy Schwartz, Chairman and CEO, The Body Shop, says: "The Body Shop courageously pioneered new ways of thinking, acting and speaking out as a company. Our ground-breaking campaigns were ahead of their time and changed laws on animal testing, domestic violence and human trafficking. We were the first in beauty to use community trade and we still have the strongest programme in the industry. We are small, but we lead. Today for all of us, the greatest challenges lie ahead and The Body Shop's 40^th anniversary is the perfect time to reassert our aim for leadership in ethical business. For us, being truly sustainable means shaping our business to work in line with the planet's natural systems so they can replenish and restore themselves. With our Commitment we're challenging ourselves to go further than we've ever gone before to make a real, sustainable and positive difference. We have set ourselves a significant goal to be the world's most ethical and truly sustainable global business."

The Commitment will enable The Body Shop to protect and nurture the environment and society across every part of its business: ingredients, products, packaging, stores, employees, suppliers and campaigns.

Under each of The Commitment's three pillars: enrich our people, enrich our products and enrich our planet, The Body Shop has specific, measurable targets by 2020 that make the business accountable for delivery.

In total there are 14 targets within the new Commitment and these are:

Enrich our People

1.	Double our Community Trade programme from 19 to 40 ingredients and help enrich communities that produce them
2.	Help 40,000 economically vulnerable people access work around the world
3.	Engage 8 million people in our Enrich Not Exploit™ Commitment mission, creating our biggest campaign ever
4.	Invest 250,000 hours of our skills and know-how to enrich the biodiversity of our local communities

Enrich our Products

5.	Ensure 100% of our natural ingredients are traceable and sustainably sourced, protecting 10,000 hectares of forest and other habitat
6.	Reduce year on year the environmental footprint of all our product categories
7.	Publish our use of ingredients of natural origin, ingredients from green chemistry, and the biodegradability and water footprint of our products
8.	Develop an innovation pipeline that delivers pioneering cosmetic ingredients from biodiversity hotspots and which helps to enrich these areas

Enrich our Planet

9.	Build Bio-Bridges, protecting and regenerating 75 million square metres of habitat helping communities to live more sustainably
10.	Reduce the environmental footprint of our stores every time we refurbish or redesign them
11.	Develop and deliver three new sustainable packaging innovations
12.	Ensure that 70% of our total product packaging does not contain fossil fuels
13.	Power 100% of our stores with renewable or carbon balanced energy
14.	Reduce by 10% the energy use of all our stores every year

Jeremy Schwartz adds: "The Body Shop can be both a force for good and a successful, profitable business. Forty years ago Anita Roddick set out a challenge for The Body Shop to tackle the big issues of her time. We're now tackling the big issues of today. We want our Enrich Not Exploit™ Commitment to inspire a new generation of customers, supporters and especially millennials who truly care about how a company operates. Re-establishing The Body Shop as a leader will come from delivering our ambitious aim to be the world's most ethical and truly sustainable global business."

Chris Davis, International CSR and Campaigns Director, The Body Shop, says: "We have set ourselves ambitious, inspiring and measurable targets for our commitment. We are developing new practices to enrich the planet in which we operate whilst helping our company grow and prosper. Our new Commitment combines all the experience and knowledge of our expert people with new advances in science and technology."

"It means understanding how our business is contributing to our existence on the planet, understanding what we need to change to contribute to a sustainable future by working backwards from a visionary end point to the here and now and asking ourselves what comes next. We'll continue to work in partnership with suppliers, NGOs, academics, governments and other businesses to deliver the innovation and changes needed to make our ambitions a reality."

The Body Shop has inspired and helped its parent company, L'Oréal, make significant progress in sustainability and, in particular, in Community Trade. The Commitment contributes to and enhances L'Oréal's rigorous sustainability framework, Sharing Beauty with All. The Body Shop's specific addition to the framework is called Retailing Sustainably. As L'Oréal's largest retail brand, The Body Shop has a unique role to play in the design, management and sustainability of its retail outlets and the relationship with its customers.

Additional details about The Body's Shop's Commitment can be found at www.thebodyshop-usa.com/change.

About The Body Shop
Founded in 1976 in Brighton, England, by Anita Roddick, The Body Shop is a global beauty brand. The Body Shop seeks to make a positive difference in the world by offering high-quality, naturally-inspired skincare, hair care and make-up produced ethically and sustainably. The Body Shop pioneered the philosophy that business can be a force for good and after being acquired by L'Oréal in 2006, it is scaling up its vision. The Body Shop has more than 3,000 stores in more than 60 countries.

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