Aveda Corporation Announces B Corp™ Certification, Recognizing its 40+ Year Commitment to Care for the Planet

Global sustainability leader and vegan hair care brand, Aveda, joins ranks of purpose-led businesses that meet high verified standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Aveda Corporation ("Aveda"), the company behind the high-performance, vegan and Leaping Bunny Approved hair care brand with a mission to care for the world, today announced that it has become a Certified B Corporation™ ("B Corp"), further recognizing and deepening its decades-long commitment to social and environmental responsibility.

Achieving B Corp Certification by the non-profit B Lab, confirms Aveda's steadfast commitment to and presence of accountability and transparency throughout its mission-driven business. Facilitated by B Lab, Aveda underwent a rigorous and extensive review of its environmental and social practices and policies and was assessed across five pillars: governance, workers, community, environment, and customers, and achieved an overall impact score of 89.6, far exceeding the 50.9 average score of companies undergoing the assessment. Aveda will be held to high standards of accountability, undergoing a recertification process every three years to update its impact assessment and recertify as a B Corp.

Contributing to the certification of Aveda Corporation as a B Corp included the use of the company's internal holistic and quantitative environmental scoring process, known as the Green Score; comprehensive benefits offered to employees, including volunteer time off for all employees and subsidized off-site childcare; and a company culture at Aveda that emphasizes the health and wellbeing of employees. More information about Aveda's overall B Impact Score can be found by visiting the Aveda website: https://www.aveda.com/b-corp-certification

In addition to its B Corp Certification, Aveda is also a public benefit corporation, which acknowledges that the business operates for both profit and to produce a public benefit and by law can consider the impact of its decisions on stakeholders.

"A pioneer in sustainability since the founding of Aveda in 1978, achieving B Corp Certification affirms, through an incredibly rigorous process, that Aveda adheres to the highest levels of social and environmental performance," said Melissa Chelminiak, Director of Mission Partnerships and Engagement at Aveda. "Aveda is proud to join a community of like-minded organizations who are driving a global movement of business as a force for good."

Lindsey Wilson, Associate Director of Community Growth at B Lab said: "Aveda has a sterling reputation for its decades-long commitment to maintaining a purpose-led business and I am thrilled to welcome the brand to our community of over 5,000 B Corps around the world. The rigorous and extensive B Corp process takes into careful consideration a company's impact on people and planet. I congratulate Aveda Corporation on its certification and look forward to supporting the brand on its continued mission to care for the world we live in."

In accordance with Aveda's founding mission to care for the world we live in, the brand has pioneered new benchmarks of environmental responsibility in beauty for decades, with priorities in the following six areas: safe beauty; sourcing responsibility; packaging responsibility; cruelty-free and vegan formulas; planet-conscious manufacturing; and helping to protect and provide clean water to people in need in Aveda's sourcing communities and communities around the globe. 

Aveda lives its mission at its company headquarters, which are situated on a 58-acre, National Wildlife Federation Certified campus in Minnesota with honeybee colonies, an employee-curated vegetable garden, electric vehicle charging stations and miles of running trails. The main office building has an emphasis on sustainability: it is powered by solar and wind energy¹, is carpeted with recycled fibers, has composting and recycling bins throughout the building and an organic cafe. 

To learn more about Aveda's sustainability initiatives, visit aveda.com/sustainablefuture.

Founded in 1978 as a cruelty-free brand with a mission to care for the world, Aveda creates vegan, high-performance hair, skin and body formulas for beauty professionals and consumers, all with sustainability at heart. Aveda innovates in botanical technologies and green chemistry, combining the principles of modern science and Ayurveda, the ancient healing art of India. Globally, Aveda's hair care is 90% naturally-derived² and features iconic aromas from pure flower and plant essences. Aveda's high-performance franchises, Invati Advanced™, Nutriplenish™ and Botanical Repair™ have each won dozens of awards, and the brand was awarded the 2021 CEW Sustainability Excellence Award, which reflects the highest standards of sustainability values in the beauty industry. Aveda is Leaping Bunny approved by Cruelty Free International, the globally recognizable gold standard of approval for cruelty free products.

Aveda's primary facility manufactures products using 100% wind and solar power¹, and the brand pioneered the use of 100% post-consumer recycled material in PET bottles. Globally, at least 85% of our PET skincare and hairstyling bottles and jars are made from PCR. Aveda strives to provide transparency with its products and manufacturing processes, and in 2020 the brand completed one of the largest blockchain pilots in the beauty industry to trace vanilla from the source in Madagascar to its manufacturing facility in Minnesota.

Aveda is committed to raising awareness and funds to help provide clean water globally and help protect clean water locally through its signature annual giving campaign, Aveda Earth Month. Since 1999, Aveda has raised more than $69 million for hundreds of global and local environmental organizations, providing clean water to more than 1.5 million people and protecting thousands of local watersheds.

Aveda products are available in over 45 markets at Aveda stores, partner salons, specialty retailers and at aveda.com.

B Lab is transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities and the planet. A leader in economic systems change, our global network creates standards, policies, tools, and programs for business, and we certify companies - known as B Corps - who are leading the way. To date, our community includes 380,000 workers in over 5,000 B Corps across 79 countries and 153 industries, and more than 150,000 companies manage their impact with the B Impact Assessment and the SDG Action Manager. To learn more and join the movement, visit www.bcorporation.net.

Certified B Corporations, or B Corps™, are companies verified by B Lab to meet the high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.

¹ Product manufacturing is powered by Aveda's solar array and/or wind energy through renewable energy credits and carbon offsets.
² 90% naturally derived on average per the ISO 16128 standard, from plant sources, non-petroleum mineral sources, and /or water.

Contact: Rachael Dillon, [email protected] 

SOURCE Aveda