Sustainable Soy procurement policy for suppliers

For Avon International*. 

Approved by Avon International CEO August 2024

1. Introduction

• At Avon International, we’re passionate about making the world a better place and doing beauty differently. Our sustainability vision is to create a better world for women, which is better world for all, and to have a positive impact on our climate and communities., As part of our sustainability journey, we recognise that some materials we use have significant social or environmental risks. We therefore aim for full traceability and/or certification of our critical supply chains (palm, soy, ethanol, mica, cotton, and paper) by 2025. We are also committed to join initiatives to prevent sourcing from deforested or converted natural landscapes.
• Key social and environmental risks: Avon International considers soy as a high sustainability risk material considering links to deforestation in the Amazon, destruction of Cerrado and other high biodiversity grasslands, displacement of small farmers and indigenous communities, and carbon emissions and water impacts from agrochemical use.
• Scope:Avon International uses soy primarily as a feedstock in cosmetic ingredients, including surfactants and emollients (glycerine, SLS, SLES) as well as other soy derivatives such as tocopherol. All proposed sources of soy and soy-derived materials supplied to Avon International must meet the sustainability requirements set out below. These requirements will be applied in Avon International tender, supplier, and material approval processes, and are applicable to all soy and soy derived used in goods for resale or indirectly, whether manufactured internally or by third parties. Should we find that any purchased goods or materials do not meet these requirements, we will engage the supplier to change practices and/or revaluate our relationship with them.
• Traceability and certification requirements in brief: All Avon International suppliers must provide accurate information on the geographic origin of soy (country of cultivation) for all soy and soy derived ingredients in scope. All soy and soy derived sourced from elevated risk origins must be physically certified to an acceptable third-party standard by end of 2025 described in the Appendix 2.
• Supplier milestones:

2. Detailed Requirements

Traceability

All Avon International suppliers of products and ingredients containing soy must provide (at a minimum) accurate information on country/ies of soy cultivation for the materials supplied, as part of Avon International tenders, supplier, product and ingredient approval procedures and annual reporting. Failure to provide accurate and timely traceability information on request may result in rejection.

Elevated risk origins

Some countries have been identified as having elevated risk for recent land conversion (deforestation or destruction of high biodiversity value grasslands) for the purposes of soy cultivation. These countries are listed in Appendix 1. The list may be subject to change. Soy or soy derivatives to Avon International with elevated risk origins must achieve relevant third-party physical certification as per Appendix 2 from 31/12/2025 for all materials supplied to Avon International.

Certification requirements

All Avon International suppliers must provide valid evidence for the applicable third-party certification standard for the soy and soy derived materials supplied, and (where applicable) supplier chain of custody, in the format required by Avon International. Acceptable certification standardsare detailed in Appendix 2.

Unacceptable sources of soy

Suppliers with no capability to deliver commercially viable traceable, certified soy and soy derived ingredients and finished goods, as per the requirements of this policy, will not be used to supply soy and soy derived ingredients or finished goods to Avon International after 31/12/2025. Any suppliers found to be involved in human rights violations, environmentally destructive practices specially deforestation, or otherwise violating the Avon International supplier code of conduct may be exited.

3.Collaboration and contact

Above and beyond these requirements, we encourage you and your suppliers to participate in and support collaborations to ensure that poor labour conditions and environmental damage in particular deforestation and habitat conversation are eliminated from soy supply chains. We also expect support from suppliers to help us meet the Avon International commitment to become Net Zero by 2030 and set a carbon reduction pathway in line with the SBTi requirements. We further encourage our suppliers to come forward with proposals for more traceable, sustainable and regenerative soy-based ingredients and finished goods that we can use in our business.

For further information on this policy, possible exceptions and Avon International plans to achieve 100% traceable and /or certified soy by 2025, please contact critical.materials@avon.com

Flow chart – requirements for soy containing ingredients and finished goods

Appendix 1

Elevated risk origin countries for soy**

Appendix 2

Acceptable certification for ingredients supplier to Avon International business units

With immediate effect no later than 31/12/2025 for the remining, ingredients containing soy and soy derived sourced from elevated risk origins supplied to Avon must be physically certified to at least one of the third-party standards below.

Additional third-party standards may be added to this list if they provide acceptable levels of traceability, social and environmental sustainability assurance in soy supply chains.

Use of credits

In situation where soya is sourced from a low-risk origin, and/or in limited situations where physically certified soya is not available, Avon International may purchase (or require the supplier to purchase) certified sustainable soy credits through an acceptable credit trading system.

*Avon International refers to Avon operations in globally, except for United States and Latin America