For decades, Dr. Bronner\u2019s has delighted loyal customers with clean, organic body-care products\u2014and behind those beloved bottles and soap bars lies one of the industry\u2019s most impressive sustainability success stories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The family-owned company, an SME Climate Hub member, has revolutionized the way body-care brands do business. It built a fair, sustainable supply chain from the ground up, with an equitable ecosystem that benefits farmers and local communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This kind of groundbreaking work requires serious investment, but for Dr. Bronner\u2019s, a planet-and-people-first mentality is ingrained in the business. It stems from a core company value rooted in love. \u201cYou protect the things you love. People don\u2019t often talk about love in business, or justice in business, but we should,\u201d says Darcy Shiber-Knowles, Director of Operation Sustainability and Innovation for Dr. Bronner\u2019s. \u201cBusinesses are run by humans and humans love. Do business as if love ran the world, and we wouldn\u2019t have a climate crisis.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Bronner\u2019s sustainability journey has evolved into one of the industry\u2019s best conservation success stories; it\u2019s packed with insights and lessons for businesses at any stage of their climate-action commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Founded on empathy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Compassion touches nearly every aspect of this family-owned business, founded in 1947 by third-generation German Jewish soap-maker Emanuel Bronner. Prior to launching today\u2019s world-renowned Dr. Bronner\u2019s brand, Emanuel\u2019sis family had been making soap for nearly 100 years, but the Nazis took over the original company. His parents were tragically killed in the Holocaust. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese events, and Emanuel\u2019s eccentric approach to life, led him to strongly believe he had an obligation to save planet Earth,\u201d says Gero Leson, Dr. Bronner\u2019s Vice President of Special Operations. \u201cHe combined a soap-making business and vision to unite humanity in a unique way, using his soaps as a vehicle for this message.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bronner passed on this pay-it-forward mindset to his sons, and later his grandsons, Mike and David, who now continue the family\u2019s momentum. \u201cThis is where our sustainability story really starts,\u201d says Leson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you can\u2019t find it, build it.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n As Mike and David grew the California-based company, they noticed a gap between the sustainable company they had built, and the one they wanted to be\u2014particularly with their castile soaps, which require coconut, palm, and olive oil, plus a few essential oils. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe oils being used were organic, but David wanted them to be fair trade, too,\u201d says Leson. \u201cHe felt this was the only meaningful standard for the social quality of an ingredient. Organic didn\u2019t tell him where the oils actually came from or what the conditions were like for workers on the ground.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n At the time, there were only a few fair trade-certified products widely available, largely cocoa, coffee, and sugar. The market didn\u2019t have what they were looking for, so they went out and made it themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDavid suggested that we build our own organic and fair trade coconut oil mill in Sri Lanka,\u201d says Leson. \u201cI\u2019d never done anything like this before, but I was up for it.\u201d By 2005, Dr. Bronner\u2019s had launched the first organic and fair trade-certified supply chain for virgin coconut oil. \u201cWe now have our own companies in Sri Lanka and other emerging economies, such as Ghana, where we produce organic palm oil and cocoa,\u201d says Leson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bolstering sustainable local businesses <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n After building this new supply chain, Dr. Bronner\u2019s took steps to ensure a mutually-beneficial business ecosystem. Local partners own and operate these enterprises with Dr. Bronner\u2019s support:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe create or partner with companies, help them to achieve organic and fair trade status, and make them economically viable by Dr. Bronner\u2019s becoming a reliable customer,\u201d says Leson. \u201cWe\u2019re meeting our sourcing needs, but more importantly, we\u2019re helping to train people in building and operating a fair and profitable business\u2014one that looks after workers, their families, and their communities.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n To fund this kind of work, Dr. Bronner\u2019s allocates more than 1\/3 of its profits to charitable and activist causes. It\u2019s all possible because of the company\u2019s business mindset\u2014a mindset that aligns with its family-owned value of compassion first. \u201cWe are profitable, yet we don\u2019t distribute dividends to the company\u2019s owners for personal purposes,\u201d says Leson. \u201cCompany policy is that the highest paid Executive\u2019s salary cannot exceed more than five times that of the lowest-paid fully-vested position. It sounds simple, but it requires people to be willing to give up the millions they could be making otherwise.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Climate action from every angle<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n For Dr. Bronner\u2019s, climate action is multifaceted, from improving agricultural practices to rethinking plastic. Take its game-changing work with farmers. In addition to improving livelihoods of farmers and suppliers around the world, Dr. Bronner\u2019s helps these communities \u201cshift to regenerative organic agricultural practices that increase yields and improve soil fertility,\u201d says Leson. \u201cThese practices can sequester huge amounts of atmospheric carbon, bringing it back into healthy soil in the form of stable organic matter.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The team\u2019s internal climate-action goals extend well beyond achieving net zero. \u201cFrom a climate standpoint, our published goal is climate positivity, or carbon negativity, so we\u2019re actually hoping to capture more carbon than we emit through our business operations,\u201d says Shiber-Knowles, who notes the majority of Dr. Bronner\u2019s emissions are Scope 3. \u201cNet zero by 2030 is not enough to ensure climate stability. All businesses, large and small, need to be climate positive because we have a carbon debt.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another area the company hopes to improve upon is plastic use, such as its well-known peppermint castile liquid soap, which comes in a single-use 100% PCR recycled plastic bottle. \u201cPlastic is obviously connected to the climate crisis. Dr. Bronner\u2019s is working to design our way out of single-use plastic, but in the interim, we\u2019re also exploring plastic insetting,\u201d says Shiber-Knowles. To achieve this, the team is coordinating a waste collection and reuse recycling program with supply-chain partners in Ghana and India. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s pretty simple: We calculate our plastic footprint, then impose a fee on ourselves based on the plastic type used, in particular if it wasn\u2019t PCR, and if it can\u2019t actually be recycled,\u201d says Shiber-Knowles. \u201cThis fee goes into a fund that we use to directly support the fair trade-operated waste collection and reuse\/recycling programs, ensuring those who collect the plastic are paid for their efforts.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n