Picture of hands on milky water's surface holding blossom

Doing Good

We do good so you can feel good and look good naturally. As an ethical company, we are ever mindful of our responsibility to creating our great products in a sustainable and ethical way.

Since we opened our doors in Covent Garden in 1981 we have been dedicated to trading sustainably and ethically and treating people fairly, whether they are suppliers, customers or staff members. From the first Soil Association organic beauty products, to marking our 10th anniversary of becoming the world’s first CarbonNeutral® high street retailer, we continue to pioneer ways of supporting people and our beautiful planet.

We are global leaders in sustainability – but we don’t rest on our laurels. We aim to become a Net Positive business that benefits all aspects of environmental, social and economic sustainability whilst helping deliver the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals.

This page highlights our progress on key sustainability issues – the ways we tread lightly on our planet and support the people who inhabit it.

Picture depicting a natural organic field as part of our Ethical Pioneers Information piece - Neal's Yard Remedies

We're ethical pioneers

We believe that the best way of assuring good practice is through independent verification to guarantee our ethical credentials. We were first awarded ethical accreditation in 2014 by the Good Shopping Guide

Picture of a close-up of our organic orchard at our Eco-Factory in Peacemarsh, Dorset - part of our carbon neutral production for Neal's Yard Remedies

We're carbon neutral

We believe in treading lightly on the earth to ensure our environmental footprint is as gentle as it can be. We were the first UK high street retailer to be certified CarbonNeutral®, having offset our greenhouse gas emissions every year since 2008. Not only does this reduce our impact on climate change but we also intend to remain CarbonNeutral®.

We're tackling climate change

In addition to being CarbonNeutral®, we’re following best practice in tackling climate change by setting a Science Based Target, for ‘emissions intensity’ (not counting carbon offsets). This will help to achieve the United Nations’ goal of limiting the global temperature rise to two degrees above pre-industrial levels.

Our target is for emission intensity, including direct and indirect energy emissions (or ‘Scope 1’ and ‘Scope 2’ emissions as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol), based on the Center for Sustainable Organizations ‘context based carbon metric’. We’re aiming for a 47% reduction by 2025 and an 87% reduction by 2050, compared to 2010.

Picture of a white outline of a foot segmented into years and percentages of carbon saved superimposed on to a blue sky showing the United Nations goal for cutting the planets carbon footprint by 2050 - Neal's Yard Remedies
Picture showing a close-up of the solar panels on the roof of our Eco-Factory in Peacemarsh, Dorset - Neal's Yard Remedies
We use renewable energy

Renewable energy greatly reduces air pollution as well as carbon emissions and, having installed 700m2 of solar panels at our eco factory in Dorset, we generate more than 5% of our own electricity. This is topped up by a 100% UK sourced renewable tariff and we also choose 100% renewable electricity and gas for our stores.

We use natural and organic ingredients

Organic products are kind to the earth – and kind to you as they have all their natural antioxidants, vitamins and minerals and no harmful pesticides. That’s why 92% of our physically processed agricultural ingredients (defined by the COSMOS standard) are certified organic by weight. We also are committed to using no genetically modified (GM) ingredients.

Picture background of a blurred out verdant green field with our commitment that over 90% of our ingredients are certified organic in white writing over the top - Neal's Yard Remedies
Picture background of a honey coloured meadow with our commitment that we have never tested our products on animals in white writing overlaid - Neal's Yard Remedies
We have never tested on animals

We believe that beauty and household products should be cruelty free, and are proud to be Leaping Bunny approved. A global programme, Leaping Bunny requires cruelty free standards over and above legal requirements. All of our cosmetic, personal care and household products are approved under the Cruelty Free International Leaping Bunny programme, the internationally recognisable gold standard for cruelty free products. We adhere to a fixed cut-off date notice and proactively monitor our suppliers to ensure that our products adhere to the Leaping Bunny criteria. Our supplier monitoring system is also independently audited. For more information about Cruelty Free International, Leaping Bunny and Leaping Bunny criteria please visit Cruelty Free International.

We certify our organic products

We certify our products with the Soil Association, internationally recognised for their incredibly high standards for organic food and beauty. This guarantees that a product contains the highest levels of certified organic ingredients. Our new products are now certified (by the Soil Association) to the new robust organic standard for health and beauty worldwide COSMOS Organic.

Picture background of a close up of green plant shoots with our commitment that we certify our natural beauty products are organic with our partnership with the Soil Association since 1991 - Neal's Yard Remedies
Picture of golden yellow flowers with our commitment to supporting over 50 million bees in Ghana overlaid in white writing as part of our 'Save the Bees' campaign - Neal's Yard Remedies
We support the bees

The vital bee is under threat and our pioneering Bee Lovely campaign has raised over £165,000 for bee friendly causes since its launch in 2011. With over half of UK bee species having declined in the past 50 years and 97% of wildflower meadows having disappeared since the 1930s, we’re proud to support bee-friendly organisations with sales of our nourishing and uplifting Bee Lovely range. We are also proud to have played a key role in the successful campaign to secure a ban on neonicotinoid insecticides, having handed in a 120,000-strong petition to 10 Downing Street calling for an EU-wide ban.

We are moving towards a 'circular economy'

We’re progressing towards the vision of a ‘circular economy’, in which resources are re-used rather than going to landfill. We’re doing this by minimising single use packaging, particularly non-recycled and single use plastic. So far we’ve switched most of our plastic bottles to 100% post-consumer recycled plastic. We will switch to using entirely recycled plastic bottles by 2025, and aim to meet the targets of the UK Plastics Pact, whilst continuing to avoid excess plastic use by using glass where it is suitable for the product. In 2017 we became the first national company to commit to the Refill Scheme, actively encouraging customers to come in and refill water flasks, to reduce the usage of single-use plastic bottles.

Picture of plastic waste with a blue filter and our commitment that all our bottles up to 200ml are made from 100% recycled plastic overlaid in white writing - Neal's Yard Remedies
Picture close-up of tropical leaves with our commitment that we have worked closely with the World Land Trust to help save over 2,800,000 m² of endangered forest since 2012 offsetting 250 tonnes of CO2 - in white writing - Neal's Yard Remedies

We save endangered habitats

The World Land Trust (WLT) works to save threatened habitats acre by acre, creating protected nature reserves around the world safeguarding some of the planet’s most vulnerable habitats and wildlife. Our packaging is Carbon Balanced through the World Land Trust™, which means that we offset the amount of CO2 used to make our packaging by protecting tropical forest. Since 2012 we’ve helped save over 2,800,000m² of endangered forest, offsetting 250 tonnes of CO2.

Picture of a close-up of leaves with our commitment to always responsibly source our paper and card  overlaid in white writing - Neal's Yard Remedies

We responsibly source

The card and paper we use is responsibly sourced, to help limit deforestation. For example we purchase FSC® and PEFC certified or 100% recycled paper and card. These certifications ensure forests are responsibly managed and ensure chain of custody exists. This means that the paper we use is from an approved, traceable source, from producer to end user. Our product cartons and gift boxes also use Carbon Balanced Paper through World Land Trust to further reduce their environmental impact.

Picture taken underwater in the ocean with our commitment  that we have never used plastic microbeads in our products and have actively campaigned to have them banned overlaid in white writing - Neal's Yard Remedies

We've never used plastic microbeads

We’ve never used plastic microbeads in any of our scrubs and polishes and are proud to have successfully lobbied the UK government, alongside Greenpeace and Fauna & Flora International to lobby the UK government to #BanTheBead.We’re now continuing the campaign around the world with our international partners. You can choose products free from plastic ingredients with the Good Scrub Guide, Beat the Microbead App and Look for the Zero guide.

Picture of ripples on water with our commitment that we recycle 20% of our annual freshwater consumption which is equivalent to one million litres per year - Neal's Yard Remedies

We recycle over 20% of our water

Freshwater is a limited resource and requires valuable resources to make it safe to use – and we take active steps to limit our freshwater use. We have a water recycling system at our eco-factory, which recycles up to one million litres of water every year. Greywater from manufacture and rainwater goes towards non-sanitary uses such as flushing toilets. This accounts for around 20% of our water use and we intend to remain at 20%, even as our production grows. Another step we take to reduce our freshwater use is to aerate appropriate sink taps at our eco-factory. We also fund freshwater availability projects, such as rainwater collection tanks for our suppliers of tea tree oil in Kenya.