Sustainable Marketplace
We are dedicated to managing the life cycles of our owned brand products to increase traceability and transparency in our supply chain and address environmental and social impacts.
It is imperative that we own the process of bringing products to market in a way that is honest, safe and sustainable. Whether in terms of sourcing, designing or packaging our owned brands, we strive for transparency in our supply chains and in those of our partners. The goals and guidelines we have established enable us to trace our impacts and make sustainable choices that maintain the integrity of our planet and its people.
0
Plastic fibers in Boots UK and No7 Beauty Company owned brand baby wipes
100%
Certified MICA in finished products at Boots UK and No7 Beauty Company
69%
Of active suppliers completed Product Sustainability Hub assessments
370 metric tonnes+
Plastic packaging successfully removed from all Boots UK online deliveries since 2018
204 metric tonnes
Plastic reduced in Walgreens brand water bottle case achieved by reducing wrap thickness
1000+
Supplier ethical sourcing assessments
100%
Cage-free eggs target achieved by Walgreens at the end of calendar year 2022
* As of the end of fiscal 2022, August 31, 2022
“It is an enormous privilege to work with the world’s largest commercial partners and as a global healthcare leader, we have a responsibility to do the right thing for the planet and its people. Our goal is to be more than an environmentally-conscious company; it is to hold ourselves and our partners accountable throughout the supply chain. Since we are held responsible as a supplier partner and owned brand developer, there are many exciting advancements to reflect on from this past fiscal year that have edged us closer to our goals. From product innovation to global sourcing, we are keeping true to our objective of being eco- and people-conscious in our practices.”
Annie Murphy
Senior Vice President, Global Chief Commercial Officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance
WBA works to ensure the ingredients and materials used within our owned brand products and packaging are safe for our consumers, communities and planet. We strive to reduce the environmental and social impacts of the ingredients and materials we use by improving their traceability, implementing third-party certification requirements, protecting the rights of workers and supporting the responsible sourcing of raw materials.
No7 Beauty Company is a group of highly respected skin care and beauty brands, some of which have been beloved household products since the 1930s. No7 Beauty Company continues to develop products through world-class innovation and sustainable sourcing practices, and its industry-leading insights into customer shopping behaviors are the core of its strategy. Guided by a bold roadmap, it pledges to achieve its three overarching sustainability goals by 2030.
Walgreens, Nice!, and Complete Home are synonymous with quality and aim to live up to our century-old code: honest goods sold to honest people by honest methods. Our brands and products include a variety of goods in numerous categories.
From healthcare and beauty essentials to quality sunscreen, Boots-owned brands, including Boots Soltan, Boots Brand Healthcare and 17, provide affordable, accessible products customers know, love and trust.
We are committed to sustainable sourcing practices for our products. We understand that our customers, team members and potential new hires care about where products come from and how they are made.
In fiscal 2022, we implemented tools and programs to increase transparency and sustainability of our owned brand products and packaging. We work with suppliers who share our commitment to fair and honest business, safe working conditions, compliance with laws and regulations, and labor, health, and safety standards. We use our Supplier Code of Conduct to assess compliance, regularly evaluate environmental and social performance and conduct on-site audits. We also provide training to suppliers to address any issues that may arise and support them in meeting our expectations. To enhance our efforts, we have implemented a Product Sustainability Hub to gather data and disclosures from our suppliers and make more informed decisions. The hub improves supplier transparency and includes data on animal testing, palm oil, plastics, wood, pulp, paper, cotton and high-risk minerals. Of our active suppliers, 69 percent are providing WBA data via the Product Sustainability Hub.
Responsible sourcing and the use of sustainable materials in our products and packaging is critical. We are dedicated to ensuring the safety and well-being of our customers, communities and the planet. To achieve this, we strive to reduce the environmental and social impacts of the ingredients and materials we use. The sourcing of raw materials that have been independently certified to a recognized environmental, ethical or social standard is encouraged both internally and with our suppliers in our shared journey to become a more sustainable business.
We are dedicated to sourcing minerals used in our products in an ethical and responsible manner, working only with suppliers who share our commitment. We are continuously working to improve the traceability of these materials and to have them independently certified to a recognized environmental, ethical or social standard to minimize their impact on both the environment and society.
We are committed to supporting the development of a sustainable palm oil industry and supply chain that combats deforestation, preserves wildlife habitats and protects the rights of workers. Our Global Minimum Requirements support this commitment, striving to require all ingredients containing palm oil and derivatives used within our owned brand products to be certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
We use shea butter as a moisturizing ingredient in many skincare products. We are a member of the nonprofit Global Shea Alliance (GSA) to promote industry sustainability, quality practices and standards around shea butter. We work with the GSA to support the women who harvest shea in Ghana and give back to communities that work in the shea industry.
We are committed to working with suppliers to ensure wood pulp and paper materials used in products and packaging are not contributing to deforestation, ecosystem loss or illegal harvesting. Boots-owned brands and the No7 Beauty Company require all wood, pulp and paper materials come from verified recycled sources with at least 50% post-consumer content, or from responsibly managed forests.
WBA supports calls for a global ban on animal testing. We do not conduct animal testing on our owned brand products or on ingredients used in these products, and we have a long-standing Product Testing Policy Statement in place that prohibits animal testing on our own brand products.
The issue of packaging waste is a growing societal and environmental concern, and at WBA, we are determined to help address the negative impacts of waste from packaging. In the past few years, we have focused on reducing plastic and single-use components from our packaging, in addition to publishing long-term targets for our owned brands. Our efforts to make our packaging more sustainable have progressed in the following ways:
WBA engages with numerous organizations and government entities to seek industrywide solutions and take meaningful action toward packaging sustainability.
WBA is a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, an independent nonprofit organization that brings sustainable packaging stakeholders together to catalyze actionable improvements to packaging systems.
In October 2022, Walgreens joined the Sustainable Medicines Partnership (SMP) as a member of the Steering Committee, a private-public collaboration executing projects to make the use of medicines more sustainable.
Boots and No7 Beauty Company joined as signatories to the EcoBeautyScore Consortium in July 2022. The consortium is a collaboration of major global cosmetics companies that seek to establish a transparent global environmental impact scoring system.
