Weleda has been awarded the British Award for Sustainability 2023 in the Marie Claire Prix d’Excellence de la Beauté annual awards in recognition of the brand’s Save Earth’s Skin campaign.
The 37th edition took place on 20 March and comprised 15 awards to honour the most innovative and effective international beauty products of the year and pay tribute to brands that are giving back or putting sustainability at the top of their agenda.
This year there were seven international accolades and eight British winners selected by the Marie Claire UK beauty team: Beauty and style director, Lisa Oxenham, and acting senior beauty editor, Shannon Lawlor, along with guest judges Sali Hughes, Ateh Jewel, Anita Bhagwandas and Alice Hart-Davis.
“By focusing on regenerative farming, Weleda has committed to tackling the climate crisis by improving soil quality,” said Jessi Baker, from Provenance, who presented the award. “Just like our skin, soil is a living, breathing eco-system which requires care. By using biodynamic methods and collaborating with regenerative farming projects around the world, the brand continues to strive at cultivating healthy soils, to continue creating its iconic products while sequestering carbon.”
Accepting the award, Weleda UK MD Jayn Sterland commented: “Weleda has been working for over a century to set standards for ethical and sustainable business, from B Corp to UEBT certification, and championing regenerative farming through biodynamic agriculture, because healthy soil plays such a crucial role in climate protection. A third of the Earth’s soil is degraded, and in the UK alone soil is being destroyed ten times faster than it is being created.
“Our global initiative to ‘Save Earth’s Skin’ was launched simultaneously across 40 countries to highlight the need for us all to care for the soil, as we would our skin. Joining forces with environmental activist Arizona Muse and her soil regeneration charity DIRT, and the Sustainable Soils Alliance, our campaign reached millions to encourage positive changes to protect soil.
“As a business, we invested €400,000 in soil health projects and planted over 200,000 trees in partnership with TreeSisters to help prevent soil erosion. This year the campaign continues, and we will be donating 5% of sales across Earth Day weekend (22-23 April) to support the work of DIRT. After a century of commitment to sustainability, we are honoured to be recognized for our efforts in these prestigious awards.”
Image: L-R: Weleda’s head of brand Helen Yeardsley, Lisa Oxenham, Jayn Sterland, Jessi Baker
