Dear friends

What a year 2018 was for UEBT.  We celebrated 10 years, unveiled our new label for ethical sourcing system certification, grew our markets and welcomed new members from around the world.  It was also the year we launched an important working group with partners for improving the Carnauba wax sector and saw record participation at our Beauty of Sourcing with Respect Conference.  Biodiversity rose even higher in awareness and took its place at the centre of many international discussions.  At the 2018 UN Biodiversity Summit, we saw governments pledging to scale up efforts to combat biodiversity loss, including through specific commitments and targets to be reached by the 2020 UN Biodiversity Summit in Beijing.  In all of this, UEBT continued to offer leading expertise on sourcing with respect so our members can contribute to a world in which people and biodiversity thrive.  Read on to learn more about our activities and accomplishments in 2018.

Our 2018 Priorities

• Branding and market recognition

• Credible and innovative validation of ethical sourcing of biodiversity

• Facilitating ethical sourcing

• Institutional strengthening

Impacts at a glance

UEBT unveiled in 2018 its new ethical sourcing system certification to encompass a brand's entire ethical sourcing system, validating that it has incorporated the requirements from the UEBT standard into its systems for sourcing and innovating ingredients derived from nature.

In 2018, Weleda and Natura became the first brands worldwide to obtain the new certification.

Certifying natural ingredients

UEBT also continued to offer certification of specific ingredients from nature such as Allanblackia nuts, Shea butter, Chamomile, Peppermint etc.

In recent years the Brazilian government has investigated and found poor working conditions in several of the country’s rural activities, including in Carnauba wax extraction. Therefore in 2018, UEBT worked with the GIZ to set up the Initiative for Responsible Carnauba, a group of purchasers, manufacturers, suppliers and supporting organisations working to improve conditions in the Carnauba wax sourcing areas, as well as finding new approaches to the many social and environmental challenges in the associated industry. It is also creating a preferred supplier program for Brazilian Carnauba processing companies that join UEBT and show improvements.  Ultimately, our partnership hopes to bring about a responsible Carnauba wax sector that respects the demands of people and helps to preserve biodiversity in an important region of Brazil.  While there is currently no UEBT certified Carnauba, the initiative is a good example of continuous improvement that offers positive benefits for people and nature. 

UEBT continued to support members and partners on access and benefit sharing (ABS), which refers to legal obligations that may arise for companies when using biodiversity in research or new products.  This year, UEBT also prepared ABS fact sheets, with insights on requirements in a range of countries, created an animated video to help explain this complex subject, contributed to international discussions on the controversial topic of synthetic biology, and even published a blog in leading business publication Sustainable Brands, promoting UEBT’s resources and regular events.

New Trading Members in 2018

13 new companies from 9 countries joined UEBT since January 2018. They range from processing and manufacturing companies to brands, and they source ingredients such as baobab, shea butter, bergamot, lemongrass, marula, carnauba, chamomile, peppermint, hibiscus, and more. UEBT membership has been driven in part by the UEBT/UTZ collaboration to certify herbal tea as well as by the Initiative for Responsible Carnauba.