Plantopia joins the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT), signaling its commitment to sourcing with respect for nature and people.
British brand Plantopia launches into the UK wellbeing market with a UEBT membership, the non-profit Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT), highlighting Plantopia’s commitment to sourcing its ingredients from nature with respect for people and biodiversity.
Plantopia joins almost one hundred companies globally that are part of UEBT and are working to source their ingredients in line with the UEBT standard.
These companies are involved in natural ingredient supply chains in the food, cosmetics, and natural pharmaceutical sectors.
Plantopia champions change for people and planet by driving and empowering others through deeply considered choices. As a result, the brand’s aim is to encourage and improve world wellness, from small steps to significant strides, ensuring total transparency every step of the way.
Plantopia’s Five Force Focus looks at People, Ecosystems, Planet, Social and Community
People:
Enable and empower every person touched by our products, practices, expertise and advice, through the whole value chain from harvesting and sourcing to our customers.
Ecosystems:
Preserve and regenerate this highly valuable but hugely complex network and interconnected sourcing system, with a dedicated commitment to conservation and regeneration.
Planet:
Reduce and remediate devastating and ongoing harm with our planet positive commitment, being accountable for the 4R’s of waste management – Remove, Recycle, Reuse and Reduce.
Social:
Fair and equal responsibility to everyone in our value chain, to ensure we not only minimise harm, but also create a positive benefit for the lives that we touch through our business.
Community:
Partnership and empowerment are our commitments to drive a positive impact through evoking connection and support to everyone that the brand touches.
“Gaining UEBT membership was a crucial step for us, and in line with our commitment to biodiversity as a brand,” says Rachel Parsonage, CEO of KMI Brands (the creator and owner of Plantopia).
“Working with Plantopia has been a unique experience for us because the brand has been developed with responsible sourcing as a goal from the very beginning. Together with the company’s leadership, UEBT has been involved in supporting Plantopia to shape their commitments and actions to source their strategic ingredients with respect for people and biodiversity.” – Rik Kutsch Lojenga, UEBT Executive Director [and international expert on ethical sourcing]
Plantopia’s commitment to planet wellness includes a manifesto as the guiding principles for the brand to keep focused on what they want to achieve, to demonstrate the how and why to their customers, and to provide transparency around their progress through a series of measurable goals over a specific time frame. These will be assessed and UEBT will look at Plantopia’s responsible sourcing.
Working with UEBT is a powerful way for Plantopia to demonstrate impact to consumers, governments and other supply chain actors, and UEBT certification allows consumers to choose brands, products and ingredients that are contributing to a world in which all people and biodiversity thrive.
“For us, biodiversity and respect for the planet has been part of our brands ethos since the very beginning in 2019. Plantopia has now become a full member of the UEBT and is working with all our raw ingredient suppliers to ensure these standards are heightened within the industry. We wanted to partner with an organisation who had best in class standards within this field and therefore contacted UEBT. The UEBT standard contains some of the most rigorous requirements on biodiversity, including practices that promote pollinators like bees.” says Victoria Cushing, Product Director at KMI Brands.
Biodiversity is becoming increasingly important for companies due to consumer expectations, particularly in the beauty and natural pharmaceuticals sectors. A UEBT survey in 2020 of 6,000 consumers show people have a growing awareness of biodiversity and want brands to protect it.
- Generation Z and Millennials are better informed about biodiversity than other age groups and increasingly investigate companies’ behaviours and value if brands ‘walk the walk.’
- Unfortunately, when asked to name three brands taking good actions for biodiversity, 42% of consumers could not name a single brand.
- A majority of consumers surveyed also feel that ‘companies have a moral obligation to assure [us] they have a positive impact on people and biodiversity’ and more than 70% of consumers surveyed said their trust is higher with when a brand’s commitment to ethical sourcing of biodiversity is independently verified.
- UK stat: 82% of consumers surveyed in the UK feel that companies have a moral obligation to have a positive impact on people and biodiversity
* From the 2020 UEBT Biodiversity Barometer, an ongoing set of research that has spans more than a decade and is updated each year (however we skipped 2021 due to COVID)
UEBT’s standard covers issues such as conservation of biodiversity; sustainable use of its components; fair prices; living income; respect for indigenous people and local communities; human, children and workers’ rights; local development and food security. The UEBT standard can be applied anywhere in the world and pertains to ingredients from biodiversity including parts and compounds, such as leaves, roots, seeds, oils, extracts, waxes, colourants and flavours.
About the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT)
UEBT is a non-profit association that promotes sourcing with respect. It was founded in 2007 at the initiative of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which sought to promote business engagement in the ethical sourcing of biodiversity.
UEBT supports and verifies companies’ commitments to sourcing that contribute to a world in which people and biodiversity thrive. To this end, UEBT sets good practices for how companies and their suppliers produce, develop process and purchase ingredients from biodiversity for use in food, cosmetic and natural pharmaceutical products. These companies use a multitude yet small volumes of different ingredients from biodiversity — particularly plant parts or compounds, but also microorganisms and algae — coming from cultivation and wild collection around the world.
The Ethical BioTrade standard, which is managed by UEBT and is at the core of its work, establishes good practices along the supply chain. This means good practices extend from the cultivation and wild collection areas to the companies working with UEBT, which may include farms, cooperatives, processing companies, product manufacturers, and brands.
About Plantopia
Plantopia champions change for people and planet by driving and empowering others through deeply considered choices as set out in our manifesto – Five Force Focus.
Plantopia’s aim is to encourage and improve world wellness, from small steps to significant strides, ensuring total transparency every step of the way. Fuelled by the science of adaptogens combined with potent plant therapy from essentials oils, the range provides multi-purpose products for body and skin, alongside food supplements, providing a holistic personal wellness prescription for modern living.
Plantopia products are on average 97% natural, leaping bunny accredited, vegan and formulated without Parabens, Sulphates, Petrochemicals, Phthalates, Silicones, PEG, DMDM Hydantoin, Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate, Artificial Colours and GMO’s.
