Societal and environmental impacts of our products

Green Impact Index

Societal and environmental impacts of our products

The Green Impact Index is a tool for measuring the eco-socio-design of cosmetic products based on their production in France. Its method, designed by Pierre Fabre and evaluated by AFNOR Certification, is based on the rating of 20 environmental and societal criteria, such as biodegradability and naturality of the formula, carbon footprint, water consumption or CSR commitments. This rating is then translated into an A to D letter summarising environmental and societal impacts of the product.

Societal and environmental impacts of our products

A tool to help you consume better

Founded by a humanist pharmacist, a passionate botanist and committed to manufacturing its products in Occitania, the Pierre Fabre Group, to which the brand Eau Thermale Avène belongs, has been committed since its origin to the protection of biodiversity and the respect of people. But today, we wanted to go further.


We had to accelerate to fight against global warming, health risks, exclusion in all its forms and the growing mistrust of consumers. We were convinced that we would not be able to meet all these challenges by working in isolation. This is why the Pierre Fabre Group has designed the Green Impact Index, an information and rating tool for the environmental and societal impact of cosmetic products based on their production in France. 
A tool that aims to be reliable, transparent and useful to help us develop products that are more respectful of the Planet and to allow everyone to choose their products with full knowledge of the facts.

 

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Green Impact Index scoring method

To be complete and reliable, the calculation of an eco-socio-design score is a complex exercise. Our main challenge was therefore to make it understandable and easily usable by all. Thus, each product is associated with a letter from A to D that measures its level of eco-socio-design which is based on their production in France. 
The score for each product is obtained from the evaluation of 14 environmental criteria and 6 societal criteria. The environmental score accounts for 2/3 of the overall score and the societal score for 1/3. The overall score is first calculated out of 15, then brought down to 20 to obtain the product's Green Impact Index. 

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Scoring detail

ENVIRONMENTAL SCORE

(out of 60 reduced to 4)
/4
Eco-designing the packaging 
 

/5 Weight / volume ratio
/10 Integration of recycled materials or certified FSC PEFC
/15 Recyclability
/10 Contribution to the greenhouse effect
/10 Water consumption
/5 Air acidification
/5 Eutrophication of water

(out of 5 reduced to 3)
/3
Eco-designing the packaging

/2 Biodegradability in 28 days (+0.5 bonus point if biodegradable in 10 days)
/2 Naturality
/1 Ingredients number ≤ 15 or formulation in sterile cosmetics

/2
Reducing the impact of manufacturing

/0.5 Plant(s) grown organically or without chemical treatment
/0.5 Active extracted without chemical solvent or in circular economy
/1 ISO 14001 or ECOVADIS certified manufacturing site

/1
Reducing the impact of transport

/1 Geographic origin of raw materials
SOCIETAL SCORE 
 

/5
Encouraging Made in France, official certifications and societal engagement programs 
 

/2 Product certified organic (Cosmos, AB, ...)
/1 Product made in France
/2 At least one social commitment in favour of biodiversity, therapeutic education, patient associations or the fight against poverty
+1 bonus point if product (and/or) :
• contains at least one fair trade raw material
• is certified Origine France Garantie
• is registered with the Vegan Society
      

 

 

A measurement method validated and guaranteed by AFNOR Certification

It took us 12 years of effort and more than 3,000 life cycle analyses of products and packaging to design this environmental and societal impact measurement tool. The robustness and reliability of our measurement method were evaluated by AFNOR Certification. At the end of its audit, the independent organisation concluded that the system was robust and reliable: the rating system, the collection and consolidation of source data, the technical and human resources used, and the continuous improvement approach of the Green Impact Index.

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Our iconic products

Some of our products rated A or B according to the Green Impact Index based on production in France.