Summary
This report highlights the impacts of beauty company Weleda’s adoption of the UEBT standard as perceived by Weleda staff and suppliers. The case study looks at Weleda’s Mexican sesame oil, Moroccan iris and Kosovan althea radix supply chains between 2011 and 2017. Mixed methods were used, including audit data, company self-reports, semi-structured interviews, desk research and validation with the company and outside experts. Weleda perceived some key positive changes since adopting the standard as improved sustainability strategy, enhanced corporate reputation, and a greater grounding in suppliers’ local context. Suppliers also recognized growth in professionalism, support for improved working conditions, and involvement in Weleda decision making as beneficial to their own businesses. A number of factors were identified that can slow down the implementation of an ethical sourcing system, including increasingly complex workloads, overly ambitious interpretation of requirements, and large time and monetary cost. It is noted that committed leadership and financial stability are crucial to a company’s success in implementing a sustainable sourcing system.