ABOUT GIVAUDAN

• With a history in perfumery and a claimed heritage of over 250 years, Givaudan is a global manufacturer of flavours, fragrances and active ingredients for the food, beverage and cosmetic industries. Headquartered in Switzerland, the company operates from 185 locations worldwide, including 79 production sites and 69 creation and application centres, employing around 16,800 full-time people. The current Forbes market capitalisation value of Givaudan is USD 36.9 billion, and the company saw a 7.1% increase in sales between 2020 and 2021.
• The company is focused on two sectors – Taste & Wellbeing, which creates flavours, taste, and functional and nutritional solutions for food and beverage applications; and Fragrance & Beauty, providing active ingredients and fragrances for personal care, home care, oral care and fabric care. The latter sector is of most interest to PlasticFree. Premium brands using Givaudan scents include Etat Libre d’Orange and St Rose.
• One of the largest flavour and fragrance companies in the world – owning at least a 19% market share between 2013 and 2017 – Givaudan’s global scope has the potential to steer vast swathes of the industries it serves towards more responsible practices. In 2022, the company rebranded to embody its “human by nature” ethos, and is currently working towards B Corp certification. If successful, it will be the first company of its kind to be certified.
• The new ethos focuses on four areas: Creations, Nature, People and Communities. Its Creations segment has seen the launch of a number of upcycled beauty ingredients that stand to limit the impact of cosmetic sourcing, formulation and end-of-life. Ingredients include Omegablue, a cosmetic ingredient created from upcycled wild bilberries, and Patchoul’Up, a 100% upcycled active ingredient for the scalp made by distilling patchouli leaves after they’ve been used for fragrance production. The brand uses the ingredient in a solid product concept called S3D Solid’hair, demonstrating its use in solid cosmetic solutions, which limit water use and can be stored without plastic.
• Actions taken within the company’s Nature pillar include a pledge to replace single-use plastics across sites and operations by 2030, and reduce net GHG emissions across all scopes below zero. The company’s 2021 sustainability report showed a 31% reduction in GHG Scope 1 and 2 emissions, and a 4% reduction in GHG Scope 3 emissions since 2015. Given its size, and compared to other organisations of similar scope, we would hope to see more ambitious environmental targets from the company.
• In 2021, EcoVadis awarded Givaudan its Gold Medal (a drop on its 2020 Platinum status), placing it in the top 5% of 75,000 businesses. Givaudan also ranks in the top 1% of the FTSE4Good Index and has been included in the SXI Switzerland Sustainability 25 Index.
• The company is by no means perfect, and it should be noted that since the year 2000 it has paid USD 217,170 in damages due to its involvement in environmental offences such as the Seveso disaster. While there are clearly strides that still need to be made, we’re not in the habit of penalising past mistakes if a company is actively working towards a better future.