AmorePacific

RATING

SECTOR
Packaged Goods, Household/Personal Care
WEBSITE
CONTACT
100, Hangang-daero,
Yongsan-gu,
Seoul,
Republic of Korea
Tel: +82 2 6040 5114
STOCK EXCHANGE
LISTING
- FTSE4Good
- Dow Jones Sustainability Indices – Korea Index for 10 Consecutive Years
- MSCI ESG Rating Class A
EMPLOYEES
13,257
AWARDS
- ‘WeDream’ was awarded “Workplace of the Year” by the minister of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and “the citation of excellence in employing disabled persons” by Gyeonggi-do
- 3D Printed Tailored Facial Mask Pack Wins CES (Consumer Electronics Show) Innovation Award
CONTENT SOURCE
FURTHER READING
AmorePacific
SECTIONS : Sustainability • Evaluation • Progress • Watch • Overview
Company Activity
AmorePacific is a South Korean beauty and cosmetics conglomerate, operating over 30 cosmetics, personal care, and healthcare brands. The cosmetics division offers shampoos, body cleansers, and toothpaste, the personal care division provides skincare products, makeup products, and fragrances for women and men, and the healthcare division includes green tea products.
AmorePacific has over half the market in South Korea and has been expanding into global markets. In 2013, AmorePacific ranked as the world’s 17th biggest cosmetics company in terms of global sales. It operates around 13,300 points of sales across all distribution channels in 14 countries including the US, China, France, and South-East Asia.
Company Sustainability Activity
With the founding philosophy of ‘contributing to humanity through beauty and health,’ AmorePacific aims to achieve its sustainability commitments in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
They seek to implement various programs to help stakeholders lead sustainable lifestyles in their everyday lives, to achieve inclusive growth with social and economic communities, and to contribute to building a circular economy for future generations.
AmorePacific’s efforts towards incorporating sustainability throughout their business model include:
- Promoting a sustainable lifestyle through a variety of initiatives to integrate social and environmental considerations into the product life cycle
- Creating inclusive growth through a safe and empowering workplace and key global partnerships
- Striving to save energy and reduce GHG emissions, while building a circular economy through increasing the efficiency of resource use
Highlights
- LESS Plastic initiative aims to reduce 700 tons of plastic packaging by 2022
- 100% removal of microplastics from all products
- 92% of all suppliers meet sustainability requirements, up from 70% last year
- WeDream, a subsidiary that hires employees with disabilities, awarded Workplace of the Year by the Minister of Employment and Labor for South Korea
- LED lighting initiative resulted in a 13.8% drop in GHG emissions at distribution centers
- Through the GREENCYCLE campaign, they agree to recycle at least 100 tons of empty plastic bottles every year for the next 3 years, with a goal of recycling 100% of empty bottles and using 50% of them in products and appliances by 2025.
- Major reduction in waste through various resource upcycling projects
Targets
Promoting sustainable lifestyle
- Incorporate at least one environmental or social benefits into more than 40% of its new products
- Integrate environmental and social consideration into the design and operation of its stores and disclose its improvement
- Enhance its customers’ awareness of environmentally and socially sustainable lifestyles
Reduce plastic use
- Aim to reduce 700 tons of plastic packaging by 2022
- Apply recycled and plant-based plastics
- Updating packaging designs to be more easily recycled
- Committed to recycling at least 100 tons of plastic containers every year for the next 3 years, with a goal of recycling 100% of empty bottles and using 50% of them in products and appliances by 2025.
Sustainable Purchasing
- Ensuring raw materials are procured from sustainable suppliers
Diversity and Inclusion
- Promoting a workplace without barriers by empowering women and employees with disabilities
- Committed to supporting the health, wellbeing, and economic empowerment of 200,000 women through the 20 by 20 commitment
Climate Change Mitigation
- Investing in renewable energy and reducing GHG emissions
- Reduce CO2 emissions by 30% per tonne of production
Resource Efficiency
- Reducing water use by 22% domestically and by 41% overseas
- Reduce waste generation through resource upcycling programs that provide recycled materials for products
Progress
Promoting sustainable lifestyle
- 45.9% of new products have environmental and social benefits
Reduce plastic use
- Reduced plastic usage by 159 tons through new packaging designs and technology
- 281 tons of recycled and bio-based plastics were used
Sustainable Purchasing
- 92% of suppliers meet sustainability requirements, up from only 70% last year
- 100% Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification
Diversity and Inclusion
- The subsidiary, WeDream, a workplace for employees with disabilities awarded “Workplace of the Year” by the Minister of Employment and Labor for South Korea
- From 2017 to 2019, Amorepacific Group supported a total of 441,458 women, achieving 221% of the original goal
Climate Change Mitigation
- 6.6% ratio of renewable energy being used throughout the company
- 9.4% reduction of GHG emissions per tonne of production
- 13.8% drop in GHG emissions from distribution centers by replacing all lighting with LED lights
Resource Efficiency
- 7.4% ratio of rainwater use throughout the company
- Use of green tea byproducts which account for 200 tons of waste/year to create new products which have obtained the Green Technology Certification, and reduced 90% of waste
Certificates
- RSPO Certification
- OHSAS18001
- KOSHA18001
- ISO14001 (Environmental Management System)
- Green Technology Certification
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals




United Nations SDGs Compliance
SDG 3
- AmorePacific supports the implementation of good health and well-being through a product line centered on promoting a sustainable lifestyle, ensuring products take into account environmental and social considerations. They host many sustainability-related activities for all stakeholders to participate in, such as Love the Earth, a summer environment camp for children.
SDG 5
- AmorePacific supports the implementation of gender equality through its commitment to empowering women in and outside the workplace. This includes initiatives such as internal mentoring programs to provide female employees with further opportunities or supporting the UN’s Every Woman Every Child campaign.
SDG 12
- AmorePacific supports the implementation of responsible consumption and production through its sustainable supply chain, ensuring eco-friendly raw materials and optimizing its own facilities to meet environmental standards.
SDG 13
- AmorePacific supports the implementation of climate action through its LESS Plastic program and resources upcycling programs, as well as various optimizations in its facilities such as 100% LED lights in all distribution centers.
AmorePacific, one of the largest cosmetic companies in the world, places a high emphasis on sustainability, clearly on display through their product line that uses sustainably sourced raw materials and upcycled resources and various social initiatives.
It becomes evident that the company is at the beginning of its sustainability journey, falling short in creating specific targets that would make them a leader in sustainability. For the scale of AmorePacific’s operations, their initiatives are minimal.
In addition to their targets and progress, the company aligns with four of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and has several certificates that support their sustainability goals. This company has been rated a C.
Analyst Outlook: Neutral
While their progress and sustainability programs are commendable, in some cases, such as renewable energy, they lack clear targets and fail to display significant progress. They have not paid enough attention to reducing GHG emissions in their energy-intensive manufacturing processes.
Key Points
- Amorepacific Group established a ‘Green Alliance’ program to share sustainable values with suppliers and business partners. In the program, the Group developed green technologies through collaborative research and development, which are the foundations of increasing the capability of the corporation and partners.
- In an effort to create A MORE Beautiful World, Amorepacific Group has set out three main Commitments – Sustainable Lifestyle, Inclusive Growth, Circular Economy – and eight goals of the 2020 Sustainability Commitments.
- Amorepacific Group designates and manages its key suppliers by strategic significance in response to the change of business environment, scale and importance of business transactions, and capacity of supply and development.