Acting together

For us, sustainability means anticipating long-term impacts, understanding biological and environmental cycles, and continuously optimizing resource use. It is guided not only by regulations, but by a science-based and value-driven approach.

Guided by Sustainability

In order to incorporate sustainability as a guiding principle in our corporate strategy, we are aligning ourselves with the twelve guidelines of the German Chemie3 industry initiative. These guidelines also reflect directly or indirectly the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including climate and resource protection, sustainable economic growth, corporate environmental and social standards in the global value chain, and measures against child and forced labor.

Climate change

CLR is aware of its responsibility as a manufacturing company and has set itself the goal of minimizing the negative impact of its activities on the climate and thus contributing to the fight against climate change.

We therefore commit ourselves to:

  • reducing climate-damaging emissions, which, according to the latest findings in climate science, is necessary to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to continue efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C in line with the Paris Agreement (COP21).
  • reducing our absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 23% by 2030 compared to the base year 2021 and to measuring and reducing our Scope 3 emissions.
  • continuously working to reduce our energy requirements and CO2 emissions, and other emissions, both at our production sites and along the value chain.
  • having our greenhouse gas inventory regularly externally verified (GHG Protocol) as a basis for setting reduction targets and measures, as well as for informing our stakeholders
  • monitoring, controlling and sustainably managing energy, natural gas, heating oil and electricity consumption.
  • conducting regular measurements related to air pollution from our combustion processes in order to prevent air pollution.
  • trying to reduce our consumption of resources, thus actively minimizing the environmental impact wherever possible.

Water

Water is essential for life. Increasing dry periods on the one hand and flooding on the other threaten the supply of fresh drinking water and endanger the cultivation of natural raw materials. As a manufacturing company, we are not only dependent on the availability of high-quality fresh water, but are also aware of our special responsibility to protect water as a natural resource.

For this reason, we are committed to:

  • monitoring, controlling and sustainably manage water quality and quantity in abstractions and discharges.
  • improving water efficiency at our production sites in line with local water availability for the needs of people and the environment.
  • reducing product-specific water demand in our manufacturing processes by 30% by the end of 2030 (base year 2017).
  • improving wastewater quality by reducing the content of non-precipitable phosphorus (including phosphonates) by at least 40% by the end of 2030 (base year 2021).
  • ensuring compliance with water-related laws and voluntary standards.

Forrests and Biodiversity

As a responsible company, CLR strives to contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of natural ecosystems and biodiversity at all relevant levels, to work towards ensuring that forests and other natural ecosystems are not harvested unsustainably in its supply chains and to source its natural raw materials, including those from forests, in an ethical manner.

We are committed to:

  • working with our customers and suppliers of natural resources and other key stakeholders to ensure that the natural resources in our portfolio do not contribute to deforestation or degradation and meet legal and ethical sustainability requirements.
  • complying with relevant international nature conservation regulations, such as the UN Convention on Biological Diversity or the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as well as relevant national laws in the country of origin.
  • promoting and complying with the UN’s International Labor Principles along our value chains (ILO).
  • recognizing traditional knowledge and respecting the rights of local and indigenous communities over land, biological resources and their cultural heritage, including the consideration of access benefit sharing arrangements.
  • maximizing the sourcing of forestry-based raw materials from sustainable sources in accordance with recognized standards such as RSPO, FSC, and PEFC.
  • substituting raw materials based on palm oil/palm kernel oil in our products with equivalent alternatives from other plant sources by the end of 2035.

Responsible Care

Responsible Care is the global chemical industry’s unifying commitment to the safe management of chemicals throughout their life cycle while promoting their role in improving quality of life and contributing to sustainable development.

As a signatory of the Responsible Care Global Charter, we are committed to supporting the Responsible Care Initiative to actively strengthen it worldwide.

A Corporate Leadership Culture that proactively supports safe chemicals management through the global Responsible Care initiative.

Safeguarding People and the Environment by continuously improving our environmental, health and safety performance; the security of our facilities, processes and technologies; and by driving continuous improvement in chemical product safety and stewardship throughout the supply chain.

Strengthening Chemicals Management Systems by participating in the development and implementation of lifecycle-oriented, sound-science and risk-based chemical safety legislation and best practices.

Influencing Business Partners to promote the safe management of chemicals within their own operations.

Engaging Stakeholders, understanding and responding to their concerns and expectations for safer operations and products and communicating openly on our performance and products.

Contributing to Sustainability through improved performance, expanded economic opportunities and the development of innovative technologies and other solutions to societal challenges.

Science Based Targets Initiative

The Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) drives ambitious climate action in the private sector by enabling organizations to set science-based emissions reduction targets. In early 2022 we decided to develop a science-based target that is in line with the well-below 2°C scenario of global warming (streamlined target validation route for SMEs). Our target has been approved by the Science-Based Targets initiative:

We are committed to reducing our absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions 23% by 2030 from a 2021 base year, and to measuring and reducing our Scope 3 emissions.

Sustainability in our products

We are serious about our responsibility to society and the environment and ensure that our active ingredients contribute to the formulation of products that are not only good for the consumer, but also for our planet. We pursue a holistic and well-founded approach to responsible research. Our market-relevant new products with innovative concepts for their application are developed in consideration of their environmental impact across their entire life cycle.

Natural raw materials and active processes are the starting point for our product development initiatives and are an essential part of our products. Technologically, we largely focus on innovative biotechnological processes. We continuously look for new ways to make our products as environmentally friendly as possible and have already been able to reduce our energy consumption in many processes.

Sustainable approaches and technologies for better active ingredients

Fermentation

We run fermentation processes using different microorganisms, with a focus on probiotic bacteria and algae. All these processes preserve natural resources.

Using biotechnological processes enables us to obtain highly effective compounds for our active ingredients from only small amounts of raw material.

Postbiotics

Fermentation, purification and fragmentation to obtain CLR’s postbiotic lysates require extreme precision and total control of the process parameters. High-tech equipment and highly educated production personnel allow for goal-oriented and sustainable production. We have more than 40 years of experience in this field.

Discover our postbiotic lysates:
CefiraProtect CLR™
G+C Complex CLR™
ProBioBalance CLR™ NP
ProRenew Complex CLR™
Repair Complex CLR™ PF

Algae

CutiGuard CLR™ is based on an extremophilic red alga, Galdieria sulphuraria. It naturally occurs in hot volcanic sulfur springs in extremely hostile environments.

We preserve natural resources and grow the algae for CutiGuard CLR™ locally and sustainably in Germany. A cleverly designed, extremely efficient and sustainable fermentation process leads to a highly efficacious hydrolyzed extract of Galdieria sulphuraria, which is at the core of CutiGuard CLR™.

Learn more about CutiGuard CLR™.

Upcycling

Around one-third of the world’s food, or 1.3 billion tons per year, is lost to waste. In Circular Beauty food waste is used to create eco-conscious beauty products. In line with its sustainability strategy, CLR has recognized the tremendous potential of waste valorization.

AnnonaSense CLR™ is obtained from Annona cherimola, common name Cherimoya, an edible fruit originating from South America. In Spain, the cherimoya fruit is cultivated for the food industry. However, as the cherimoya fruit is very sensitive, many fruits are not suitable for the food industry and remain unused. In cooperation with local farmers, CLR uses these crop losses to produce a highly effective adaptogenic cosmetic ingredient: AnnonaSense CLR™.

Learn more about AnnonaSense CLR™.

Sustainable new product development

We develop and produce innovative active ingredients for the cosmetics industry. With our new guidelines, we have created the basis for sustainable product development, which is anchored in our integrated management system.

We only use raw materials of natural origin in our processes. Exceptions are substances that are currently not substitutable for (microbiological) stabilization and are only used in low concentrations (<5%). “Green standards” such as COSMOS, NATRUE or ISO 16128 are used for classification.

Greatest possible product compatibility for the users (confirmed by in vitro and in vivo studies) is just as important to us as the effects on the environment. This includes avoiding contamination with ecotoxic or poorly degradable substances, a conscious use of energy resources and the efficient use of water and raw materials.

For all future new product developments, we have adopted the following guidelines:

Raw materials
  • Responsible use of natural resources
  • Compliance with Nagoya protocol and EU Regulation 511/2014
  • Not part of the CITES or IUCN red lists
  • No raw materials which lead to deforestation and monoculture
  • Transparency in the supply chain
Process development
  • Optimization of energy consumption
  • Minimization of CO2 production
  • Minimization of waste
Environment
  • Minimization of use and development of ecotoxic materials
  • Maximum biodegradability of end product

Our Certifications