How does Sephora rank on toxic chemicals?

B+

Sephora earned a letter grade of B+, which reflects a significant improvement from its C grade in 2018 and D grade in 2017. The company scored 81 out of 146.5 possible points, ranking 7th out of the 43 retailers evaluated this year.

The improvement was driven by its July release of a new public-facing safer chemicals policy and associated beyond restricted substance list (BRSL). While Sephora has long maintained an extensive BRSL for its private-label products, the new policy applies to branded products it sells, with a commitment from the retailer to reduce the number of products it sells out of compliance with the BRSL by 50% in the next three years and with annual reporting of progress. This builds upon a voluntary program called “Clean at Sephora” which recognized branded products meeting a public BRSL which the retailer has also recently expanded. Together, its efforts represent a unique and positive effort among cosmetics retailers to start addressing chemicals of high concern (CHCs) in branded products.

Opportunities for improvement: Sephora can continue to work towards increasing transparency by making public the BRSL for its private-label products as well as disclosing ingredient information beyond that required by FDA rules, especially for fragrances. The company can increase the transparency of the ingredients of its private-label brands by disclosing the constituents of fragrances. The company should also expand the policy to target for elimination any per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that may be in the private-label and brand-name products it sells. Sephora should also become a signatory to the Chemical Footprint Project and pilot it with key private label suppliers.

Summary of Sephora’s Grade

12.5 out of 17.5 points

Policy: Adopted a retailer safer chemicals policy

Explanation of Points

Sephora released a “Public Chemicals Policy” in July 2019 that expanded upon its existing requirements for suppliers of its private-label products to also address chemicals of concern in branded products and establish quantifiable goals. This new policy covers all private-label and brand-name products sold in U.S. retail locations as well as online. The policy includes a BRSL of almost fifty chemicals in nine classes with the retailer aiming to cut in half the number of products in its range with any of these chemicals within three years.

Sephora requires the suppliers of its private-label products to additionally comply with a separate BRSL that, according to the company, includes more than 2,000 forbidden ingredients. The retailer stated that its BRSL for its private-label products includes fragrance ingredients and packaging and that it applies globally to its private-label products.

Sephora does not have a publicly available manufacturing restricted substance list (MRSL) and the policy does not appear to apply to operations.

5 out of 5 points

Oversight: Established management responsibilities and incentives

Explanation of Points

Sephora indicated to us that responsibility for the BRSL and chemical safety is assigned to Director-, VP-, and Senior VP-level staff and that meeting related objectives is tied to their compensation.

7.5 out of 12.5 points

Accountability: Ensures supply chain accountability

Explanation of Points

Sephora’s policy notes that the company provides training on the private-label and Public Chemical Policy BRSL requirements and requires private-label suppliers to do third-party lab testing to verify compliance with the BRSL for private-label products subject to its policy. The retailer additionally confirmed that contracts with private-label suppliers require adherence to the retailer’s policies.

The retailer has not specifically disclosed that it conducts its own testing to ensure suppliers comply with its safer chemicals policy.

8.5 out of 13 points

Disclosure: Requires suppliers to report use of chemicals in products to retailer

Explanation of Points

Sephora’s policy requires suppliers of its private-label products to disclose to the retailer a complete list of ingredients and known impurities, including all fragrance ingredients and nanomaterials. An extra credit point is awarded for requiring the disclosure of nanomaterials.

12 out of 16 points

Action: Reduced or eliminated chemicals of high concern (CHCs) within the last three years

Explanation of Points

Sephora provided us with documentation that it has enforced the BRSL for its private-label products in recent years and expanded it to include additional chemicals in each of the last three years. Additionally, the Clean at Sephora program has continued to add prohibited chemicals for participating branded products, with the retailer noting that 35 products have been discontinued or reformulated in order to comply with the program requirements. Although Sephora has not fully reported the reductions in the total number of impacted products or volumes of chemicals of high concern, the addition of chemicals and brands has resulted in a reduction in the use of CHCs in both Sephora’s private-label products and participating branded products.

2 out of 13.5 points

Safer Alternatives: Evaluates safer alternatives, avoids regrettable substitutes

Explanation of Points

Sephora’s policy includes the statement that it “…encourag[es] the replacement of high-priority chemicals with safer alternatives and work[s] to avoid regrettable substitutes.” The retailer also notes its participation in a number of industry coalitions to advance safer alternatives. However, the company does not disclose its definition for “safer alternative” or how it evaluates the safety of alternatives. Sephora staff reported that the company is working on a guidance document for brands to explain how to assess and find safer alternatives and avoid regrettable substitutes.

8.75 out of 18 points

Transparency: Demonstrates a commitment to transparency and public disclosure

Explanation of Points

In July 2019, Sephora released a “Public Chemicals Policy” along with a public BRSL that applies to all products that it sells – both private-label and branded. The retailer also maintains a more detailed BRSL for just its private-label products that is not publicly available. The retailer’s voluntary Clean at Sephora program also maintains a publicly available BRSL.

On its website, Sephora identifies private-label products that comply with the company’s BRSL. Sephora, however, does not appear to encourage or require the disclosure of ingredients in products online or on product packaging beyond that required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for cosmetics.

In its Public Chemicals Policy released in July 2019, Sephora indicated that “By 2020, Sephora aims for 100% of formulated beauty and personal care products to have all intentionally added ingredients … listed on our US Sephora.com website,” although the company notes that this does not include fragrance ingredients.

0.75 out of 7.5 points

Chemical Footprint: Evaluates its chemical footprint

Explanation of Points

In 2018, Sephora indicated to us that the company utilized the Chemical Footprint Project survey tool for its private-label brands and explored it with several third-party brands. While the company is not yet a signatory and has not disclosed any results, we are recognizing this step forward with partial credit.

1.5 out of 8.5 points

Third-party Standards: Promotes credible third party standards for safer products

Explanation of Points

Sephora sells and promotes products that meet credible third-party standards, including EWG-Verified.

Extra Credit:

0 out of 5 points

Joint Announcement: Public commitment demonstrated through joint announcement

Explanation of Points

Sephora has not made a discernible public commitment through a joint announcement or other coordination effort in advance of a major announcement within the time periods specified in the scoring rubric.

10 out of 15 points

Continuous Improvement: Shows continuous improvement by steadily expanding safer chemicals policy

Explanation of Points

In July 2019, Sephora expanded its existing policy, which applied to its private-label products, by releasing a public-facing policy (with quantifiable public goals) and a public BRSL that apply to brand-name products it sells. This builds on the steps the retailer previously took to recognize brand-name products that met an optional BRSL in years past and reflects an ongoing escalation of effort to ensure the chemical safety of products Sephora sells. The retailer also expanded its voluntary Clean at Sephora program for products that comply with a BRSL, adding eight additional brands and expanding the applicable BRSL by nearly 40 chemicals, including restrictions on some fragrance ingredients. Additionally, the retailer continued to update its BRSL for private-label products, updating the ingredient and packaging restrictions in 2019 and fragrance restrictions in 2018.

5 out of 5 points

Safer Products: Program to promote safer products in stores and/or on website

Explanation of Points

Sephora’s online listings for its private-label products clearly show that these products comply with its BRSL. Additionally, products sold both online and in-store that meet the Clean at Sephora requirements, with a voluntary BRSL for branded products, are clearly marked with a special label.

5 out of 5 points

Collaboration: Actively participates in collaborative process to promote safer chemicals

Explanation of Points

Sephora participates in the Forum for the Future’s Beauty and Personal Care Products Leadership Group and in 2018 joined the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council (“GC3”), a multi-stakeholder effort to drive the commercial adoption of green chemistry.

2.5 out of 5 points

Impact Investment: Investing financial resources into independent research into safer alternatives and/or green chemistry solutions

Explanation of Points

Although not specifically targeted at green chemistry, through its “Accelerate” program, Sephora has provided financial support to several entrepreneurial efforts that may help identify and bring to market safer alternatives, for which we award partial credit. Sephora also supports industry associations working on chemical and sustainability issues broadly.

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