Emma Lewisham
Emma Lewisham is a skin care company that cares about more than just our skin. We chat to Emma about the brand’s carbon positive product range and 100% circular designed business model.
Words: Hande Renshaw | Photography: Courtesy of Emma Lewisham
H&F: Hi Emma, tell us about your journey to where you are today? When did you first know you wanted to work in the beauty industry?
Emma: I founded Emma Lewisham to set a new benchmark in beauty. When I was pregnant, I was told to stop using a product called hydroquinone as it was ‘toxic’ and questionable for people’s health and it put me on a path to natural skincare. I was used to using high tech, luxury skincare, and when I went looking for the natural alternative with the same science, I couldn’t find it. There was a compromise that existed in natural skincare, so I set out to create my own.
While looking at the beauty industry critically and from the knowledge I had in sustainability, I had an eureka moment where I could see how broken the current beauty model was. The model was linear, brands took from the earth, made something (packaging – through fossil fuels), then consumers threw it away - take, make, waste.
This model is responsible for 120 billion units of beauty packaging produced globally every single year AND why this number is alarming is that despite people thinking and being told beauty packaging is recycled, almost all of this ends up in landfills, oceans or is burnt due to the economics not being there to recycle it. This packaging is also the single largest contributor of carbon emissions in beauty.
From the start, we were always really clear that in order to make a meaningful difference we needed to firstly have excellent, ground-breaking products. So we set out to create formulations that were proven scientifically to be equal to or better than conventional luxury brands on the market. I knew if we could change the game here, we could change the game of beauty.
We thought differently and formulated differently – more investment in our actives, higher percentage of them, more of them and less fillers and after 3 years and many iterations of each product later, we had achieved what we had set out to, all natural skincare products that were independently proven to outperform even the most recognised, high performing brands on the market.
You’ve recently released a 100% circular designed, refillable range – can you tell us why this collection is so important for your brand?
Our carbon positive certification means that we take more carbon emissions out of the atmosphere than we put in - which creates a ‘positive’ environmental impact. To become certified Carbon Positive, we worked with Toitū Envirocare, who are a world-leading independent environmental certification agency.
Over 12 months we measured the carbon emissions emitted at each stage of our products’ lifecycle including growing, harvesting, transportation, product packaging and end-of-life. This allowed us to clearly see where we could reduce carbon emissions and enabled us to implement an extensive carbon reduction strategy as a first point of call. After reducing each product's carbon footprint as much as possible, we then offset our remaining carbon emissions by 125%, to become the world’s first certified Carbon Positive beauty brand under Toitū’s Climate Positive programme.
This leads us into circularity and how it is inextricably linked to mapping our carbon. The beauty industry is responsible for producing 120 billion units of packaging waste every year. And the production of this single use packaging is the industry’s largest contributor of carbon emissions. So if the beauty industry is to play its role in meeting global climate goals, this carbon has to be reduced. And so to reduce this carbon, we have to reduce packaging.
And that’s where circularity comes in, because it’s founding principle is to eliminate waste and pollution through keeping materials in use. So being 100% circularly designed means that all of our packaging has been specifically designed to be refilled many, many times before being recycled through our specialised partners, as a final point of call.
In mapping our carbon emissions, we have been able to prove that when buying our circularly designed refills, as opposed to brand new packaging, carbon emissions are reduced by up to 74%. In addition to reducing our products’ inherent carbon footprint through our circular packaging, we chose to then offset what we can’t reduce in order to become carbon positive. This ensures that we are having a regenerative effect on our atmosphere. Essentially, helping to reverse the effects of climate change.
‘We invested heavily into the research and development of innovative packaging, machinery and business processes that allow each product to be refilled, ensuring our packaging is kept in circulation and diverted from landfills,’ says Emma Lewisham. Photo: Courtesy of Emma Lewisham
“Since our inception, I’ve been determined to create a circular model of beauty, where we reuse what already exists – keeping our resources in circulation, eliminating packaging waste and significantly reducing our carbon emissions.”
‘To me, it makes sense that after we think about what we put in our bodies, we would think about what we put on our bodies, since our skin is our largest organ.’ Photo: Courtesy of Emma Lewisham
‘The beauty industry is responsible for producing 120 billion units of packaging waste every year. And the production of this single use packaging is the industry’s largest contributor of carbon emissions.’ Photo: Courtesy of Emma Lewisham
The endorsement from Dr Jane Goodall is incredible! Can you tell us how this was conceived?
I’ve always looked up to Dr Jane and simply her reading about our work would have been exciting. To be honest - we weren’t actually expecting a reply! So, having her endorsement for our circular and carbon positive path has been one of my proudest moments. I hope that it helps other businesses and consumers understand how paramount these foundational changes we are making are.
Why is natural skincare so important to you?
To me, it makes sense that after we think about what we put in our bodies, we would think about what we put on our bodies, since our skin is our largest organ. It is like a sponge that absorbs so much of what goes onto it. As we strive to lead healthier lives, considering which personal care products we use and whether or not they’re good for us is inevitable. There has been a stigma that natural skincare isn’t as effective, however the reality is that nature holds the most powerful active and transformative ingredients.
The most important tip you would give to a creative starting out and working for themselves?
My biggest tip would be to find your purpose. Knowing clearly why you are in business will drive you every day. I am energised and excited to go to work every day because I know that what we are doing has the power to transform the beauty industry and create meaningful and lasting change.
The biggest lesson you’ve learnt building the brand?
The biggest lesson that I’ve learnt is that building a successful and responsible business can go hand in hand. I’m proud of the global growth we have achieved so far, but I’m most proud of how we’ve done it. I believe we’ve proven that you can be kind and compassionate while still being competitive. And I’m proud that our genuine focus on bringing about a better world has had the power to disrupt a market and challenge the status quo.
For you, what’s the future of beauty?
I hope to see an industry wide transition to circular, carbon positive and collaborative models of business, as this is the only viable solution to the beauty industry meeting global climate targets. We may be the first to have implemented a circular and carbon positive model, but we don’t want to be the last. Collaboration and the sharing of knowledge must play a primary role if we are to meet these targets. We no longer have time to operate in isolation, climate scientists estimate that we have less than ten years left to prevent the worst effects of the climate crisis so we must work together if we are to create a truly beautiful beauty industry. Circular, carbon positive and collaborative - we hope this is the future of beauty.