Headquarters: Christchurch, New Zealand Product: Ethique Bliss Bar $17 USD Qualifications: vegan, plastic free, cruelty free, sustainable, palm oil free Recognitions: In 2015, Ethique was recognized as New Zealand's most sustainable business with 'the Best in B' award. In its early stages, the company attracted the highest number of female investors in PledgeMe history. Sustainability claims: Climate neutral: We are supporting sustainable forestry in Australia which acts as a carbon sink Vegan ingredients: Animal agriculture is regarded (surprisingly) as the driving force for climate change. Farming animals produces up to 24% of global carbon emissions, whereas transport accounts for 14%. Not only that, but deforestation to produce more space and more food for animals, is resulting in the loss of 1-2 acres of rainforest every minute Cruelty free: Ethique is certified cruelty free by two independent organisations: CCF AU and PETA Reducing water use: Each bar you use is the equivalent to at least three bottles of the equivalent. This means on average, every bar saves just under 1L of water. Sustainable ingredients: The RSPO (Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil) aims to solve this problem, but as yet, the process isn’t perfect. Palm production is vital for the local communities so a boycott harms them unnecessarily, but until the certifications are airtight, we won’t use palm in any form. Compostable packaging & in-shower containers: All our packaging is plastic free and compostable with no chemical coating. The stock they are made of is also sourced from PEFC certified forests, ensuring the forests are logged without significantly impacting the surrounding environment

Ethique’s strongest area of sustainability are their ingredients, their standards for procurement, & their transparency. Entire range is completely plastic-free, our range is palm oil free (and its derivatives) Ingredients: Creamed Cocos nucifera (coconut) butter: Our creamed coconut comes from the pacific islands and is minimally processed from coconut flesh sodium cocoyl isethionate cocoyl methyl glucamide stearic acid cetyl alcohol stearyl alcohol maltodextrin vegetable glycerine: Our glycerine is palm free and comes from sustainably managed coconuts, a renewable resource. Glycerine can come from many sources, petroleum and palm being common, which of course, we don't use! kaolin: Kaolin clay is an Earth mineral benzyl alcohol dehydroacetic acid guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride

Not a lot of details on exactly how or where their products are made, could not find formal sustainability report. seems like good practices based on the fact that their ingredients are responsibly sourced, but actual production metrics, emissions, etc unavailable lack of supply chain info We source ingredients where possible directly from producers for the ultimate in fair trade

we discussed how accreditations do not always inspire confidence, but ethique is living wage accredited & is a certified B corp, which are both rigorous certifications. the company was founded in 2010 and they have had these certs since 2015 when the company began to seriously gain scale living wage accredited certified B-Corp and we donate 20% of profit to various charities much more