The international non-profit association promoting ethical sourcing has reached 100 members. According to the organisation, its rapidly growing membership signals the growing commitment of business in the beauty and food and beverage markets to sourcing with respect for people and nature.
The Union for Ethical BioTrade’s 100th member is OLIPE, an olive oil producers’ cooperative based in Spain. The cooperative has 930 producers cultivating 14,000 hectares of olive groves specifically for the extra-virgin and virgin olive oil market, and sells olive by-products such as bioplastics made of olive pits.
The growth also comes at a time when the international focus on biodiversity is on the rise, with the lead up to the UN Global Biodiversity Summit, later this year. According to the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, “We are at a decisive time in history, where everyone must contribute towards a shared vision to live in harmony with Nature by 2050. So we are very glad to see that momentum is building and commitments are on the rise in these important sectors such as beauty, pharma and food, to align business actions with biodiversity.”
“We are proud to be UEBT’s 100th member, as the OLIPE cooperative has been working for many years on organic practices, with 70% of our production now certified organic and biodynamic. Together with UEBT we will deepen our ecological work, and strengthen our social, cultural and education actions in rural Spain,” said Juan Antonio Caballero Jiménez, President of OLIPE.
Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) member companies commit to ethical sourcing of ingredients from biodiversity. It includes companies across the beauty, food and beverage, and natural pharmaceuticals sectors. UEBT sees strong interest from beauty brands, such as Clarins, Expanscience, Fresh, Givenchy Parfums, Guerlain, Kenzo Perfums, Liz Earle, Parfums Christian Dior, Natura, Plantopia, Weleda, Yanbal, and Yves Rocher.
