High Street hair salons are the latest businesses to benefit from tailored guidelines to help them reduce carbon emissions and, ultimately, become Net Zero businesses and this week L’Oréal has announced a partnership with climate action platform Net Zero Now targeting UK hair salons.
This industry-first initiative called the ‘Net Zero Salons Programme’, will assist salons on their journey to a more eco-focused future.
The programme is open to salons across the UK and Ireland and guides them through the process of calculating, tracking and reducing greenhouse gas emissions through tailored carbon reduction plans, with the ultimate ambition of certification as a ‘Net Zero Salon’.
Developed by the pair, as well as involving peer reviews and input from across the industry, the programme is based on a salon-specific roadmap and tool.
There are around 31,000 hair salons across the UK and they play a significant role in the beauty economy. Data from the initial programme pilot working with leading salons like Adam Reed (London), Trevor Sorbie (Manchester) and Linton and Mac (Scotland), revealed that the average salon appointment produces 3.1kg of greenhouse gas emissions.
In line with ‘Science Based Targets’, the programme “aims to empower salons and clients alike to play their role in taking carbon reduction action and recommends that salons on the programme work towards a benchmark of 2kg per salon appointment”.
It added that “if all salons in the UK achieved this benchmark, the industry could remove approximately 33% of its greenhouse gas emissions.
Thierry Cheval, Managing Director, L’Oréal UK & Ireland, said: “As market leaders we recognise the important role we play in empowering our business ecosystem such as our salon partners to be more sustainable. We are committed to supporting the future of the sector and we look forward to having salons from across the UK and Ireland join the programme as the industry seeks to take climate reduction action.”
Simon Heppner, co-founder, Net Zero Now, added: “We know this programme can help salons to be even more efficient by reducing energy and water consumption which we hope also brings more business resilience for the future. With Net Zero initiatives now live in hospitality, accountancy, tech services and salons, we’re providing tens of thousands of small businesses with the tools they need to take their first steps on the road to Net Zero”.
Client habits and expectations around sustainability are changing. Recent L’Oréal surveys found that 45% of British women said they made more sustainable choices in 2022 than in previous years, with similar numbers saying that they were keen to see their salon doing more to be sustainable.
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