CLARINS qZERO®
Sustainability Score
Founded in Paris in 1954, Clarins has always believed that beauty and wellbeing flourish best when working in harmony with nature. From its earliest beginnings, the brand has embraced a heartfelt respect for people and the planet, drawing on the power of plants to create high-quality skincare that delivers real results. Family-owned and independent, Clarins continues to blend scientific innovation with botanical expertise, offering products crafted with care and precision.
Today, Clarins remains committed to transparent, meaningful action. Through its Responsible Beauty vision, the brand focuses on sustainable sourcing, eco-friendly formulas, and conscious packaging. Clarins' heritage of excellence and its dedication to continuous improvement ensure that every product enhances natural beauty and supports a more sustainable world. Consumers can trust Clarins for a beauty experience built on over 70 years of knowledge, passion, and purposeful innovation.
CLARINS business sustainability position is in line with average compared to other companies in the E-commerce and General Retail.
CLARINS positioning within the E-commerce and General Retail
CLARINS demonstrates a thoughtful approach to environmental responsibility, with a strong focus on plant-based ingredients, responsible sourcing, and the protection of natural resources. Compared with many beauty brands, it sits slightly ahead on environmental topics, particularly in its approach to linking product development with respect for nature.
However, across the wider industry, expectations are rising. Customers now look for clearer information about full product lifecycles, including packaging, refills, and what happens after use. CLARINS has taken steps in this direction, but there is still space to make these impacts easier to understand and compare.
On social topics, CLARINS performs in line with many established brands but does not yet stand out. Strengthening visibility across sourcing and partnerships would help customers feel more confident about the people behind the products.
In governance, the brand communicates its values and commitments clearly, yet the next step is to provide more measurable, evidence-based updates. This is important as new European guidance highlights that environmental claims should be backed by clear data and cover the full lifecycle of a product.
Overall, CLARINS offers a reassuring foundation for conscious shoppers. Its connection to nature and long-term brand values create a strong starting point. With more transparent data, clearer information on product impact, and deeper social accountability, it has the opportunity to move from trusted to truly leading within the beauty sector.
For shoppers, this means CLARINS is a considered choice — especially if you value natural ingredients and heritage — while still keeping an eye on how the brand continues to progress.
Clarins specialises in premium skincare, beauty, and wellbeing products that blend plant science with advanced innovation. From hydrating creams and age-defying serums to body care and make-up, every formula is developed to enhance natural beauty while respecting the skin’s needs. Their range includes targeted treatments for different life stages and spa services that deliver personalised experiences. Always inspired by nature, Clarins ensures every product combines sensory pleasure with proven effectiveness, offering thoughtful beauty solutions for everyday life.
Clarins believes that sustainability should never be a luxury. By investing in eco-designed packaging, responsibly sourced ingredients, and high-quality formulations, the brand ensures long-term value for consumers. Their commitment to accessible sustainability includes refillable products, responsible manufacturing, and transparent practices prioritising environmental and social impact. Through continuous innovation and careful sourcing, Clarins makes it possible for customers to choose beauty that cares for themselves, and for the planet, without compromising on quality or performance.
CLARINS builds its approach around a close connection to plants and nature, with a focus on sourcing ingredients in ways that respect ecosystems and support farming communities. By working directly with growers and improving traceability, the brand helps protect natural resources while creating more stable livelihoods.
The brand is also taking steps to reduce its resource impact. This includes using lighter packaging, increasing the use of recycled materials, and improving the reuse or recycling of packaging after use. Efforts to lower energy use across production and operations are part of this journey, helping to reduce overall environmental pressure.
Product safety and clarity are central to how CLARINS develops its formulas. The brand shares clear ingredient standards and avoids certain substances, aiming to give customers confidence in what they apply to their skin. This reflects a broader shift in the beauty sector towards more open, easy-to-understand product information.
People are an important part of the story. CLARINS supports fair working conditions and skills development across its teams and supply chain, while also investing in community programmes, including initiatives that support women and local economic resilience.
At a business level, CLARINS sets out clear rules for its operations, including supplier expectations and ethical conduct. As customer expectations evolve, continued progress will depend on sharing measurable results and clear evidence behind its commitments, helping shoppers make informed, confident choices.
CLARINS has built a strong identity around nature, especially through its use of plant-based ingredients and its connection to responsible sourcing. This gives the brand a meaningful starting point for protecting natural resources. However, across the beauty sector, attention is increasingly turning to the full impact of products — from how ingredients are grown, to how products are made, packaged, and eventually disposed of.
One of the key areas for CLARINS to strengthen is reducing its overall environmental impact across the full journey. While steps have been taken to improve packaging — such as using lighter materials and increasing recycled content — there is still more to do to reduce waste, expand refill options, and help customers manage products at the end of their life.
Energy use and emissions remain an important focus. To meet growing expectations, brands are now expected to show clear, time-bound plans for reducing their impact across operations and supply chains. For CLARINS, this means building on its existing actions with more visible progress, including how energy is used, how products are transported, and how suppliers are supported to lower their impact.
Water use and biodiversity are also closely linked to the brand’s reliance on natural ingredients. Protecting ecosystems where plants are grown is essential, and customers increasingly expect to see clear evidence of how this is measured and improved over time.
For shoppers, CLARINS offers a thoughtful approach rooted in respect for nature. The next step is greater visibility — helping you clearly see how each product choice contributes to lower impact over time, supported by evidence you can trust.
CLARINS places people at the centre of its brand story, with a long-standing focus on fairness, wellbeing, and community support. This is reflected in its efforts to create an inclusive workplace and to support initiatives that empower women and strengthen local communities connected to its sourcing and operations.
Across its supply chain, CLARINS shows awareness of responsible working practices, including respect for human rights and safe conditions. This is an important foundation, especially in a global beauty industry where ingredients and materials are sourced from many regions. The opportunity now is to make these practices more visible, so customers can clearly understand how people are supported at every stage.
For customers, trust also depends on how brands communicate and protect personal data, as well as on how products are marketed honestly. While CLARINS highlights its values and commitments, clearer, more detailed information in these areas would help build greater confidence.
As expectations continue to grow, transparency becomes key. Sharing measurable outcomes — such as how workers are supported, how communities benefit, and how customer wellbeing is protected — would make it easier for shoppers to see the real impact behind the brand’s actions.
For shoppers, CLARINS represents a brand that values people as well as products. Greater transparency will help turn these values into clear, trusted proof of positive impact.
CLARINS demonstrates a well-established approach to running the business, with clear values guiding decision-making and a focus on long-term stability. This helps the brand stay consistent, even as expectations around responsible business continue to evolve.
The company sets out standards for ethical conduct and works to apply these across its operations. This includes expectations for partners and suppliers, helping to create a shared understanding of responsible practices throughout the value chain.
As the beauty sector becomes more complex, strong oversight of suppliers is increasingly important. This means not only setting standards, but also showing how these are checked and improved over time. For CLARINS, building greater visibility in this area would help reduce risks and give customers more confidence in how products are made.
Protecting customer information is another key part of responsible business today. While CLARINS communicates its commitments, clearer information on how data is handled and safeguarded would strengthen trust, especially as more shopping and engagement happen online.
For shoppers, this means CLARINS is a stable, values-led brand. With more open, evidence-based communication, it can further strengthen confidence in how it operates behind the scenes.
Clarins’ unique strength lies in its deep connection with nature, powered by science and guided by care. Every product is thoughtfully formulated with the purest plant-based ingredients, many of which are grown in their own Domaine Clarins, a private, open-air laboratory in the French Alps. This direct link to nature allows Clarins to guarantee traceability, quality, and responsible sourcing. With a genuine commitment to protecting biodiversity and reducing environmental impact, Clarins offers beauty that feels good and does good, delivering trusted results with a conscience.
CLARINS presents a thoughtful approach to responsible beauty, built on a long-standing connection to plants, careful ingredient sourcing, and a clear set of business values. Across environmental care, people impact, and how the business is run, the brand shows steady progress and a genuine commitment to doing better.
It sits in a “good, with more to show” space. This means CLARINS is taking meaningful steps, while still working towards clearer, measurable progress across product impact, supply chains, and transparency.
Looking ahead: the next phase for CLARINS is about visibility. Shoppers increasingly want simple, reliable information — how products are made, what they contain, and their impact over time. By sharing clearer data and outcomes, the brand has the opportunity to strengthen trust and stand out further.
Choosing CLARINS can be part of a more conscious beauty routine. By staying informed and looking for clear, evidence-based information, you can make choices that feel right for you — while encouraging continued progress across the industry.
Looking for clear sustainability certifications from CLARINS? At the time of review, the clearest current business-wide certification we found is the B Corp certification for Groupe Clarins, which covers its brands and worldwide activities.
Groupe Clarins states that it obtained B Corp certification in 2025 for its brands and all of its activities worldwide. On the official B Lab directory, Groupe Clarins is listed as a Certified B Corporation in the personal care products industry, certified since March 2025. This is a business-level certification, not a product-by-product certification. Clarins UK source | B Lab source.
What it means for shoppers: this gives independent evidence that the wider business has been assessed against standards covering social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. It does not mean that every individual CLARINS product has its own separate sustainability certificate.
It is also helpful to know what is not clearly presented as a brand-wide certificate. Clarins highlights Fair Trade programmes, ingredients grown organically, traceability through Clarins T.R.U.S.T., and paper and cardboard sourced from sustainably managed forests. However, these are shown as programmes, practices, or internal traceability tools rather than clearly named third-party product certifications across the full CLARINS range.
Because certifications, product formulas, and sourcing details can change, it is always worth checking CLARINS’ latest sustainability pages, product pages, and annual updates before you buy. That way, you can look for the most current verified information, not just broad claims.
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