Quarterlytics / Consumer Defensive / Household & Personal Products / Natura &Co Holding S.A.

Natura &Co Holding S.A.

ntco · NYSE Consumer Defensive
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Ticker ntco
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Sector Consumer Defensive
Industry Household & Personal Products
Employees 1001-5000
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FY2020 Annual Report · Natura &Co Holding S.A.
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2020 
annual
report

Purpose

To nurture beauty and relationships for a better  
way of living and doing business.

Beliefs

We are passionate agents of change.

We build relationships based on transparency,  
collaboration and diversity.

We are committed to integrity and hold  
ourselves accountable.

We find the courage to challenge the status quo  
and go beyond.

We honor and respect the interdependent  
nature of all things.

Aspiration

We will dare to innovate to promote positive  
economic, social and environmental impact.

1 Our  

group

2

3

Our  
businesses

Commitment 
to Life

8

12

14

16

20

26

30 

32

34

38

40

42

44

46

48

52 

56

60

64

Who we are

Natura &Co in numbers

Global footprint

Strategy and governance  

Message from the Board of Directors  

Financial highlights

Integration

COVID-19 response

An omnichannel group

Innovation and products

Avon | Major launches

Natura | Major launches

The Body Shop | Major launches

Aesop | Major launches

Message from the CEOs

We must act. Now.

To address the climate crisis and protect the Amazon

To defend human rights and be human-kind

To embrace circularity and regeneration

Our group

8
8

9

Who
we are

We are a purpose-
driven group made  
up of four iconic 
beauty companies: 
Avon, Natura,  
The Body Shop  
and Aesop.

Natura &Co operates in more than 
110 countries, with over 3,700 stores, 
35,000 employees and 8 million 
representatives and consultants.  
We are united in the belief that we 
can nurture beauty and relationships 
for a better way of living and doing 
business, and we are proud to be  
the world’s largest B Corp. 

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020Our group

10
10

11
11

Founded in 1886, Avon 
connects people in more 
than 70 countries, using 
the power of beauty to 
transform women’s lives  
for the better. 

6.3 million* representatives across the world 
sell its iconic products, building their own 
beauty businesses. Avon believes a better 
world for women is a better world for all, 
and is committed to acting for gender 
equality, speaking out about issues that 
matter and creating positive change. 
Together with Avon Foundation, the 
company has donated over US$1.1 billion, 
with a focus on tackling gender violence 
and breast cancer. 

Established in 1969 in São 
Paulo, Brazil, Natura creates 
products and services that 
promote a harmonious 
relationship for the individual 
with oneself, with others  
and with nature. 

Natura believes that its value and  
longevity are connected to the ability 
to contribute towards sustainable 
development. Currently present in 10 
countries, it is an icon of direct selling in 
Latin America (and the beauty market 
leader in Brazil). Natura has 2.1 milion* 
consultants, almost 600 company-owned 
and franchised stores, as well as a growing 
online platform. In 2014, it became  
the first publicly traded company  
to be certified as a B Corp.

*Given that hundreds of thousands of representatives and consultants sell both Avon and Natura products, Natura &Co’s 8 million total number of representatives  
and consultants is less than the sum of Avon’s and Natura’s separated figures. The total number also includes The Body Shop At Home beauty consultants.

Founded in 1976 in 
Brighton, England,  
The Body Shop is a  
global beauty brand  
and a certified B Corp. 

The Body Shop seeks to make positive 
change in the world by offering high-
quality, naturally-inspired skincare, body 
care, hair care and make-up produced 
ethically and sustainably. Having pioneered 
the philosophy that business can be a force 
for good, the brand still has this ethos as 
its driving force today. The Body Shop 
operates around 2,800 retail locations in 
more than 70 countries.

Established in 1987 in 
Melbourne, Australia, 
Aesop has since expanded 
to 27 markets around the 
globe, with each of its 247 
signature stores having  
its own unique design. 

Aesop is renowned for creating products 
with meticulous attention to detail, 
along with a unique exploration of the 
intersection of botanicals and science to 
create sensorial and highly efficacious 
formulations for skin, body, hair, fragrance 
and home. Aesop became a B Corp 
certified company in 2020.

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020Natura &Co  
Annual Report — 2020

Our group

12
12

13
13

Natura &Co
in numbers

R$ 36.9   
billion
— 
Consolidated 
net revenue
2020

R$4.2  
billion
— 
Adjusted  
EBITDA1
2020

35,000
 employees

48%    
women

in leadership  
positions 

R$489
million

invested in social causes

107%  
growth

in social selling  and 
ecommerce sales  

32%    
reduction*

in greenhouse gas emissions
achieved by Natura

2 million
 hectares

of conserved forest in the 
Amazon region

58 sourcing
communities

based on ethical trade in  
15 countries 

2,489
tons  

of virgin plastic replaced 
by recycled plastic  
in packaging

1Excludes effects that are not considered to be recurring or comparable between 
periods analyzed.

2The underlying net income is calculated before the effects of the acquisition of 
Avon and does not take into account transformation costs, discontinued operations 
expenses, PPA amortization effect and non-controlling interests.

Chart without scale

*Compared with business as usual in the same period (2020).

R$399.5  
million
— 
Underlying  
net income2 
2020

Natura &Co  
Annual Report — 2020

Our group

14

Global
footprint

110+
countries 

8+ million
consultants and
representatives 

3,700+
stores and
franchises

Avon

Natura

The Body Shop

Aesop

 
 
Our group

16

17

Strategy and 
governance

The power of &Co 

It’s impossible to over-emphasize how unprecedented 
a year 2020 was and how we have started a new one 
still surrounded by uncertainties that require us to 
make cautious, prudent and empathetic decisions. 
However, the challenges that we have been facing 
during this period have been not only proof-points but 
also catalysts for our overall strategy of building a global, 
multi-brand, multi-channel, purpose-driven group, one 
that will resonate in the post-COVID world.

In the midst of the global pandemic, we took care of 
our networks and integrated Avon into Natura &Co, an 
addition that expanded our global reach and nourished 
our passion for connections and relationships. We 
are now positioned to be the unparalleled leader in 
the direct-to-consumer space with a business model 
that demonstrates proven resilience and a formidable 
platform for growth. Our four iconic brands have a 
unique product portfolio across all price ranges, with 
clear roadmaps for the future, and distribution through a 
variety of channels.

At the same time, the pandemic led to the acceleration 
of our digitalization plans. We aim to keep up this 
momentum in order to amplify our message and to 
become truly omnichannel. The peer-to-peer sales 
model, far from going out of fashion, is shifting towards 
social selling, and the power of digital allows us to go 
beyond, evolving it into a model that is more in touch 
with our consumer’s way of life and demands for 
beauty and well-being. This approach also offers us the 
opportunity to drive female empowerment,  

through financial independence and enhanced self-
esteem. Visionaries who embraced a different way of 
doing business founded all of our brands. We intend to 
keep their purpose alive and invite others to share this 
journey with us.

Our three-year strategic plan foresees a significant 
revenue increase and margin expansion by the end 
of 2023. This growth will be distributed across all 
geographies. In Latin America, where we are the market 
leader, we have significant opportunities with the 
integration of Natura and Avon. We also see the potential 
to enter, or to expand our presence in, important beauty 
markets where we are still under-represented, namely Asia 
and the United States. These goals will require us to define 
and implement regionalized and brand-specific plans for 
the continued evolution of our omnichannel strategy.

Our four iconic 
brands have a 
unique product 
portfolio across all 
price ranges, with 
clear roadmaps  
for the future.

Our path  
to growth  

Integration with Avon: 
gain synergies and 
explore combined 
revenue opportunities  
for Natura and Avon in 
Latin America, including  
a new commercial  
model and the 
development of 
an ecosystem of 
complementary, 
collaborative and 
symbiotic businesses. 
Accelerate the 
transformation of Avon 
worldwide to enable 
growth through brand 
rejuvenation, a targeted 
product portfolio, a new 
operating model and 
continued investment in 
upgrading IT systems. 

Digitalization & 
ecommerce:  
reinforce our 
commitment to social 
selling and ecommerce, 
leveraging digital 
momentum across all 
brands. Avon and Natura 
to further benefit from 
relationship selling using 
social media channels 
and digital tools. Aesop’s 
success story to be 

enhanced with the 
development of an 
integrated customer 
experience focused 
on personalization 
and loyalty. The same 
is expected for The 
Body Shop through 
the evolution of the 
ecommerce platform.

Brand & innovation: 
enhance Natura’s  
brand differentiation, 
to drive consumer 
preference and desire. 
Avon and The Body  
Shop to keep on 
their path to brand 
rejuvenation, increasing 
the quality and pace 
of innovation. Expand 
Aesop’s product 
portfolio into in-demand 
differentiated categories 
such as fragrances and 
scented home.

Regional strategy: 
develop an entry strategy 
for the group in China 
and accelerate plans 
for Japan. The Body 
Shop to expand its At 
Home channel in the 
United States as well 

as leveraging Avon’s 
expertise to expand its 
footprint in other markets.

Sustainability:  
direct investments  
in our sustainability 
agenda for 2030,  
known as our 
Commitment to Life, 
in order to define clear 
targets that contribute  
to our goals each year. 
We will also strive  
to support progress 
of the world’s 
Environmental, Social 
and Governance (ESG) 
agenda by fostering 
a collaborative, multi-
lateral approach.

Continued operating 
model improvement: 
keep up the flawless 
execution, with focus 
on simplification and 
efficiency, exceeding 
guidance on margin 
targets and procurement 
savings. Invest in new 
IT infrastructure to 
improve cyber security, 
data strategy, human 
resources and ERP 
systems delivery. 

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020 
Our group

18

A values-driven approach 

January 6, 2020 was a historical milestone for the 
group. On this day, the company began trading on the 
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) through Level II ADRs 
(American Depositary Receipts), just a couple of weeks 
after it had premiered under the NTCO3 ticker symbol 
on Brazil’s B3 exchange. These two movements followed 
the incorporation of Natura Cosméticos S.A. (which 
already controlled The Body Shop and Aesop) into a 
new holding company and the successful closing of the 
acquisition of Avon Products, Inc. By the end of 2020, the 
free float went from 57% to approximately 61%, with an 
increase of more than 230% in the number of individual 
shareholders (up to 60,000) and an average daily trading 
volume (ADTV) of R$343.3 million, a growth of 165% in 
comparison with the previous year. 

As a result of the creation of the new holding  company, we 
have been evolving our corporate governance framework 
to reflect the integration process that is underway. In 2020, 
we published new or updated bylaws, codes and policies 
and further increased our adherence to best practice 
in this field. We are also advancing in relevant themes 
such as gender parity and equal pay and inclusion of 
under-represented groups. A senior leadership team was 
immediately appointed to drive the group’s next phase of 
growth following the incorporation of Avon.      

For management and financial disclosure purposes,  
we organized the group in four business units, each one 
headed by a CEO, as follows:

Natura &Co Latin America: besides the innovation and 
stewardship of the Natura brand globally, this division 
is responsible for P&Ls of Natura, Avon and The Body 
Shop in the region, as well as Aesop in Brazil; Avon 
International (excluding Latin America): encompasses 
the P&Ls of all the market clusters in Europe, Africa, 
Middle East and Asia. This unit is also responsible for 

Avon brand innovations and stewardship globally;  
The Body Shop; Aesop.

The Board of Directors is currently composed of 12 
members (eight, or 67%, of them independent, and three, 
or 25%, women ) and includes three representatives 
from Avon’s former Board. Their collaboration, cohesion, 
international perspective and broad experience provide 
invaluable support to Natura &Co in understanding the 
business landscape and making the right decisions. This 
was particularly true in 2020, when the global pandemic 
forced us to shift priorities, tested our resilience and, 
most of all, brought into the spotlight our values-driven 
purpose. The Board engaged (mostly virtually, as the 
times demanded) in 26 ordinary, extraordinary and 
formal meetings during the year to rapidly and decisively 
address those concerns and lead by example.

The members also discussed and approved the group’s 
Commitment to Life, our vision for tackling some of the 
world’s most pressing sustainability issues within the 
next ten years: addressing the climate crisis and the 
protection of the Amazon forest, ensuring equality  
and inclusion, and promoting the circular economy.  
By championing this vision, the Board makes sure that 
both strategy and proposed annual budgets are aligned 
with its implementation. 

To support the delivery of these goals, the Board of 
Directors had the support of its four formal committees, 
all of which consisted exclusively of Board members 
themselves, except for the Audit, Risk Management and 
Finance Committee, which also comprises external 
consultants. A round of self-assessments was carried out 
in 2020, through individual interviews, which provided 
inputs to improve workflow, communications and clarity 
around roles and responsibilities within the committees.

Keeping in mind our approach of balancing autonomy 
and interdependence in everything we do, in 2018 

we had established one additional structure for our 
corporate governance model, the Group Operating 
Committee (GOC), led by Roberto Marques, group CEO 
and Executive Chairman of the Board. This goes beyond 
an advisory role and aims to oversee the group priorities 
and drive growth, assisting the Board of Directors 
to identify synergies and opportunities among our 
brands. To ensure the smooth running and efficiency 
of every part of the group, the GOC includes the CEOs 
of each of the four businesses as well as key functional 
positions. In 2020, it welcomed Kay Nemoto as Chief of 
Staff; Angela Cretu, the newly appointed CEO of Avon 
International; and Silvia Lagnado as Sustainable Growth 
Officer, moving from her previous position on the Board 
of Directors. In this new role, Lagnado is responsible for 
providing strategic inputs about transversal subjects 
for the whole group and for the orchestration of those 
demands upon brands and support functions. With 
this innovative approach to the Growth Officer job 

description, our aim is to ensure a focus on long-term 
expansion without losing sight of our relationships 
and the promotion of positive economic, social and 
environmental impacts.  

A key mechanism for the GOC and, ultimately, for 
Natura &Co’s governance, is the creation of Networks of 
Excellence (NEx) to leverage the group’s knowledge and 
collaboration across the globe through internal networks 
and hubs. There are currently four networks in place, 
based on our strategic areas, all of them collecting and 
discussing insights, sharing expertise and best practice in 
Retail, Innovation, Digital and Sustainability, with some of 
their representatives fully dedicated to this assignment. 
We are also establishing a fifth NEx, for collaboration on 
Direct Selling. Additionally, we have appointed hubs of 
expertise for R&D, to identify opportunities to elevate our 
capabilities, leverage valuable synergies and increase our 
collective passion for our products. 

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020 
Natura &Co  
Annual Report — 2020

Our group

20

21

Message from 
the Board of  
Directors

Luiz Seabra, Guilherme Leal, Pedro Passos and  
Roberto Marques, on behalf of the Board

A call for unity 

We felt certain 2020 would be a milestone year for 
Natura &Co long before it arrived. In early January, we 
celebrated as we welcomed Avon into our group. Like 
the rest of the world, we were blissfully unaware of what 
lay ahead. COVID-19 caused disruption on a scale none 
of us had ever experienced. Countries, communities, 
corporations and families have had to redefine their lives 
and find ways to adapt to the pandemic. 

The COVID-19 tragedy exposed the deep inequalities 
that exist in our society, laying bare the challenges faced 
by mankind – be they sanitary, social, ethnic or climatic 
in origin. Against the backdrop of this unprecedented 
volatility in the world, Natura &Co was in the midst of 
progressing its internationalization. 

With the arrival of Avon, we had expanded our  
presence and entered new geographies, and we 
ensured continuity for millions of consultants and 
representatives, thousands of stores and operations 
over multiple digital platforms. In the context of the 
pandemic, our greater global presence immediately  
led us to the conclusion that we could – and should  
– do even more for the world. 

underscoring the power of the “&” and the “Co” in our 
name, which have also come to constitute our essence. 
To everyone in our network, we offer our most sincere 
thanks for the dedication with which they balanced their 
lives and their work.

Given the unpredictable circumstances, it was  
essential that we prioritize our network. It was “Time to 
Care'' for ourselves and for each other. One of the key 
symbols of this choice was a decision taken by the Group 
Operating Committee at the height of the uncertainty 
caused by the pandemic that illustrates what this means. 
The group invited employees to pledge part of their pay 
on a voluntary basis, to help tackle the crisis and ensure 
continuity of the group’s activities. Thanks to Natura &Co’s 
impressive financial results, we returned the donations 
made during this period at the end of 2020. These 
results were due, in part, to the rapid adoption of digital 
technologies across all of our businesses in 2020, reflecting 
the success of our strategic investments in recent years. 

Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures, 
and the group’s spirit of unity has demonstrated that we 
are on the right path to address other global challenges, 
especially those related to caring for life and for the 
planet. The Commitment to Life 2030 Sustainability 
Vision represents a landmark in this respect. 

With courage, determination, resilience and agility, our 
network of associates, store colleagues, consultants and 
representatives, suppliers, communities and consumers 
demonstrated their creativity and energy in tackling 
the challenges presented by the pandemic, further 

We looked to the future and created an action plan for 
immediate execution. Collectively, Avon, Natura, The 
Body Shop and Aesop have assumed ambitious targets 
for the next ten years, with a critical call to action to 
address challenges such as global warming, the loss 

of biodiversity, particularly in the Amazon, and social 
inequality. In parallel, we will continue to advance in 
the development of alternatives in regeneration and 
circularity, in new formulas and packaging.

We will ensure that the lessons, the losses and 
the challenges of 2020 will not have been in vain. 
We are conscious that we need to enhance our 
corporate practices and be agents of dialogue and 
cooperation, seeking partnerships that generate 
positive transformation for the world. The year brought 
irreparable damages but ended with some signs that 
we may expect positive transformations. We have seen 
that denialism, which has been so harmful for public 
health policies, is starting to lose steam in the world. 
The development of effective and safe vaccines in 
record-breaking time—often employing revolutionary 
technologies—yet again demonstrates just how capable 
science is of saving millions of lives. 

This year made clear, in a painful, unequivocal  
manner, that the destiny of nations is interconnected. 
We are seeing hopeful signs emerge that isolationism  
is on the retreat and that, with political changes, space 
is created to reinforce multilateralism among major 
world players. 

When the current crisis is over, the challenges will 
remain. Climate change threatens even greater and 
more devastating impacts for all forms of life on Earth. 
Protecting the conditions that sustain life on the planet 
must become a mission for us all, just as the struggle 
against the coronavirus has been. It must be an 

international effort uniting governments, private sector, 
academia and civil society. It is time to unite science and 
traditional knowledge. We will fight even more for the 
protection of the most vulnerable. If there is one way  
of healing the scars left by 2020, it is understanding  
that our destiny is collective and that building a better 
future depends on our ability to unite and to advance  
in the same direction. After all, there are no limits to 
human cooperation.

Protecting the 
conditions that 
sustain life on  
the planet must 
become a mission 
for us all, just as  
the struggle against 
the coronavirus  
has been.

Board
of Directors

Luiz  
Seabra

Guilherme  
Leal

Jessica  
Herrin

Fábio  
Barbosa

Pedro 
Passos

Roberto  
Marques

Ian  
Bickley

Nancy  
Killefer

Carla  
Schmitzberger

Don  
Cornwell

The Board took part (mostly virtually, 
as required by COVID-19 measures) 
in 26 meetings throughout the year. 
Consequently it felt appropriate to 
photograph them in their homes for 
this year's Annual Report.

Andrew  
McMaster Jr.

Gilberto  
Mifano

2

Our  
businesses

Natura &Co  
Annual Report — 2020

Our businesses

26

27

Financial
highlights

Growing together in  
uncertain times 

We knew that 2020 was set to be a challenging year 
for Natura &Co. Before the global pandemic changed 
the world’s landscape, the plan for integrating Avon 
into the group was already set to demand remarkable 
focus and commitment from our employees, being 
even more complex than that of The Body Shop in 
2017. However, regardless of all global uncertainties, our 
teams managed to rapidly adapt to the circumstances 
of the pandemic, deliver a very strong year of growth 
for the group, make encouraging progress in our 
transformation journey and commit to an ambitious  
set of social and environmental goals. This performance 
confirmed that our drive to leverage our collective 
strength and the resilience of our business model,  
which prioritizes relationships, are undoubtedly  
our core fundamentals.

In a scenario of social isolation and store closures all over 
the world, our results in 2020 were achieved in most 
part thanks to the acceleration of the adoption of digital 
technologies, which led to 107% growth in social selling 

Our 12% net revenue 
growth was achieved 
in most part thanks 
to digital technologies

and ecommerce sales across the group, reflecting the 
success of our strategic approach in recent years. 

Lessons learned from our operations in Asia contributed 
to fast decision making in Latin America, where the 
digitalization process, which has been ongoing for a 
number of years in Natura, facilitated the expansion 
of digital tools, boosting the use of these resources by 
consultants. It also benefited Avon by reinforcing the 
transformation and revitalization of its commercial model. 
In just a few months, we were able to achieve outcomes 
that had been expected to take a number of years.

The intense growth in digital sales in 2020 contributed 
towards an increase in the group’s consolidated net 
revenue, which totaled R$36.9 billion, up 12.1% from the 
previous year (-2.3% in constant currency), outperforming 
the global CFT (Cosmetics, Fragrances and Toiletries) 
market by more than six percentage points. Natura &Co 
Latin America, the business unit responsible for Avon, 
Natura, The Body Shop and Aesop operations in Brazil and 
Hispanic countries, consolidated the group’s leadership in 
the region, with more than 12% of market share.

After rigorous cost control steps taken in the first half 
of the year to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, 
we started phased investments in branding, R&D and 
technology to support continued sustainable growth. 
Adjusted EBITDA for the whole group in 2020 was R$4.2 
billion (up 5.1% from 2019). Underlying net income was 
R$399.5 million and reported net income was negative 
by R$650.2 million, mainly due to the impact of the 
pandemic on the business and other effects related 
to the Avon acquisition, namely PPA (Purchase Price 
Allocation) amortization effects and income tax.

Natura &Co Latin America

Avon International

Natura &Co Latin America had net revenue of  
R$20.5 billion in 2020, growing 9.4% compared  
with 2019 (+3.7% in constant currency). This result  
was driven by market share gains for Natura and  
Avon, leveraged by increased consultant and 
representative productivity, the acceleration of social 
selling and the increase in the number of Natura 
consultants. Adjusted EBITDA for the year was R$2.4 
billion, up 25.1% compared with 2019.

Avon International had a net revenue increase of 2.9% 
(-18% in constant currency) to R$9.1 billion, compared 
with 2019. The business gained market share in the latest 
three consecutive quarters in the UK and it also enjoyed 
a sequential share improvement in Russia from the 
second quarter. The adjusted EBITDA was R$477.1 million, 
a decrease of 52.2% compared with 2019, due to higher 
investments in the brand, digital and commercial areas, 
as part of its transformation strategy.

R$20.5 bn

Net
revenue

R$18.8 bn

Net
revenue

R$8.8 bn

R$9.1 bn

9.4%
Variation

2019

2020

2.9%
Variation

2019

2020

Our businesses

28

29

The Body Shop

Aesop

A matter of trust

The Body Shop, driven by strong acceleration in 
ecommerce and the expansion of the At Home channel, 
had net revenue of R$5.3 billion, an increase  
of 32.4% compared with 2019 (stable in constant 
currency). Key performers were the UK and Asia.  
The adjusted EBITDA was R$1.1 billion, an increase of  
27.7% compared with 2019. 

Aesop once again presented an exceptional net revenue 
growth of 50.0% (+13.2% in constant currency), reaching 
R$1.9 billion, driven by online sales and remarkable 
performance in Japan and South Korea. EBITDA reached 
R$606.5 million, a 72.6% growth compared with 2019.

Net
revenue

R$5.3 bn

Net
revenue

R$4 bn

R$1.9 bn

R$1.3 bn

32.4%
Variation

2019

2020

50%
Variation

2019

2020

Natura &Co ended 2020 with a strong cash position 
of R$8.3 billion, in line with projections and above our 
minimal threshold. During the first uncertain months 
of the pandemic, in conjunction with efforts to drive 
efficiency and cost control, we took a new R$750 million 
one-year loan to increase liquidity, with no impact 
on our net debt. Most significantly, however, in June 
we were able to raise R$2 billion through a private 
placement subscribed by our controlling shareholders, 
selected investors and minority shareholders. This 
decisive movement improved our capital structure, 
reduced leverage and strengthened our balance sheet.

In October, we had another remarkable demonstration 
of trust from our investors with a more complex public 
offer capitalization, which raised over US$1 billion 
(approximately R$5.6 billion). At the time, it was the 
largest SEC-registered transaction by a beauty sector 
company globally and the largest ever in the Latin 
American consumer space. This move allowed us to 
keep working on our capital restructuring by paying 
off US$900 million of Avon’s debt, improving our rating 
for lower financial costs and our positioning for further 
liability management and corporate restructuring. Also, 
it enabled us to accelerate our investments in the group’s 
key strategic priorities: Avon integration, IT infrastructure, 
geographic expansion and the anticipation of projects in 
line with our sustainability agenda.

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020 
Our businesses

30

31

Integration

Transformation on track 

tangible results from leveraging our combined footprint  
in manufacturing and distribution. 

We have been learning a lot about how we can 
strengthen our relationships, understand each other 
better and create integrated teams. Although it has 
been extremely difficult not to be able to do this 
physically, we have maintained our focus on building 
a common culture. It’s been a steep learning curve 
for all of us that has, however, already started to show 
solid results. In 2020, we delivered 21% of the planned 
synergies, ahead of the guidance given at the beginning 
of the year. This means that we are well on track to 
achieve the planned recurring annual synergies of 
US$300 million to US$400 million, despite the significant 
devaluation of the Brazilian Real.

Our transformation journey is three-fold. First, Latin 
America, where we have created a fully integrated 
business unit comprising all four brands, which is an 
important laboratory for the purposes of our integration, 
including people and culture. There are hundreds of 
initiatives within 14 ongoing workstreams to deliver critical 
projects such as rebuilding Avon’s go-to-market strategy, 
re-launching the brand, redefining category roles and 
implementing a new commercial model to offer attractive, 
sustainable and profitable earnings opportunities to its 
representatives. In terms of operations, we established 
integrated functional teams that are already supporting 
all four businesses. Also, we have already accomplished 

More than 16 million units of Natura sanitizers,  
fragrances and bar soaps are now being produced by 
Avon’s facilities in Mexico and Argentina, plus another  
one million with other business partners — most of them 
for donation during the pandemic. Also in Mexico, Avon 
is producing The Body Shop’s new Lemon and Blueberry 
hand sanitizers. On the other hand, part of Avon bar 
soap production was transferred to Natura’s Ecoparque 
(in Pará, Brazil), which in turn had some lines moved to 
Avon’s facility in Interlagos (São Paulo). Our distribution 
centers were optimized, with the consolidation of freight 
and delivery. In procurement, we over-delivered on the 
anticipated savings projected for 2020.

Second, our goal is to reverse the historical trend of years 
of underperformance by Avon International, returning 
the business to a growth trajectory that outperforms the 
market. We have a three-year plan in place to achieve 
this, and the first outcomes, such as brand rejuvenation 
and some go-to-market approaches, were already 
delivered in.

Finally, we established an additional cross-business 
workstream to support our four brands and help 
connect us beyond Latin America. They are at different 
stages of development and are focused on leveraging 
our operational network in Europe and Asia Pacific. 

As the above-mentioned Latin America and Avon 
programs mature, we will put additional focus on  
this program, which has already seen great examples 
of early synergies. In manufacturing, the iconic 
Body Butters are now being produced for The Body 
Shop by the state-of-art (although until now under-
utilized) Avon facility in Poland, with the first one 
million units ready for shipment, all with quality and 
sustainability standards ensured. This successful 
move will be followed by the insourcing of other 
products, including body yogurts, skincare, hair care 
and fragrances, which represents 100 million units 
per year and the majority of The Body Shop’s total 
product portfolio transferred to Avon’s plant. 

The same scale and volume mindset has been applied 
to leveraging our procurement efforts, led by two 
global hubs, each one responsible for a different set 
of product categories from all four brands. In order 
to assist with the governance and optimization of 
the group’s global process, we published a Global 
Procurement Policy for Avon and Natura and 
established a Procurement Center of Excellence 
aiming at medium and long term plans to create  
state-of-the-art practices. In IT, we are also making 
good progress in global infrastructure programs,  
with a major implementation to support collaboration 
and provide access to each other’s systems, 
the development of a global Human Resources 
information system and the outsourcing of IT services.

It's all about 
the people

We are a group of 
companies committed 
to human rights, and 
one that seeks to be 
more human-kind, so 
our people are central 
to the delivery of our 
strategy and integration 
plan. We are committed 
to maintaining the 
high levels of associate 
engagement we 
recorded in 2020, and 
the continued loyalty 
of our consultants and 
representatives. The 
talent assessment we 
were able to carry 
out last year helped 
us to identify the key 
leadership development 
opportunities that we 
will focus on in the 
next few years, such as 
international experience 
and digital savviness. In 
parallel, with our talents 
already mapped, we’ll 
also work on the process 
of succession planning 
inside the group.

The culture project will 
also be resumed in 2021. 
Despite being formally 
postponed due to the 
pandemic crisis, it will in 
fact benefit from, and 

be informed by, the set of 
behaviors that emerged 
during this period of 
distress and our decision-
making processes. Most 
especially, we have learned 
that there is no way 
back from the “duty to 
care” expected from our 
leadership. So, we aim to 
follow a roadmap for the 
next five years based on 
the story of collaboration, 
empathy and adaptation 
that we have been 
building collectively, while 
celebrating the unique 
identities of our brands 
and how they express 
themselves. 

Finally, many of us had to 
socially isolate during the 
pandemic, which showed 
us the many perspectives 
of this experience. We all 
agree that we want to be 
more flexible and agile in 
terms of remote allocation 
and hiring, but we also 
know we never want to 
lose the ability to properly 
connect to each other. We 
believe we can do our best 
when we can be together 
- and we plan to do this as 
soon as it’s safe to do so.

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020 
Our businesses

32
32

33

COVID-19  
response

Time to care

There is a well-known statement that reminds us that 
life is made of choices. But making the best decisions 
is not an easy task and it can be even more daunting 
unless you clearly know who you are and what you 
care about. At the beginning of 2020, humankind was 
shocked by the declaration of a global health pandemic 
caused by a contagious disease, COVID-19. Faced with 
this disruption Natura &Co, living up to our purpose and 
beliefs, defined a response based on three key priorities: 
care for our people, care for our communities, care for 
our company.

We quickly established a global task force and appointed 
specific teams across all businesses, functions and 
geographies to find the best ways to engage with all our 
stakeholders. Soon after, we rolled out a comprehensive 
initiative called “Time to Care”, aimed at prioritizing our 
people first and foremost, providing support for one 
another and giving back where we could. We have 
embraced social distancing and have learnt how to 
remain active and connected while physically distanced.

Putting our people first, our senior leaders made a 
pledge to donate 20% of their salaries during the critical 
early and most uncertain months of the crisis. In this, 
they were immediately followed by other levels within 
the organization. By the end of the year, the company 
was in a position to return this incredible contribution 
to everyone. We provided job security for all our 
employees during the most acute period of the crisis, 
depending on local laws and regulations. Remote 
working for administrative roles has been encouraged 
whenever possible. Our store personnel have been 
offered flexible hours or have been redeployed into 
other roles or projects, such as supporting our online 

channels. Those who have been continuing to work in 
production and distribution follow strict hygiene and 
social distancing protocols. We offered credit flexibility 
to our network of consultants and representatives, 
with payment terms and additional emergency funds. 
Employees, franchisees, consultants and representatives 
also had access to telemedicine, mental health resources 
and grief support, and have been encouraged to maintain 
connections with their colleagues, friends and family.

As a consequence of the isolation measures, we also saw 
an increase in the vulnerability of women and children 
already at risk of domestic violence. Therefore, we joined 
organizations that deliver frontline services to domestic 
violence survivors and help women at risk. Our campaign 
#IsolatedNotAlone raises awareness of the issue, signposts 
help for those who need it and calls on governments 
around the world to expand funding and resources to 
deal with the increased incidence of violence. Through 
the Avon Foundation we donated US$1 million to support 
more than 40 NGOs across the world.

Undertaking a major shift in our supply chain, we 
refocused on what was essential during the pandemic 
and refocused operations across brands to increase 
production of soaps and hand sanitizers by more than 
30%. In Latin America, we took advantage of Avon’s 
under-utilized manufacturing capacity to donate  
4.8 million units of bar soaps and other personal care 
products, 260 tons of hand sanitizer and 315 thousand 
liters of liquid alcohol to governments, NGOs, hospitals 
and frontline workers. 

Our powerful network of more than 8 million consultants 
and representatives helped spread awareness about 
hygiene protocols and social distancing among their 
own communities and customers. In a second phase, we 
increased the manufacture of products in high demand 
such as moisturizers and hand creams, which rapidly 
generated revenues for our network at a moment of 
great economic uncertainty, particularly for women 
who are heads of their households and were looking for 
an extra or alternative source of income.

By the end of the first semester, we had almost 90% of 
our stores closed worldwide and major production 
and distribution restrictions had been applied, heavily 
impacting our consultants and representatives. Still facing 
huge uncertainty regarding our business performance 
and continued global lockdowns, we acted decisively and 
put together a private capitalization, which successfully 
raised R$2 billion in record time. This enabled us to 
protect the company’s liquidity and cash position. 

A subsequent US$1 billion (approximately R$5.6 
billion) capital increase allowed us to accelerate our 
investments in digital, which have been stepped up as a 
result of the pandemic. The shift to digital largely offset 
the COVID-19 impact on store closures and restrictions 
on social contact. In the UK, due to the high volume of 
orders generated by the online platform, The Body Shop 
transformed a vacant warehouse into a new operational 
distribution center in just 17 days. Meanwhile, Aesop 
set up 16 digital fulfillment sites globally and bolstered 
online customer service offerings with live chat, virtual 
consultations and click and collect functionality. 
Through this significant growth in social selling (social 
content tools and interactive digital brochures) and 
ecommerce (record traffic and conversion delivery), we 
were able to reach our network and customers to deliver 
sales growth, improve margins and even outperform 
the market. 

The crisis is not over yet. However, we are hopeful, 
confident and humbled by the magnitude of what has 
been demanded of us and what still lies ahead. We 
are closely monitoring the evolution of the pandemic 
worldwide, particularly lockdowns and restrictions 
adopted within our markets. The Crisis Committee 
continuously analyzes the situation and acts to minimize 
the impact, ensure continuity of operations, protect 
cash, improve liquidity and promote the health and 
safety of employees, consultants, representatives 
and customers. For a group guided by a belief in the 
interdependence of all living things, this crisis has taught 
us valuable lessons and underscored the fundamental 
truth that it is always time to care. 

Supporting our communities 
during the pandemic:  
R$121 million in donations

Avon International

R$4.2 million (equivalent to US$0.8 million)  
in products and R$5.2 million  
(or US$1 million) donated to frontline  
domestic abuse services through Avon 
Foundation (#IsolatedNotAlone).

Natura &Co Latin America

R$60.3 million in essential products to NGOs, 
communities, consultants, Red Cross and 
health organizations.

The Body Shop

R$32 million (or £4.5 million) donated, 
including the #IsolatedNotAlone campaign 
and products to nurses, doctors and support 
staff working in emergency hospitals.

Aesop

R$13 million (or A$3.2 million) in products 
donated in Australia plus an additional  
R$6.1 million (A$1.5 million) through the Aesop 
Foundation 2020 Support Fund.

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020Our businesses

3434

An omnichannel 
group

Pivoting to digital

Natura &Co is a group of purpose-driven beauty brands 
with a direct-to-consumer reach like no other. In 2020, 
our omnichannel vision and the rapid deployment of 
new digital tools were pivotal in helping us navigate 
through the pandemic crisis. The experience gave 
us the confidence to keep on track, learn from each 
other, accelerate our business digitalization and even 
inspire us to scale new heights. We operate a business 
model powered by people and technology, capable 
of delivering a personalized shopping experience to 
our customers any time, anywhere, through multiple 
channels and touchpoints. 

Natura:  
A wellness ecosystem

The strength of Natura’s omnichannel approach proved 
its relevance in 2020. The social selling platform, for 
example, which has been evolving during recent years, 
played a vital role in keeping our consultants active 
during the pandemic’s restrictions. Natura developed 
an interactive brochure that can be shared over instant 
messaging and social media, complemented by a media 
library to build customized content, named My Post. 
New options for payment and delivery were also added. 
Currently at Natura, 2.1 million consultants (compared 
with 1.8 million in 2019) use digital platforms (app + web) 
and 1.3 million of them have virtual stores (compared 
with around 700,000 in 2019). The ever-increasing 
adoption of digital tools by the network has resulted in 
17 consecutive quarters of growth in productivity and 
has, at the same time, allowed Natura to collect more 
relevant data to design customized offerings that drive 
loyalty, which in 2020 increased 15% in Brazil.

The same robustness can be seen in the ecommerce 
channel, which fully met the high demand for online 
purchases from home. In the United States, Natura has 
formed partnerships with influential beauty curators 
and started selling its products through Amazon.

In terms of retail, the business inaugurated a concept 
store on Oscar Freire Street, in São Paulo. A new, more 
versatile configuration that combines the strengths  
of these stores with the model adopted by the 
franchisees (Aqui tem Natura) is also being tested in 
São Paulo. Natura has also opened one new store in 
Chile and optimized its presence in Paris and New 
York. Most important, however, is the new franchisee 
store in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, leveraging The Body 
Shop’s experience. This operation marks the beginning 
of the international expansion of Natura’s omni-
channel capabilities, in an experience that combines 
ecommerce, social selling and retail.

Looking ahead, the next step is to accelerate the design 
of a beauty and wellness ecosystem. In 2020, Natura 
brought together some partners to help drive synergies 
and seek innovative income opportunities. The business 
is, for example, working with Singu, a Brazilian digital 
platform for at-home beauty services. And, as Natura’s 
first intra entrepreneurship project, the business enabled 
the creation of Naomm, a virtual platform that connects 
integrative medicine therapists to its customers.

Additionally, Natura announced the launch of &Co Pay, 
a proprietary and scalable financial services platform, 
which is a powerful enabler of digital and financial 
inclusion. It will help drive consultants’ productivity 
by allowing them to make or receive payments and 

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020Our businesses

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37

transfers through a digital account. They will also benefit 
from other services such as debit and credit cards, loans, 
microcredit and loyalty programs. The rollout of the 
service has started with Natura in Brazil, to be followed 
by Avon and then expanded to other markets.

Avon:  
On the transformation path

Avon made important progress during the year in 
its transformation journey to return the business to 
growth. As the first stage of a three-year strategy, 
known as Open Up & Grow, 2020 was an intense period 
of design, set-up and execution, with the creation of 
playbooks to deliver on Avon’s commercial priorities. 
These action plans set clear timelines and metrics to 
measure success and include the optimization of both 
the commercial model and the relationship framework, 
significant expansion of Avon’s digital presence and 
omnichannel access and reappraisal of the brand 
by advocating women’s empowerment and beauty 
democracy.

In parallel with the planning process, some of these 
initiatives are already being deployed in the markets 
where Avon operates. The first results include the 
launch of a new employee value proposition to open up 
dialogue and build a more inclusive and enabling culture, 
as well as the launch of the new brand positioning and 
visual identity. In terms of relationship selling, as a result 
of leveraging Natura’s knowledge, pilots are underway 
in Brazil, Mexico and South Africa for a new commercial 
model to drive productivity and retention, and offer 
a simpler, clearer and more compelling earnings 
opportunity for representatives. 

Another huge transformational achievement was the 
simplification of Avon’s go-to-market strategy, with 
the move to a monthly campaign cycle from 9 to 39 
markets, as well as portfolio optimization, notably in 
Fashion and Home. Avon also saw continued growth in 
ecommerce (especially in the UK) and e-brochure sales, 
accelerated by the pandemic. This represents a huge 

potential growth area, considering that 70% of Avon’s 
businesses are still offline. 

With the need to shift to virtual connections, Avon 
equipped its representatives with new digital 
capabilities, including new order management features, 
direct-to-consumer shipping and a wider roll-out 
of the interactive digital brochure shared through 
instant messaging. Avon ON, an app with an e-suite 
of tools to deliver an end-to-end digital experience 
for representatives, is now live in 39 markets and is 
undergoing improvements. The goal is to facilitate social 
sharing of content developed by both Avon and by the 
representatives themselves. 

In order to rejuvenate the brand, Avon also launched 
its new brand campaign, “Watch Me Now”, calling on 
people to reconsider their views of the iconic company, 
to better reflect the Avon of today – an innovative, bold 
and inclusive beauty brand. “Watch Me Now” includes 
a new visual identity and updated Avon logo, the first in 
decades, as well as a bolder and more confident tone 
of voice that is more relevant for the brand's millions of 
beauty representatives and customers today.

The Body Shop:  
New frontiers

Continuing on its journey through a five-year 
transformation plan, The Body Shop reshaped priorities 
for 2020 to address the demands imposed by the 
pandemic. With 90% of its 2,800 stores closed around 
the world, The Body Shop offset this setback by pivoting 
to ecommerce and direct sales (At Home) platforms, 
and rapidly and safely redirecting personnel to the 
distribution centers and offices. Even at such a disruptive 
time, The Body Shop was able to meet the high demand 
and deliver on service level agreement, registering 95% 
growth in the ecommerce channel. The new website 
and customer relationship management platforms 
were relaunched in September 2020, with roll-out in 15 
countries. These now deliver a re-imagined, mobile-first 
user experience that offers increased payment options 

across markets, creates dynamic store pages with real-
time stock availability, and has promotional capabilities. 
The platform will be improved in 2021 to further enhance 
personalization of the customer experience. The 
challenging circumstances of 2020 demonstrated how 
The Body Shop’s loyal customers trust the brand and 
how they were willing to follow it into other channels, 
beyond physical stores. Furthermore, the business 
started seeing the outcomes of a two-year investment 
in The Body Shop At Home, leveraging Natura’s 
expertise in direct sales. Remarkable growth of 202% in 
the UK and 141% in Australia provided encouraging signs 
that this is the right path.

Still, The Body Shop remains committed to the power 
of retail. In London, the company designed and piloted 
a new concept store that embodies the brand’s return 
to its activist roots and encourages environmental and 
community-minded initiatives, such as refilling. Despite 
the lockdowns, The Body Shop has been able to launch 
this new consumer experience in Vancouver, Hong 
Kong, Melbourne and Seoul. In 2021, a further rollout is 
planned for 100 of these stores in key locations to extend 
brand awareness. 

The expansion of The Body Shop’s geographic footprint 
is also underway. In the United States, a successful 
soft launch of the direct sales channel added 8,000 
new consultants in just six months, with full platform 
capability expected towards the end of 2021. In Japan, 
The Body Shop acquired the business from a head 
franchisee, paving the way for accelerated growth in this 
critical strategic market. The Chinese market remains an 
important opening as part of a broader entry strategy 
being evaluated by the group.   

Aesop:  
Evolving the customer’s experience

Aesop’s success is grounded in its brand ethos and 
considered customer experience, particularly within 
its beautiful physical spaces. Despite the challenges of 
COVID-19, Aesop was able to swiftly expedite plans to 

expand its digital capability and find innovative ways to 
provide the same level of customer experience within a 
physical store, through various digital channels instead. 
This was aided by recent interactions with Chinese 
customers, whereby the learnings could be adapted and 
adopted more broadly across the globe. 

From its design-conscious website, Aesop added virtual 
consultations, live chat support and click & collect 
services, seamlessly extending its customized service to 
the virtual world with an enhanced mobile interface. As 
a result, online sales grew 250% and moved from being 
12% of its business in 2019 to 30% in 2020. This strategy 
benefited several markets including Switzerland, which 
was considerably impacted by COVID-19 restrictions, 
and Japan, where Aesop has been building the business 
for the last 15 years and which experienced a threefold 
increase in digital sales in 2020. Not forgetting the 
importance of its physical stores and preparing for a 
post-COVID world, Aesop was still able to open nine new 
stores and  relocate or refurbish seven others in Japan, 
the UK, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, the US and Canada.

The next three years for Aesop will see a continued 
investment in digital growth, both in the markets 
where it currently operates as well as in new ones. 
By combining this expanded digital capability with 
its physical spaces, Aesop is pursuing an even more 
integrated customer experience, with personalization 
services such as recognition and replenishment. 

Although it is the smallest business within Natura &Co, 
Aesop is the fastest-growing operation. The majority of 
its business comes from Asia, where the group plans to 
expand its presence within the next few years. With its 
experience in this region, Aesop looks to share learnings 
with the other Natura &Co businesses, so that they may 
adapt for their own individual brand positioning and 
go-to-market strategies. Together, the brands will also 
venture into China, a currently untapped market for the 
group, by taking advantage of the combined expertise 
and talent from each of the businesses and using this to 
make the entry a triple-bottom line success. 

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020Our businesses

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38

39

Innovation  
and products

The beauty ahead

the groundbreaking EU animal cosmetics testing bans, 
together with more than 460 other companies.

In Natura &Co, we all share a passion for innovation.  
We aim to develop products, experiences and services 
that help our consumers to feel confident and healthy in 
their own skin, to have happy and balanced relationships 
and to engage in making this world a beautiful, 
sustainable place to live in. 

Each of our brands proposes a singular way of doing 
this. For Natura, this means promoting wellbeing, 
harmony and a deep connection with the rhythm of 
nature. As for Avon, it is about on-trend, innovative, 
democratic and affordable beauty. The Body Shop 
smashes taboos and promotes a joyful energy and a 
change-maker attitude to life. Aesop is an invitation to a 
pleasurable, sensorial journey through meticulous and 
well-considered design. 

What brings those different voices into unison is  
our unique culture of collaboration and our 
commitment to developing products that give 
back more than they take. We do not test cosmetic 
ingredients or products on animals, and all  
of our businesses have long used proven, scientific  
alternative methods to conduct tests, while ensuring the 
very highest standards of safety and efficiency.  
In 2020, the group signed an open letter sent to decision-
makers in the European Union calling on them to uphold 

In 2020, we welcomed Avon to our innovation 
ecosystem. Despite the circumstances imposed by 
the pandemic, we were able to get to know each 
other, share market knowledge and explore the best 
ways to work together. The iNEx, our internal Network 
of Excellence focused on innovation gained traction 
during the year in terms of people structure and 
workflow, including the identification and evaluation 
of the potential of our R&D centers to become hubs of 
expertise for the group around the globe. The iNEx will 
also have the support of external worldwide experts 
who share market insights and trends through regular 
talks, known as Beauty Circles.

As an innovation powerhouse, we are always in tune 
with the trends that are driving the consumer’s behavior. 
During the pandemic we saw a spark of creativity that 
we expect to explode in a post-COVID world, and we 
are well positioned to maintain our innovative approach. 
Our vision deeply resonates with the pursuit of a more 
reflexive, conscious and relationship-based way of life. 
The digital economy is more social than ever, and the 
beauty ecosystem now surpasses traditional frontiers to 
embrace wellness, sustainability, entertainment, medicine 
and biotechnology. Moreover, the planet is demanding 
renewable and regenerative solutions, and we are ready 
for this invigorating and ambitious challenge.

Our main  
innovation centers

Natura: the R&D center located  
in Cajamar (São Paulo, Brazil)  
was completely remodeled in  
2020 to deliver on the expansion 
strategy for the years ahead.  
It includes advanced labs for 
biotechnology research, formulas  
and prototypes. Another key hub 
is located in the Amazon region, 
in Benevides (Pará, Brazil), where a 
biorefinery researches the potential 
of essential oils and extracts from 
ingredients harvested from the rich 
Amazonian biodiversity landscape. 
Since 2016, the Natura Startups 
initiative has been successfully 
attracting entrepreneurs whose ideas 
can accelerate the pace of innovation.

Avon: Suffern (outside New York, USA) is 
home to a world-class team of scientists, 
engineers and beauty specialists, 70% 
of whom are women, working across 
a network of high-tech labs. There are 
a number of hubs around the world 
including Argentina, Brazil, China, Mexico, 
the Philippines, Poland, South Africa 
and the UK. In Latin America, Avon now 
also benefits from the Natura Startups 

program to solve operational challenges 
and boost synergies. 

The Body Shop: based in the innovation 
lab near Brighton (UK), The Body Shop’s 
researchers have been working since 
1987 in close partnership with producers, 
farmers and artisans to ethically 
source and develop natural-based 
ingredients from across the world. This 
hub accelerates testing and product 
reformulation and holds a sustainably 
sourced ingredients database.

Aesop: a team of chemical  
scientists works out of the head 
office in Melbourne (Australia), in a 
utilitarian, custom-built laboratory. 
Ingredients are sourced from the most 
reputable suppliers across the globe, 
and contemporary technology is 
married with long-established scientific 
practices. Aesop has been appointed 
the leader of Natura &Co’s venture 
capital fund, Fable Investments, that will 
be launched in 2021. The fund is seeking  
to invest in small, innovative high-
growth firms in the beauty and 
wellness industry.

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020Our businesses

40

Major
launches
Avon

Artistique Parfumiers 

The new range is a journey into the craftsmanship of perfumery. Avon partnered 
with multiple award-winning perfumers to create three inaugural perfumes: Iris 
Fétiche, Magnolia en Fleurs and Patchouli Indulgence, bringing together fresh notes 
of flowers, greens, leaves, woods and spices that embody over a thousand years of 
handmade French perfumery traditions.

ANEW Skin Reset 
Plumping Shots 

Avon’s breakthrough 
skincare discovery, 
Protinol™, is clinically proven 
to restore both types of 
collagen found in healthy 
skin, helping to achieve 
its perfect equilibrium. 
Protinol™ is available in 
ANEW Skin Reset Plumping 
Shots, which restore 
collagen loss in just seven 
days, for plumper, firmer 
looking skin.

Cannabis  
Sativa 

After years of extensive 
research on beauty’s 
hottest ingredient, Avon 
unveiled this 100% natural, 
vegan and safe collection 
based on cannabis sativa 
seed oil. The antioxidants 
with soothing, nourishing 
benefits of this healing 
skincare ingredient are 
presented in a three-
step regime to cleanse, 
protect and restore the 
whole body. 

Power Stay  
Make-up 

Avon’s high-tech, patented 
answer to a huge demand 
for long-lasting make-up 
now has three additions: 
mascara, liner and eye 
shadow color. The same 
polymer technology, 
which keeps pigments in 
place and guarantees that 
the product looks like it’s 
been recently applied, can 
be found in the lipstick, 
concealer and liquid 
foundation that also form 
part of the collection. 

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020 
 
 
 
Our businesses

42

Major
launches 
Natura

Ekos
Castanha

A special edition of Ekos Castanha was launched to celebrate 20 years of the iconic 
Ekos range, which symbolizes Natura’s commitment to protecting the Amazon. The 
packaging portrays the relevance of this majestic and generous chestnut tree for the 
ecosystem and the harvesting tradition maintained by local communities.

Kaiak
Oceano 

Made from a blend of fresh 
notes from Atlantic Ocean 
seaweed and the Amazon’s 
pataqueira plant, Kaiak 
Oceano is an invitation to a 
deep dive into purchasing 
choices. The plastic portion 
of the packaging is made 
with up to 50% of recycled 
materials, part of them 
sourced in partnership with 
co-operatives that collect 
waste along the Brazilian 
coastline.

Essencial
Mirra 

The Essencial range was
repositioned with the new
strapline “Essencial is the
power of being”. At the end
of the year, a new fragrance
was launched, Essencial
Mirra, that brings together
the iconic and mystic myrrh
from the Middle East and
the rare and innovative
“Brazilian myrrh”, made from
the aromatic resin harvested
from the almecegueira tree
in the Amazon forest.

Lumina  
Tratamento Pró-
Reconstrutor 

The 100% vegan, cruelty-
free haircare line has now a 
new treatment system,  
with a primer and a 
mask. It is based on 
Natura’s exclusive pró-teia 
biotechnology, inspired 
by the protein found in a 
spider’s web.

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020 
 
 
 
 
Our businesses

44

Major
launches
The Body Shop

Bath Blends

Instead of relying on artificial glittery solutions, these new bath and shower 
blends cut through the clutter to harness natural ingredients into velvety sensorial 
textures. Available in pear, mango, banana and berry blends for a daily dose of 
vitamins, antioxidants and minerals in nourishing feel-good formulas that are eye-
catching and sustainable. 

Hemp 

Leveraging 20 years of 
knowledge about hemp, 
The Body Shop’s cross-
category solutions deliver 
ultra-nourishing protection, 
boosted by hemp seed 
oil, featuring an overnight 
facemask, shower oil and a 
hand scrub. The star launch, 
using a new hemp-derived 
ingredient cannabidiol, is 
the CBD Skincare range: a 
three-step routine mask-
cleanser, oil and moisturizer 
to soothe stressed skin.  

Superfoods 

Inspired by on-trend 
ingredients harvested all 
around the world, The Body 
Shop’s new energizing 
Superfood Hair & Body 
Mists & Solid Fragrance 
Domes are perfect for a 
life on the go. Available 
in five unique feel-good 
blends: lime & matcha, 
pomegranate & berry, 
coconut & yuzu, apricot & 
agave and pink pepper & 
lychee. 

Lemon 

A fast-track range designed 
and delivered in only eight 
months to help people feel 
clean, zesty and confident 
in reconnecting with their 
bodies in the midst of the 
COVID crisis. It’s made 
with lemon essential oil 
and combines head-to-
toe steps that have either 
antibacterial, intense 
cleansing or protecting care 
properties.

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020 
 
 
 
Our businessesa

46

Major
launches
Aesop

Aromatique Candles

Newest in Aesop’s Home Care range is a trio of aromatic candles, each named 
for an ancient stargazer of note. Ptolemy, whose name is inspired by the Greek-
Egyptian scholar who catalogued the stars, is distinguished by smoky, deep green 
notes of cypress, cedar and vetiver. Aganice, titled for the first female astronomer 
of Ancient Greece, blends bright, floral mimosa with the warm, spicy notes of 
cardamom and tobacco. Callippus is marked by its resinous frankincense and 
earthy vetiver, and takes its name from the Greek astronomer and mathematician - 
a close observer of planetary movements.

Rōzu
Eau de Parfum 

The fourth Aesop fragrance, 
and the first floral in the 
category, Rōzu is a unique 
and modern interpretation 
of the rose, accented 
with unusual and striking 
chords such as shiso, 
guaiacwood and vetiver. 
It is inspired by the life, 
work and enthusiasms of 
the modernist designer 
Charlotte Perriand, and 
articulates the lifecycle of 
the Wabara garden rose 
created in her honor.

Sublime 
Replenishing 
Night Masque 

47

The latest addition to the Skin 
Care+ range is a highly potent 
hydrating treatment boosted 
with a suite of vitamins B, C, 
E and F to balance, nourish 
and replenish skin. Applied 
at the end of the day, this 
deceptively lightweight 
gel-cream works while you 
sleep to counter dehydration, 
so you awake to skin that 
feels smooth, supple and 
balanced. 

Citrus Melange 
Body Cleanser

A gentle low-foaming gel 
suited to all skin types and 
ideal for everyday use in 
the shower or bath, or 
for cleansing the hands. 
Imparting a vivifying citrus 
aroma, it leaves the skin 
feeling soft, refreshed 
and immaculately clean. 
The formula features a 
purifying blend of essential 
oils, including petitgrain, 
jasmine, lemon rind and 
grapefruit rind.

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020 
 
 
 
 
Angela Cretu  
Avon

João Paulo Ferreira  
Natura &Co Latin America

Message  
from the CEOs

Doing the right thing 

In January 2020, we celebrated the historic arrival of 
Avon in the Natura &Co family, by embarking on a tour of 
some of our offices in New York, London and São Paulo. 
It was a memorable week during which the energy 
and the excitement of our employees at this major step 
taken by the group was palpable.

Little did we know that it would also be one of the last 
times that we personally met that year. In the following 
months, our lives, businesses, and our way of working 
were to change drastically. However, even in the face  
of a global pandemic caused by COVID-19, we 
remained steadfast in our commitment to generate 
positive impact. Putting people first was a decision 
coherent with our history, which reinforced our values 
and beliefs. 

Our initial priority was focused on the production of 
essential items, ensuring the supply of vital products in 
the fight against the virus. We began manufacturing and 
distributing hand sanitizers and soaps in record time and 
pledged to safeguard the jobs of our employees. We 
partnered with private and public institutions, communities 
and suppliers to ensure that donations reached those 
most in need. We also supported our communities by 
responding to the surge in domestic violence witnessed 
across the world during the pandemic, coming together to 
create the #IsolatedNotAlone campaign. 

We accelerated the digitalization of our businesses, 
helping to ensure that our consultants, representatives 
and store colleagues could continue to work amid 
lockdowns. With heavy investment in the further 
expansion of our ecommerce infrastructure, our digital 
sales saw triple digit growth, despite store closures. 

The lessons learned from our operations in Asia, 
where COVID-19 was first identified, contributed to 
faster decision making in Latin America, showcasing 
the collaborative nature of our businesses. On an 
autonomous but interdependent basis, we found the 
means to protect our network, manage the contagion 
and keep business going. 

The digitalization process at Natura, which had been 
ongoing for a number of years, facilitated the creation 
of digital tools, boosting the use of these resources 
by consultants. Avon's representatives also benefited 
from digital brochures and new apps, reinforcing its 
transformation and the revitalization of its commercial 
model. This resulted in a significant increase in 

Michael O’Keeffe  
Aesop

David Boynton  
The Body Shop

approval and loyalty rates amongst our independent 
entrepreneurs, as well as positive results for our business.
The Body Shop launched its new website, as part of its 
brand rejuvenation strategy, attracting new customers 
and driving sales close to £150 million. The expansion 
of its digital channels was followed by advances in its 
direct selling model, The Body Shop At Home, which saw 
significant growth in the United Kingdom and Australia, as 
well as successfully launching in the United States. 
Aesop continued to deliver stellar growth despite store 
closures, leveraged by its agile redirection of the customer 
experiences delivered across its online channels. Asian 
markets also delivered strong performance for Aesop, 
particularly in Japan, one of the most important beauty 
markets in the world, showing growing recognition of the 
brand’s unique value proposition. 

Shop and Avon operations, while Aesop has enormous 
potential to spearhead new markets and formats, which 
may later be replicated in the group’s other businesses.

Amidst the many challenges faced during 2020, we did 
not lose sight of our capacity to use our joint strength 
to promote a positive impact on people’s lives. Natura 
&Co’s sustainability vision, Commitment to Life, will 
require innovation, knowledge sharing and systemic 
behavior change. In this regard, we have already made 
important strides. Natura &Co officially became the 
largest B Corp in the world and Natura achieved its 
second re-certification in 2020. Following The Body 
Shop certification in 2019, Aesop was certified as a B 
Corp in the same year and Avon has begun its journey 
to become a B Corp by 2025. 

The integration of the four businesses in Latin America 
progressed and has demonstrated even greater potential 
for synergies. COVID-19 accelerated this integration, 
with advances in the optimization of manufacturing and 
distribution, for example. However, the synergies go way 
beyond the region. The Body Shop started producing 
its Body Butters in the Avon plant in Poland, increasing 
product quality and speed of delivery. Natura maintains 
its internationalization plans with support from The Body 

Even in a year of great human loss, our businesses called 
upon our founding principles in search of resilience, with 
our people and the planet as our first commitment. Our 
network of employees and store colleagues, guided by 
the same values and driven by unparalleled passion, 
were essential to achieving these results. To all of them, 
we are deeply grateful. Together, we believe we are 
setting the foundations of a new cycle of prosperity, 
towards a capitalism better suited for the 21st century.

50

51

3

 Commitment 
to Life

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020Commitment to LifeNatura &Co  
Annual Report — 2020

Commitment to Life

52

5353

Commitment 
to Life

We must act. Now. 

“Solidarity is humanity. Solidarity is survival. That is the 
lesson of 2020. With the world in disunity and disarray 
trying to contain the pandemic, let’s learn the lesson 
and change course for the pivotal period ahead.” With 
these words, António Guterres, secretary-general of 
the United Nations (UN), finished his speech “The State 
of the Planet”, delivered in December 2020 at Columbia 
University, where the UN held an online climate summit 
to mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement. The 
message was very clear: the planet is broken. We need 
to apply the sense of urgency that COVID-19 has taught 
us to mend it before it’s too late.

We, at Natura &Co, believe that even though we have 
already been addressing sustainability over the years, 
we need to move faster. That is why, in June 2020, we 
set bold targets for the next decade by launching our 
“Commitment to Life'', a comprehensive sustainability 
vision which will step up our actions to address some 
of the world’s most pressing issues. These are indeed 
a set of very audacious environmental and human-
kind targets, but we know that addressing them over 
the coming 10 years is imperative. Our list of priorities 
includes addressing the climate crisis by becoming net 
zero by 2030 and protecting the Amazon by pledging 
to help to reach net zero deforestation by 2025. We also 
committed to defending human rights and to ensuring 
gender parity and equal pay by 2023, as well as adopting 
a living wage for all our employees. Our pledge 
also looks at how we develop and manufacture our 
products, therefore we are committed to embracing 
circularity and regeneration by 2030. 

Our journey towards this vision started with Natura’s 
own vision for 2050, crafted in 2014. It was expanded in 
2018, when the - at the time – three businesses within 
our group (Natura, The Body Shop and Aesop) jointly 
developed an agenda for sharing best practices by 
means of the Network of Excellence (NEx) groups, in 

fields such as innovation, digital commerce, retail and 
sustainability. The latter took off immediately with the 
objective of creating a common denominator for all 
the businesses. The Sustainability Nex (S-NEx) started 
out by discussing the group’s vision in priority themes 
that embrace a positive and systemic approach to 
our business. Along with the environmental and social 
dimensions, we have included a third one, transversal, 
that takes into account our role as a consumer 
company and the way our products are developed and 
disposed of, so that they give back  to the world more 
than they take.  

Soon after, Avon’s integration into the group threw 
new light on these issues, especially regarding gender 
and inclusion. After all, the business has spent more 
than 130 years championing women, supporting 
their empowerment, entrepreneurship and health & 
wellbeing. Because of this valuable contribution, we 
took a step back to ensure that the commitment would 
make sense for Avon in the 70-plus countries where the 
business is present. This move also helped to expand our 
scope and enhance our targets.

The vision we built set minimum goals that each 
company should contribute to the group in addition 
to its own initiatives. Therefore, we created 31 targets 
aimed at encompassing 100% of our portfolio. We then 
distributed these targets amongst 16 task groups with 
members from the four companies.

Throughout 2020, the group advanced in projects 
related to these pillars. Natura reduced its carbon 
emissions by 32% (compared with business as usual in the 
same period), while Aesop’s operations in Australia and 
New Zealand achieved carbon neutral status. Combined 
investments by the four businesses in projects targeting 
social change, such as public education, community 
fair trade, breast cancer awareness, the fight against 
domestic violence, public education and donations to 
fight the pandemic totaled R$489 million. The group 

Natura &Co  
Annual Report — 2020

Commitment to Life

54

55

also contributed to the replacement of 2,489 thousand 
tons of virgin plastic by using a recycled version in its 
packaging. The four brands are at different stages in 
their journey, but now share a common vision of the 
path to get there.

A joint effort

“Natura &Co’s “Commitment to Life” is adherent to the 
raising standards for business sustainability. With its three 
pillars on addressing climate change, defending human 
rights and embracing circularity, this renewed ambition 
is in line with the systemic and sustainable transformation 
we need for a world in which 9+ billion people live well, 
within planetary boundaries. Alongside their continued, 
valuable partnership with our organization, Natura &Co is 
demonstrating what business leadership for sustainable 
development is truly about.”

Peter Bakker, President & CEO World Business Council for 
Sustainable Development (WBCSD) 

We understand these are complex issues, but we 
decided to start by establishing clear goals and then 
finding ways to achieve them. However, we humbly 
acknowledge that we will not be able to get there 
alone. For us, the domains of a company do not 
constrain its area of focus. Hence, we invited other 
players - our partners, competitors, other companies, 
academics, and NGOs - to take part in this dialogue 
in order to find solutions for the problems the world 
faces today. We also look forward to partnering with 

governments since political leadership is crucial to 
accelerate this business action.

In 2020, Natura &Co became the world’s largest 
company to be certified as a B-Corp, providing evidence 
that our businesses meet the standards of verified 
environment, social and governance performance, 
public transparency, and legal accountability in 
balancing profit and purpose. This recognition was 
achieved in conjunction with and as a result of Natura’s 
own recertification process, which in 2020 reached 
record score. Natura has been certified as a B Corp since 
2014, followed by The Body Shop, in 2019, and by Aesop 
in 2020. Avon is on track to achieve B Corp certification 
by 2025. This resulted in Natura &Co being a mentor 
in the B Movement Builders that started in 2020 as a 
coalition of multinational, publicly traded B journey 
companies with over US$1 billion in revenue, seeking 
to adopt governance models that will enable our 
businesses to make decisions for positive impact for all 
stakeholders. With this, we stand together in our pursuit 
to become the best beauty company FOR the world.

Joining forces will significantly increase our potential. 
With our “Commitment to Life”,  we know that no 
one holds all the answers and that the steps we have 
taken so far can be improved collectively, thus creating 
the systemic change that is needed to face complex 
problems, such as inequality and the climate crisis. The 
changes we are pursuing will only be possible, and will 
only be implemented at scale, once we develop a new 
model to measure and analyze data that would work as 

a common denominator for all companies. Currently, 
there are many metrics being used around the world, 
hence the need to create something less complex 
that may be used anywhere, by anyone. Therefore, we 
are taking part in this discussion with the B Team, the 
UN Global Compact, the World Business Council for 
Sustainable Development and the World Economic 
Forum in order to help organize this systemic change. 

In 2020 Roberto Marques, CEO and Executive Chairman 
of Natura &Co group, became a board member for the 
United Nations Global Compact, replacing Guilherme 
Leal, one of Natura’s founders. Marques is the only 
representative of Latin America in the Council that 
oversees the Sustainable Development Goals and serves 
as a sounding board for the UN Secretary General.  

Moreover, Natura &Co has been part of the Dow Jones 
Sustainability Index for seven years in a row and of the 
ISE Index (B3) for 16 years, as well as the newly created 
ISE ESG Index (before the creation of the holding, 
the company was listed as Natura, under the ticker 
symbol NATU3). We are signatories of the Principles 
for Responsible Investment (PRI), a set of investment 
assumptions that offer a menu of possible actions for 
incorporating environmental, social and governance 
(ESG) issues into investment practices. The group is 
also working with the Task Force on Climate-Related 
Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which helps publicly traded 
companies and other organizations to more effectively 
disclose climate-related risks and opportunities through 
their existing reporting processes.

For us, the domains 
of a company do 
not constrain its area 
of focus. Hence, we 
invited other players 
to take part in this 
dialogue in order to 
find solutions for the 
problems the world 
faces today.

56

57

To address the  
climate crisis and 
protect the Amazon

Climate crisis

“It is vital that businesses work to address the global 
challenges of nature loss, climate change and social 
inequality. Natura &Co is tackling these crises together 
through their Commitment to Life which seeks  
to protect the Amazon, address climate change,  
shift towards circularity and more. We appreciate  
Natura &Co's support in urging governments to adopt 
ambitious nature policies which help create a level 
playing field and stable operating environment for 
business, through our Nature is Everyone’s Business.”

Eva Zabey, Executive Director of Business for Nature, a 
coalition formed by The World Economic Forum and the 

World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

We pledged to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) 
emissions by 2030 for our four businesses. We aim to 
do that in line with science-based targets, tracking 
emissions throughout our entire value chain and that 
of our suppliers, from the extraction of raw ingredients 
to packaging disposal. This goal is compliant with the 
movement already set in place by the nations who 
signed the Paris Agreement, however we aim to achieve 
it 20 years ahead of the UN commitment.

Currently, our GHG emissions are estimated at around 
2,000,000 tons of CO2 equivalent. We already tackle 
this issue using renewable energy and projects that 
drive energy efficiency, plus lower carbon logistics and 
distribution solutions. Moreover, we have already started 

to offset emissions through carbon credit projects 
at Natura and Aesop. For example, Natura alone has 
already avoided the emission of over 162,000 tons of CO2 
equivalent, a 32% reduction compared to a business-as-
usual operation. Aesop is carbon neutral in New Zealand 
and Australia whereas Avon is zero scope 2 emissions 
due to using 100% of energy coming from renewable 
sources. We plan to expand the use of reduction 
technologies available in the market for energy, logistics 
efficiency and packaging. To do this, we will enter into 
partnerships to develop new technologies.

The next two years will be dedicated to consolidating 
the organizational footprints for scopes 1 and 2, and to 
calculating and consolidating the footprint for scope 
3. The Carbon Trust consultancy will support us in 
this task and will also aid us in calculating the science-
based targets for the 1.5°C pathway, in line with Science 
Based Target initiative (SBTi) requirements. Creating this 
roadmap is a result of Natura &Co’s 2019 signature of 
the Business Ambition for 1.5°C pledge to reach net-
zero emissions, an urgent call to action led by a global 
coalition of UN agencies, business and industry leaders.

We believe in the power of collective action in  
igniting our best efforts to guarantee carbon net zero 
in the entire chain. To better address the challenges 
to climate change, we joined forces with nine other 
companies, such as Danone, Microsoft and Starbucks, 
to launch Transform to Net Zero, a cross-sector 
initiative that aims to drive research, advocacy and 
best practices to make it easier for the private sector to 
deliver meaningful emissions reductions and economic 

success. The coalition’s goal is for all Fortune Global 1000 
companies to have targets backed by transformation 
plans to achieve net zero no later than 2050. In 2021, our 
work includes clarifying our collective position on net 
zero goals and their implementation.

Protect the Amazon

For 20 years, Natura has been developing sustainable 
economic alternatives for the Amazon region. It is now 
going to build on this experience to step up its actions 
and take its presence there to another level. Currently, 
Natura preserves two million hectares of land, an area 
equivalent to half of the Netherlands, and the goal is to 
contribute to the preservation of three million hectares 
by 2030. The company intends to expand its reach from 
33 to 40 supplier communities and to increase revenue 
streams with the use of 55 bio-ingredients (up from 38). 
With this, it expects to share at least R$60 million with 
local communities (from R$33 million).

One of the major success stories in the region is the 
Natura Ekos range, whose formulas are made with  
pure bioactives from the forest. In 2000, Natura 
launched the first products, which were developed 
based on three pillars: fair trade, the preservation of 
biodiversity and local community relations founded  
on trust. With these products, Natura helped bring  
the Amazon forest closer to the lives of its customers. 
In 2020, Ekos was re-certified by UEBT (Union for 
Ethical Biotrade), whose label is awarded to companies 
committed to ethical sourcing of ingredients from 
biodiversity.  

Our commitments

Net Zero GHG emissions

in 0-2 years
Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)  
for all companies, scopes 1, 2 and 3 

in 5-10 years
Become Net Zero, delivering 1.5 degree  
20 years ahead of UN Commitment 

Protect the Amazon 

in 3-5 years
Foster collective efforts towards zero 
deforestation by 2025

in 5-10 years
Expand influence on forest preservation 
from 1.8m to 3m ha, and from 33 to 40 
communities 

Increase revenue streams with  
55 bio-ingredients (from 38) 

Share at least R$60 m in value  
with communities (from R$33 m) 

Help create Science Based  
Targets for Biodiversity

in 3-5 years
Help create targets with a network  
of partnerships (UEBT, SBTN, BfN/WEF) 

Expand from Natura’s 16 year payment 
of ABS (access and benefit sharing) to the 
group by 2025 – as per UN Convention on 
Biological Diversity (CBD) / Nagoya Protocol 

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020Commitment to Life58

59

Furthermore, the Natura Amazonia Program has 
generated more than R$2.1 billion in business volume, 
double the forecast since its launch in 2011. It was 
designed to transform social and environmental 
challenges into business opportunities as well as to 
scale up projects in the region, connecting different 
players and generating impact that could reach beyond 
the communities with which it works. The idea of 
the program is to create a model through which the 
Amazon would no longer be exclusively a supplier of 
raw materials, but instead would reveal the value of its 
vocation for technology and its culture. The opportunity 
it presents will help to improve quality of life and 
promote the conservation of the standing forest. 

All these efforts are still small considering the size  
of the Amazon and the challenge to reverse 
deforestation. As a group, we intend to go even 
deeper in our understanding of the region to find 
solutions to the problems it faces. With this in mind, 
we are supporting Natura in its contribution to build 
Concertação pela Amazônia (Amazon Concertation), a 
network of more than 300 leaders from the public and 
private sectors engaged in the sustainable development 
of the region. The group intends to promote a 
democratic debate on the subject in order to create 
possibilities for the future of the Amazon. The goal is to 
establish a broad base of systematic knowledge about 
the region and common projects towards a different 
path of development that reconciles conservation in a 
non-predatory model.

The forest, however, is reaching its tipping point. 
We need to move faster. We value what the Amazon 
represents for the present and future generations, its 
different cultures and its biodiversity. Furthermore, we 
believe that this region has the potential to be a major 
global hub for innovation and sustainable business. 

Therefore, we will foster collective efforts to ensure 
net zero deforestation in the Amazon by 2025. It is an 
ambitious, but still possible, target to achieve. Among 
many initiatives, we are keeping an eye out for credit 
options that will enable us to offer different production 
processes for areas that have been degraded.

Biodiversity

“Through its Commitment to Life vision, Natura &Co 
is taking bold action to advance sourcing with respect 
for people and biodiversity. Its approach builds on a 
deep understanding of the links between people and 
nature, and recognizes local producers are not only 
suppliers, but also key partners in conservation and 
regeneration. Natura &Co also respects their role as 
holders of traditional knowledge that is essential for 
the well-being of our planet. In 2020 UEBT and Natura 
&Co partnered to expand this approach of access and 
benefit sharing to all its brands, showing how personal 
care products can have a positive impact on the 
people and biodiversity that inspire them. 

Rik Kutsch Lojenga, Executive Director, Union for Ethical 
BioTrade (UEBT)

Science is clear: we have 10 years to reverse the loss of 
biodiversity. This is not only a moral obligation for each 
and every individual but also an economic imperative 
since businesses rely on nature to prosper. Building 
on an already strong track record of adhering to the 
UN Convention on Biological Diversity and expanding 
the practice by enforcing the Nagoya protocol and 
ABS (Access and Benefit Sharing) payments, we aim to 
prevent biodiversity loss in the world. We will partner 
with the Science-Based Alliance to establish a new 
framework for the protection of nature, creating 
targets through partnerships with the Union for Ethical 

Biotrade (UEBT), Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) 
and Business for Nature.

We also began working with the leading players in 
Europe through the One Planet Business for Biodiversity 
(OP2B), an international cross-sector, action-oriented 
business coalition on biodiversity with a specific focus 
on agriculture and regeneration. The coalition is 
determined to drive transformational systemic change 
and catalyze action to protect and restore cultivated 
and natural biodiversity within value chains, engage 
institutional and financial decision-makers, and develop 
and promote policy recommendations for a post-2020 
biodiversity framework at 2021 CBD COP15.

The broad experience Natura has accumulated with 
its supply chain in the Amazon region, combined with 
the partnership The Body Shop has developed with 18 
community trade systems across 14 countries, is now 
being passed on to our other businesses. One example 
is Aesop’s partnership with Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils 
(DSO), an oil distillation company located in Kalgoorlie, 
Western Australia, that supplies sandalwood. Aesop first 
partnered with the business in 2018, after an extensive 
search for ethically sourced sandalwood oil that would 
meet its aroma profile and quality requirements. DSO 
is a 50% indigenous-owned enterprise that produces 
a blended sandalwood oil from new plantation trees 
and old wild grown desert trees, which are sustainably 
harvested by the custodians of the land, the Martu 
and Wongi peoples. Sandalwood has been revered for 
generations by the Martu and Wongi for its medicinal 
properties, as well as being used in smoking and 
cultural ceremonies and spiritual practices. Aesop has 
been working with DSO to ensure alignment with its 
supplier code of conduct and to build supply chain 
transparency, by understanding the social, ethical and 
environmental risks involved in their practice.  

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020Commitment to Life 
60

61

Defend human  
rights and be  
human-kind

Our people

We vow to create better, kinder and more inclusive 
conditions for our networks to thrive in. This includes 
increasing inclusion by 30%, taking into consideration 
racial or ethnic diversity, sexual diversity, gender 
identity, the socio-economically disadvantaged, and the 
physically and mentally disabled. While respecting data 
privacy, we will implement measurement to track the 
percentage of underrepresented groups.

We aim to go beyond the UN SDG goal of 30% women 
in leadership positions by increasing our goal to 50% by 
2023. We are nearly there, at 48%. In Natura &Co Latin 
America, for example, our strategy to guarantee gender 
equality for finalist candidates in recruiting processes 
has been effective. By the end of 2020, we had reached 
51% of women in leadership positions. 

When we launched our “Commitment to Life” vision in 
2020, we vowed to guarantee gender parity and equal 
pay among our entire workforce, reducing the gender 
gap by 2023. During last year, Natura &Co conducted 
a comprehensive equitable pay study, in partnership 
with Mercer HR consultants. The study analyzed 35,000 
employees, across all businesses and group functions, 
in more than 70 countries, exploring pay, role, grade, 
country and gender. Currently, because of our gender 
disproportion, if we compare the average salary of all 
the 12,600 men and 22,400 women we employ, there is 
an unadjusted gap of 13% between women and men. 

However, if we deep dive into this gap, we find most of it 
is explained by seniority, performance, role (the level of 
the position in terms of an assigned grade and the type 
of role) and location (different cost of living in different 
countries) which leaves us with an unexplained gender 
gap of less than 1%. This percentage reflects the residual 
pay gap that cannot be explained by legitimate factors 
and may be due to pay inequities related to gender or 
race and ethnicity. We are committed to closing this 
residual gap ahead of the 2023 deadline, and we will 
monitor it closely to ensure it is completely closed.

Meanwhile, Aesop began a partnership with the 
ThomasLeland consultancy to help build its global 
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) strategy. Starting 
with a diagnostic analysis, which included sessions 
with the leadership team and over 30 focus groups 
with colleagues globally, the work now continues into 
2021. DE&I is one of Aesop’s strategic priorities for 2021, 
and the findings from ThomasLeland are now being 
transformed into a strategy that will further advance  
the business on its journey.

Finally, we will ensure that by 2023 all of our associates 
will receive a living wage or above. This means that all 
employees will have a minimum income necessary to 
meet their basic needs, which include food, housing, 
health care and clothing. The goal of a living wage is to 
allow a worker to afford a basic but decent standard of 
living through employment.

Our wider network

“The thriving, inclusive and sustainable world we need  
to leave for future generations, calls for collective 
action—both across sectors of society and across the 
most pressing challenges we face on this journey. 
Natura &Co’s holistic leadership to deliver an economy 
that works for all people and our planet, and is created 
in partnership with all stakeholders, is an example 
leader that business and beyond must learn from and 
emulate.”

Halla Tómasdóttir, CEO, The B Team

Throughout 2020, we implemented growth plans, 
adopted new tools that facilitate online activities,  
and enhanced offline services for our 8 million 
consultants and representatives. We are now 
committed to measuring and increasing the profit, 
health and education of everyone in our network, 
while promoting direct sales as a trusted and reliable 
business model. We will also quantify gains among the 
members of the 58 ethical trade sourcing communities 
in 15 countries from whom we source ingredients and 
materials directly.

One of the metrics we are using as a framework is the 
Human Development Index, developed by Natura for 
its consultants. Natura Consultant-HDI tracks conditions 
in the following dimensions: knowledge, health and 

Our commitments

Our people

in 3-5 years
Gender balance: from 35% women on 
board/senior team to 50% by 2023 

Equitable pay, closing the gender gap  
by 2023

Living wage (or above) for all by 2023

in 5-10 years
Work towards 30% inclusion, in 
management of under-represented 
groups - racial or ethnic, sexual diversity 
and gender identity (LGBTI), socio 
economically disadvantaged, physical or 
mental disability 

Our wider network 

in 3-5 years
Promote our trusted and reliable model for 
the future of direct sales 

in 5-10 years
Measurable gains for consultants/
representatives and sourcing communities 
in earnings, education, health and digital 
inclusion 

Increase investments in key causes by 20% 
to US$600 million (mainly in communities, 
breast cancer awareness, domestic 
violence and education)  

Intolerance to human rights 
infringement across our supply chain 

in 3-5 years
Full traceability and/or certification for 
critical supply chains by 2025: palm oil, 
mica, paper, alcohol, soy, cotton 

Adopt robust human rights policy in line 
with UN Guiding Principles by 2023 

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63

work. Since 2014, Natura has been measuring this index 
in order to create projects and services that improve 
their quality of life. The Consultant-HDI is the first 
indicator that measures a company's social impact using 
the same methodology used by the United Nations 
Development Program to assess countries' human 
development. In 2019, Natura collected information from 
1.2 million consultants, and there will be a new measure 
in 2021. The results showed a 3.1% increase in overall HDI 
compared to the assessment done in 2017, mainly due to 
the strategy of digital inclusion and financial education 
that the company has been implementing in the last 
few years. The assessment also showed that one year 
as a Natura consultant can result in a 1.8% increase in a 
person’s HDI. It also noted an increased desire on the 
part of consultants to improve their living conditions and 
to take care of themselves. On the other hand, there has 
been a decrease in civil responsibility due to the overall 
context in Brazil.

In 2020, we became part of the board of the  
World Federation of Direct Sales Associations (WFDSA), 
with João Paulo Ferreira, Natura &Co Latin America’s 
CEO, as Ethics Chairman. The CEO Council is the 
Federation’s main governing body, responsible for 
oversight, control and strategic direction of the 
organization’s activities and affairs. It consists of 
the CEOs of the leading multinational direct selling 
companies. The CEO Council is also the main forum 
where global leaders of direct selling companies can 

come together to meet the unique challenges and 
opportunities for direct sales companies.

Human rights across  
the supply chain

It is also our responsibility to respect human rights 
while exercising sustainable development on a global 
level to generate positive impact. This is why, by 2023, 
we will adopt a robust human rights policy upholding 
intolerance of any kind of infringement in our entire 
network, particularly the supply chain, in line with UN 
Guiding Principles. The group will also enforce full 
traceability and/or certification by 2025. Alongside  
these targets, we will implement specific programs  
for supply chains of critical ingredients in the coming 
years, specifically for palm oil, mica, alcohol, cotton, 
paper and soy.

In 2020, Natura took an important step towards this 
objective by launching a Declaration of Commitment, 
which formalized the business’s responsibility and 
commitment to non-tolerance of the violation of human 
rights. It also established what the business expects from 
all its employees and commercial partners in all the 
countries in which we operate. The document is based 
on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 
the United Nations (UN) and the principles related to 
fundamental rights established in the Declaration of the 
International Labour Organization (ILO).

Support for 
communities

Ramping up our 
commitment to be 
a group that gives 
back across our four 
businesses, we will 
increase investments 
in key causes by 20% 
to US$ 600 million 
(approximately R$3.2 
billion) mainly in 
communities, breast 
cancer awareness, 
domestic violence, and 
education). In 2020, 
our businesses jointly 
donated and invested 
R$489 million through 
a range of initiatives, 
including our engaged 
communities in the 
Amazon, Crer para 
Ver program, Avon’s 
campaigning and 
fundraising for women’s 
health and wellbeing, 
as well as initiatives to 
combat COVID-19.

Led by Avon, the 
#IsolatedNotAlone 

campaign teamed up 
with several organizations 
to raise awareness of 
the increase in domestic 
violence as a consequence 
of isolation measures 
that leave survivors at 
home with abusers. The 
campaign signposted 
support for those at risk, 
reaching 200 million 
people via our businesses’ 
social media channels. 
The Avon Foundation also 
committed US$1 million 
to domestic violence 
support groups around 
the world that focus on 
direct impact, grassroots 
initiatives, taking Avon’s 
total donations to tackle 
gender-based violence  
to more than US$ 4 million 
in 2020. 

In addition, our four 
business units donated 
essential personal care 
packages to shelters in 
their local markets. For 

instance, The Body Shop 
donated 100,000 units of 
essential hygiene items 
and treats to women’s 
shelters across the UK. 
The campaign also 
included an open letter 
to global governments 
to spotlight the issue 
and expand funding and 
resources to deal with the 
increase in violence.

We also saw important 
advances in the Crer Para 
Ver product line. The 
revenues from this non-
cosmetic line reached 
new record results, 
totaling R$55.9 million in 
Brazil and R$23.3 million 
in the other countries in 
Latin America. The profit 
from these products is 
invested in educational 
projects that drive 
improvements in public 
education in Brazil and 
Hispanic America, led by 
Instituto Natura.

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65

Embrace circularity 
and regeneration

Full packaging circularity

We value the aesthetic beauty of our products while 
pursuing lower environmental impact alternatives  
and seeking to demonstrate the importance of these more 
conscious choices to our consumers. Hence, we are moving 
towards and beyond a circular economic model to ensure 
packaging circularity by 2030 and guarantee that 100% of 
our packaging materials are either reusable, recyclable or 
compostable. The group also vows to use at least 20% less 
packaging material (in weight), and to guarantee that 50% of 
all plastic used is recycled material (in weight).

One of the steps in this direction is the pioneering 
product refill scheme which is already in operation in 
two of the new The Body Shop concept stores: the Bond 
Street store in London, and the Pacific Centre store, in 
Vancouver. Customers can visit one of these stores, 
pick up a refillable 250ml aluminum bottle, choose from 
one of the eight most popular shower gels and fill it up. 
Once finished with the bottle, the customer can give it 
a rinse, bring it back and refill it. With this program, The 
Body Shop wants to inspire and empower individuals 
to change the way they consume beauty products by 
enabling customers to become agents of change by 
expressing their own quest for self-improvement and 
fulfillment. Sales forecasts predict that this switch could 
save up to 25 tons of plastic in its first year.

In parallel, The Body Shop has partnered with Plastics for 
Change, a marketplace platform that enables businesses 

to easily transition to recycled plastics. The organization 
sources plastic from marginalized waste pickers in India, 
offering a fair price, steady income and better working 
conditions in an informal sector that is often volatile  
and discriminatory. The Body Shop has increased the 
use of Community Fair Trade recycled plastic by  
325 tons, which corresponds to 30% of the plastic  
use in its packaging.

By 2030, the group as a whole will increase the use  
of recycled plastic content to 50%. Also, in order to  
reach 100% responsible disposal of plastics, we will  
offset, through “collection and reuse” programs, the 
equivalent amount of packaging where recycling 
infrastructure does not exist.  To achieve these goals,  
we are already taking a major step: designing out waste, 
using compostable, refillable or returnable materials for 
repurposing products.

We already have a head start regarding our packaging 
circularity targets in Brazil, where all of our businesses 
participate in the De Mão para o Futuro (DAMF) 
program, a sector initiative coordinated by the CFT 
industry association ABIHPEC, aimed at structuring 
waste management solutions so that associated 
companies can easily comply with the country’s national 
waste management policy. DAMF invests in efficiency 
improvement in waste picker cooperatives by providing 
technical support and funding for the acquisition of 
specialized equipment, thus promoting environmental 
responsibility and social inclusion. In 2020, the program 

as a whole collected more than 121,300 tons of waste 
with the contribution of more than 4,700 waste pickers 
from 150 cooperatives in Brazil. 

Also in Brazil, Natura created the Elos program to 
foster sustainable supply chains for post-consumer 
recycled material (PCR) in packaging and support 
materials. Elos is a shared responsibility initiative 
involving Natura and its packaging suppliers 
(manufacturers, cooperatives, recycling operations). 
Since 2018, Elos has recovered more than 24,200 
tons of post-consumer recycled material, with 
10,200 tons recovered in 2020 alone, a volume 12% 
higher than in 2019. Even so, Natura was not able 
to reach its target for the year (10,776 tons) due to a 
reduction in the activities of the cooperatives that 
are part of the program, as a result of the COVID-19 
pandemic restrictions. In Hispanic America, where 
Natura partners with 1,500 waste pickers and seven 
cooperatives, the amount of recovered post-
consumer recycled material  reached 3,700 tons.

Natura has also put together an Ecodesign Committee in 
order to drive packaging evolution, prioritizing recycled 
renewable materials and refill options. In 2020, 18% of 
the packaging units from Natura in Brazil and Hispanic 
America were eco-efficient. Kaiak Oceano, for example, 
a new fragrance launched in 2020, has a revolutionary 
package in which up to 50% of the plastic is recycled, with 
part of it sourced in partnership with co-operatives that 
collect waste along the Brazilian coastline.

Our commitments

Full packaging circularity 

in 5-10 years
20% (or more) less packaging material (in 
weight) 

50% of all plastic used to be of recycled 
content (in weight) 

100% of all packaging material: reusable or 
recyclable or compostable 

Offset through “collection and reuse” 
programs to reach 100% responsible 
disposal where recycling infrastructure 
not available

Formula circularity

in 3-5 years
100% of new formulas will have lower 
environmental footprint, measured by life 
cycle analysis (LCA) 

in 5-10 years
95%+ renewable or natural ingredients

95%+ biodegradable formulas

Investment in regenerative solutions 

in 3-5 years
Regenerative agriculture in deforested 
areas to reduce use of chemicals and 
create alternative to monocultures 

Creation of revenue streams (new 
ingredients) that are more economically 
attractive than deforestation 

in 5-10 years
Invest R$100 million (or more) in developing 
regenerative solutions, such as: 
biotechnology, for example from waste to 
ingredients, plastics and so on

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67

As for Aesop, a circular packaging trial was launched in 
October 2020 in its stores in Adelaide, Australia. The goal 
was to assess customer engagement in a packaging 
reuse solution for the four facial cleanser formulations 
in 200ml glass bottles. This trial is an instrumental first 
step as the business looks to scale its circular packaging 
solutions across other products and markets.

Formula circularity

The group will also implement formula circularity, with the 
use of 95% biodegradable formulas and 95% renewable 
natural ingredients across all four businesses by 2030. 
All of our new formulas will have a lower environmental 
footprint, measured by life cycle analysis (LCA).

Investment in  
regenerative solutions

Over the years, Natura has been investing in 
regenerative solutions, which are those that capture 
more carbon than they emit. This approach conserves 
and restores biodiversity and ecosystems, generating 
quality of life through means that are fair and inclusive. 
Through a significant investment program totaling 
around US$ 100 million, Natura will further develop 
regenerative solutions including biotechnology and 
waste-to-plastic solutions by 2030. The plan is also to 
invest in regenerative agriculture in deforested areas 

to reduce use of chemicals and create alternatives 
to monocultures. It will create revenue streams for 
communities from the cultivation of new ingredients, 
establishing alternatives that are more attractive than 
deforestation.

One of the projects with very good results is the use 
of organic alcohol in the Casa de Perfumaria do Brasil 
product range. Since 2005, Natura had been increasing 
the proportion of organic alcohol used to produce 
fragrances, reaching 100% in 2015. The first company 
to develop sustainable sugarcane farming in Brazil, 
Native (Natura’s organic alcohol supplier), uses specific 
machinery in order not to compact the soil, which 
preserves its fertility and facilitates water retention 
and filtration. Pest control is achieved with biological 
processes in order to maintain environmental balance, 
and all organic waste goes back to the land. Native 
also has EcoSocial certification, which attests to the 
employment of robust socio-environmental criteria, from 
the production chain through fair trade initiatives.

In one year, Native reduces CO2 emissions by 45,000 
tons. The use of organic alcohol has contributed to the 
regeneration of 23,000 hectares in which more than 340 
animal species live. Moreover, it promotes water savings 
of 30% by avoiding the need to wash the sugarcane 
thoroughly after burning it, as is the case with the 
traditional harvesting method.

Agroforestry systems:  
the case of palm oil

A partnership between Natura, Empresa Brasileira 
de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa) and the 
cooperative Camta (Cooperativa Agrícola 
Mista de Tomé-Açu), in the northern region of 
Brazil, resulted in a study that is revolutionary 
for something very material for the cosmetics 
industry: palm oil. The study concluded that 
the palm tree, when produced in agroforestry 
systems (AFS) in consortium with native species, is 
more productive and sustainable in comparison 
with monoculture. The research shows that these 
systems present high productivity and generate 
additional environmental services, such as the 
provision of food and wood, as well as helping to 
control water and climate.

Research started in 2008 with three farmers 
and 18 hectares of agroforestry system (AFS) 
demonstration units in Tomé-Açu, in Pará, in the 
north of Brazil. The idea was to bring palm farming 
closer to its original environment in the forest by 
associating it with other native species, such as 
manioc, açaí and cocoa, pursuing sustainable use 
of the soil, the preservation of natural resources 
and diversification of income for farmers. 

Even though the number of palm trees per 
hectare is lower than in conventional cultivation 
methods, the studied AFS units achieved a much 
higher level of productivity than in monoculture, 
generating 180 kilograms of fruit per plant, 
compared with 139 kilograms for the conventional 
system. The study also demonstrated that the fruit 
from the AFS units yields over 57% more oil than 
fruit from monoculture systems.

Natura &Co  Annual Report — 2020Commitment to LifeCredits

Natura &Co
Sustainable Growth Officer 
Silvia Lagnado

VP Sustainability & Group Affairs
Marcelo Bicalho Behar

Sustainability Director
Keyvan Macedo

Editing and proofreading
Emma Ridgeon, Shelley Simmons-Bloom  
and Victoria Ford

Branding 
Renato Winning, Eugenia Zalis and Teresa Boulting

Investor Relations
Viviane Behar, Luiz Palhares and Tamires Parini

Natura  &Co Latin America
Head of Reputation and Corporate Communication
Michel Blanco

Corporate Communication Manager
Fábio Peixoto

Corporate Communication Coordinator and  
Natura &Co Report content management 
Tainara Machado

Creative direction and graphic design 
Carolina Almeida

Executive production and content   
Ana María Lee, Juliana Bordignon, Nathalia Alves, 
Priscila Azevedo and Patricia Cury 

Avon 
Joanna Newark and Natalie Deacon 

Natura 
Denise Hills, Thaís Espildora and Beatriz Lyra

The Body Shop 
Chris Davis, Lucie Cohen, Connie Green  
and Emma Ridgeon 

Aesop
Megan Foley, Catherine O’Dea, Anna Sacre  
and Anna Jackson

Contributors
Consulting, editing and copy  
Report Sustentabilidade
Ana Souza, Estevam Pereira, Fernanda Mori,  
Livia Frossard and Michele Silva

Visual project 
Tátil Design  
Camila Leopoldo , Beto Bicesto, Julia Liberati,  
Lucas Cobucci, Ricardo Bezerra, Paula Chagas  
and Ulliana Ferrari

Graphic Design
Bruna Foltran

English review
Raymond Maddock 

Photography
João Ávila (pp.2-3, 24-25) 
Paulo Vitale (pp. 22-23, 48-49)
Natura &Co image archive 
(Avon, Natura, Aesop and The Body Shop)