Transforming a global icon

Beiersdorf is dedicated to transform its global skin care products to more sustainable versions. For example, the famous NIVEA Soft has been reworked to a vegan formula during 2022, which had a significant impact: ~40% less formula-based CO₂e-emissions. Now, another iconic product has been transformed to emit less CO₂e: the globally known and iconic NIVEA Creme tin is now produced with 80% recycled aluminum.

We had a look behind the scenes to find out, how the dedicated project team made this happen.

Isabell Niggemann, Procurement: With regards to the sustainability of the packaging, we have reached a very important milestone now, as we managed to integrate a minimum of 80% recycled aluminum into the iconic blue NIVEA Creme tin. By using recycled material, we are lowering CO₂e-emissions massively. Did you know that the production of recycled aluminum requires 95% less energy compared to new, virgin material? This important change was possible through an intense collaboration with our supplier and long-term partner, Novelis. It has been my role as procurement to align our sustainability approach with our supplier and develop together with R&D the new packaging and feedstock.        

Philip Helm, Packaging: That’s a very good question. For the NIVEA Creme tin, we had to review and consider multiple aspects for this transformation. With the current supply, we were able to commit to a minimum of 80% recycled aluminum. One of the highest barriers for the use of recycled aluminum is the availability of the recycled material. We must be able to ensure a steady process at the supplier and in our own production center here in Hamburg. But yes, I can imagine achieving 100% recycled aluminum in the future, as we will continue to work on the topic of sustainability, also together with our suppliers. When sorted adequately and put to recycling, aluminum can stay in the material cycle almost infinitely without a meaningful degradation of properties and quality. Therefore, aluminum is really the ideal packaging material for a circular economy.

Frank Roehle, Supply Chain: Whenever we are changing a packaging or a formula of a global product, such as the NIVEA Creme, we set up a so-called IIM (Integrated Innovation Management) to steer it in a structured way. This is a straight-forward process to manage these kinds of projects and pulls people from all relevant functions. We set milestones and distribute the tasks among the project members. We meet regularly, discuss the challenges, and find solutions, ensure we keep the timing or flag risks and keep relevant stakeholders in the loop. For this project, it’s been about two years that we worked as a team from the initial kick-off to the first NIVEA Creme tins made of 80% recycled aluminum leaving our factory in Hamburg.

Holger Dede, Beiersdorf Manufacturing Hamburg: Besides the challenge of the availability of recycled aluminum in the quantities we need for a product we sell globally, it has been a challenge to identify the right alloy that fits into our machines and processes in the factory. It’s been a trial-and-error phase of testing that took several months until we found the best fit and adapted our processes to the new material. Next to this challenge, it was also a bit tricky to get the green claim printed on the tin in the right format. Prior to the relaunch, our NIVEA Creme tin had the same look around the globe, but now, we wanted to have the “80% recycled aluminum” message printed on the side of the tin. Our processes are set in the way that we print the color onto the aluminum sheets first and then press the aluminum into the tin shape. So, the layout of the printing needed very precise adjustments, so that the claim stood in a horizontal design. Imagine this for the many different markets we sell the NIVEA Creme and the languages this requires, we were quite busy with this.  

Isabell Niggemann, Procurement: Sustainability is an important priority for us at Beiersdorf and we are pushing our transformation forward with our CARE BEYOND SKIN Sustainability Agenda. We are working hard to reduce our environmental footprint along our entire value chain with the long-term ambition to reach net zero by 2045. At the end of 2023, we had achieved a 19% absolute CO₂e emission reduction (vs. 2018), which is a very good progress. However, our target is a 30% CO₂e emission reduction by 2025, so there is still some way to go. With the implementation of 80% recycled aluminum into our iconic NIVEA Creme tin, we are taking another step forward and will contribute about ~8,000¹⁾ tons of CO₂e emission reduction until 2025.

Morgane Deleuze, Marketing: We have relaunched the NIVEA Creme tin across the globe this year – both with a modernized design and the recycled aluminum packaging. So, there are several new aspects: The improved sustainability of the packaging is very well received by our consumers. Who would not like to see their favorite skin care product being transformed into a better version of itself? It is a proof point for our approach at Beiersdorf and at NIVEA: we want to deliver impact at scale, so we implement sustainability aspects with our global bestsellers. This allows millions of consumers around the globe to stick to their well-known and trusted skin care routines and reduce their carbon footprint at the same time.

Thank you so much to all of you for sharing these insights with us.

_{¹⁾ Cut-Off Approach in accordance to the GHG Protocol, Cradle to gate.}