Seventh Generation 2024 Impact
INTRODUCTION:
HOW WE DRIVE IMPACT & INFLUENCE
At Seventh Generation, our mission is our motivation.
The name Seventh Generation came from an Iroquois proverb: “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” In 2024, we continued to honor that commitment by embedding sustainability into every part of our business, from product innovation and sourcing to advocacy and philanthropy—all important branches of our mission to create safer products for your home and the planet.
This year, we were thrilled to welcome Kathleen O’Brien as our new CEO, marking her return to the company after previously serving as Vice President of Sales. O’Brien brings an innovative point of view and an invigorated focus on the future. “Seventh Generation has always been bigger than the products it makes, with a steadfast commitment to standards, sustainability, and as a champion B-Corp,” O’Brien shares. “I couldn’t be prouder to take the helm at a company with such clear impact at a time when it is needed most. As you’ll learn in the report, we have many achievements to celebrate, while we also recognize there is still much work to do to ensure we’re creating a sustainable world for future generations.”
At Seventh Generation, we view each year as a full 365 days to make a difference. Our work is intentional, our goals are pivotal, and our focus is clear and true. In an uncertain, volatile political climate, our work has never been more relevant and powerful.
Our work to reach our Science-Based Targets and clean up our climate fingerprints continues to shape how we think about emissions, partnerships, even financial practices. While we’ve made meaningful progress in the last year, we know that bold, collective action is essential to success. That’s why we continue to raise our voice, share what we’ve learned, and hold ourselves—and others—accountable for building a healthier future for people and the planet.
Ahead, learn more about the tangible efforts we’re making to achieve our goals, where we succeeded and where we fell short, and what we plan to do to stay on track.
...we have many achievements to celebrate. while we also recognize the is still much work to do to ensure we're creating a sustainable world for future generations."
– KATHLEEN O'BRIEN, OUR NEW CEO
OUR IMPACT
We believe that business can be a positive force in the world.
2030 GOALS PROGRESS SNAPSHOT
Despite the fact that many other companies are scaling back their corporate ESG (environmental, social, and governance) efforts or going underground with said efforts, we remain committed to understanding and reducing our impact and to our ongoing advocacy work—work we will continue to do even when the odds are stacked against us. In an environment of corporate impact skepticism, our goals help us hold ourselves accountable and objectively track progress. Our goals shape how we formulate, source, produce, and sell products and push us to drive meaningful impact across the industry.
GOAL ONE
Reduce Carbon Emissions, by 2030 we will:
achieve a 25% reduction from Scope 3 emissions, excluding use.
Goal One Progress
Climate change continues to be the challenge of our generation, which is why our carbon reduction strategies target areas where we can have the biggest and most durable impacts. This includes efforts in our own supply chain and business operations, along with investments that will support systems-level changes in the way key ingredients like oil palm and citrates are produced, sourced, and manufactured.
Our approved Science-Based Climate Targets (SBTi):*
Reduce absolute Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions by 100% (ACHIEVED)
Reduce absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions form the use of products sold by 90% (IN PROGRESS)
Reduce total Scope 3 emissions from remaining categories by 80% (IN PROCESS, see figure 2)
Consumer use of our products (e.g., the energy used to heat water) continues to dominate our carbon footprint, accounting for 94% of all emissions.
Excluding use phase emissions, from 2023 to 2024 our total Scope 3 emissions remained the same, with some small shifts within categories. For example, we aim to reduce the carbon impact of ingredients like citrates in our products through a combination of sourcing and formulation, including formulations that use fewer ingredients or substitute lower carbon intensity alternatives. In 2024, these changes contributed to a reduction in product and packaging-related emissions.
In 2024, we also continued to implement the Green Power Program with our primary manufacturing partners and select second level (i.e., Tier 2) suppliers. The program helps businesses that make ingredients, like enzymes and packaging for our products lower their greenhouse gas emissions by procuring their own renewable energy, which in turn, reduces our Scope 3 emissions.
While our absolute, or total emissions, did not change, our emissions intensity (GHG emissions per unit of product sales) continued to fall, down 42% from our 2012 baseline. While part of the reduction in intensity reflects a change in our portfolio - since our 2012 baseline included both Personal Care and Home Care - this progress also represents the results of dedication, attention, and action across our teams.
In support of systems-level changes, we—along with our parent company Unilever— continued to invest in efforts to demonstrate a more sustainable approach to palm oil production. In partnership with Unilever, we supported Kaleka, a collaborative action research non-profit organization in Indonesia. The program, which started in 2023, aims to advance sustainable rural development through community-based forest restoration, forest protection, and regenerative agriculture. From 2023-2024, the initiative protected 14,633 hectares of forest, 131 hectares of restoration through tree plantings, 203 hectares of regenerative palm oil farming, and invested in community production, education, and business development centers for smallholder producers. Seventh Generation also continued to support Wild Asia’s work to scale more sustainable palm oil production in Malaysia. Initial findings from both efforts indicate promising results with additional, longer-term engagement ongoing to understand the broader impacts and potential.
GOAL TWO
Promote Circularity, by 2030 we will:
source 100% of materials and ingredients from sustainable biobased or recycled feedstocks;
design products and packaging to be 100% reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable;
achieve a 25% reduction from Scope 3 emissions, excluding use.
Goal Two Progress
Since reframing this goal in 2023, we have increased sustainable biobased or recycled feedstocks by 1%, building on a strong baseline of ~91%. While year-over-year gains may appear incremental, this reflects decades of work embedding biobased and recycled feedstocks into our standards and product development. With most of our portfolio aligned, each additional percentage point represents meaningful progress in driving toward 100% sustainable inputs.
We’ve also moved closer to our 2030 goal with over 96% of products and packaging meeting the 100% reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable threshold. This is a moderate improvement from 2023, when 94% of products and packaging met the threshold.
Goal Three
Reduce Plastic Packaging. By 2030, we will:
eliminate 75% of petro–based virgin plastic packaging;
and we will eliminate 25% total plastic packaging per use.
Goal Three Progress
In 2024, petro-based virgin plastic packaging—737 tonnes total—accounted for 29% of total plastic packaging. As a percentage of total plastic use, petro-based virgin material use is still comparatively small, but as a leading sustainable business, we see this as an area in need of focused attention. The use of petro-based virgin plastics was 4% higher in 2024 than in 2023, moving us away from our goal to largely eliminate petro-derived virgin plastics from packaging. This increase in virgin plastic was primarily driven by growth in the cleaners category; in 2024, some formats still had virgin materials, including canisters and sprayers. These are projects we are working on in the 2030 roadmap. Qualifying 40% PCR sprayers for DI, Everyday and Tub&Tile is critical to this roadmap. We will begin shipping the new sprayers in 2026. Plastic packaging per use (i.e, the intensity of plastic packaging used in our products) increased by 2% in 2024.
2024 HIGHLIGHTS
Despite political, social, and economic challenges and uncertainty, we remained focused on our values, mission, and goals and are proud to celebrate these significant accomplishments and wins.
Legislative Wins
In 2024, Vermont and New York made history by becoming the first states in the U.S. to pass the Climate Change Superfund Act, bold legislation designed to hold major polluters financially accountable for the escalating costs of climate change. These laws emerged in response to mounting climate-related disasters and the growing financial strain on public resources. We helped mobilize corporate voices to support this groundbreaking policy by leading business coalitions in Vermont and New York, emphasizing the economic and ethical importance of proactive corporate accountability.
Seven Generations RISE Foundation
In 2022, as part of ongoing work to confront the appropriative roots of our name, we decided that 100% of foundation funds would be informed by and directed to Indigenous-led organizations, and the recharted Seventh Generation Foundation, Seven Generations RISE (SGR), launched under the leadership of an Indigenous Advisory Board and with funding from Seventh Generation. SGR is shifting the power dynamic in philanthropic giving by centering Indigenous people in the design, development, and decision-making of the fund.
In its first year, the foundation awarded $25,000 each to seven Indigenous-led organizations. Priorities included youth, food sovereignty, cultural practice, environmental justice, and leadership development. This new chapter honors the foundation’s original vision by centering justice, equity, and Indigenous self-determination as critical avenues to social and environmental progress.
Seven Generations Rise (SGR) is honored to announce the recipients of the 2024 Giving Cycle.
Alnôbaiwi, Vermont
Alnôbaiwi’s mission statement is to “Learn and teach Vermont Abenaki culture and heritage.” Founded in 2019, Alnôbaiwi serves people of Abenaki heritage healing the trauma of erasure and historical stigmatization by preserving tradition.
Alaska Red Road Warrior UP Program, Alaska
Alaska Red Road Warrior UP is a new grassroots program created to assist Alaska Natives with recovery from the new “pandemic” of alcoholism and drug abuse in Alaska’s hub city of Fairbanks, by honoring and utilizing our ancestral wisdom, spirtuality, and realign ourselves with Creator’s Law through the mind, body, spirit and heart.
Inadahen I Lina’la’ Kotturan CHamoru, Guam
Inadahen I Lina’la’ Kotturan CHamoru, Sagan Kotturan CHamoru’s (SKC) translated means to watch over the life of CHamoru culture in the place of CHamoru culture. SKC is a sovereign space that nurtures and sustains Indigenous CHamoru arts and traditional practices, it was created by elder activists who have committed their lives to the liberation of our people and the perpetuation of our cultural survivorship.
Kulaiwi Land Trust, Hawaii
Kulaiwi Land Trust’s mission is to be a catalyst and a receptacle for the return of Native Hawaiian lands to Native Hawaiians for Native Hawaiian by acquiring land or to facilitate the acquisition of land in Hawaii for the following purposes: Cultural Preservation and Perpetuation, Affordable Housing for Native Hawaiians, and Native Hawaiian Economic Development.
Native Youth Alliance, Michigan
Founded in 1990, Native Youth Alliance is an intertribal alliance between indigenous youth and elders to create safe spaces for indigenous youth and be the foundation for an intergenerational knowledge transfer of traditional ceremonial practices, knowledge, and values to help our youth lead indigenized lives in the modern world.
Oúŋ, Standing Rock Reservation
“Oúŋ”, is a Lakota term meaning “to live”, we established to be a model of service to promote the advancement of Indigenous self-determination through education, community organizing, transformative leadership development, language revitalization, spirituality, community health and personal wellbeing.
Oyate Wookiye (For the People), Pine Ridge Reservation
Oyate Wookiye empowers Lakota youth and veterans by offering tools and activities that support physical, mental, and emotional health. Fostering a sense of belonging and unity within families and communities through shared wellness experiences, celebrates and preserves Lakota cultural heritage and language through culturally relevant wellness programs, promotes overall health and wellness among participants through consistent engagement in physical and mindfulness activities.
Financed Emissions
Our 2022 Climate Fingerprints report quantified the impact that cash and investments have on our carbon footprint. Those insights and analysis set us on a course of action. As our banking and investment relationships are interconnected with our parent company Unilever, we knew we had to work together to tackle these hidden emissions.
Leaning into our role at Unilever as a “lighthouse” illuminating the path forward for climate leadership, we encouraged Unilever to participate in an exercise to baseline their financed emissions. We commissioned a report that did both qualitative and quantitative evaluation of six of Unilever’s primary banking partners. Unilever provided all the necessary data and participated in a review of the findings. Following the baseline, Unilever initiated engagement with its top six banks, surveying them on their financed emissions practices and beginning a dialogue in partnerships with Seventh Generation to understand and influence how these institutions account for and reduce their own climate impacts.
LOOKING AHEAD
In 2025, we are focused on setting a new Science-Based Target and furthering work to to achieve our 2030 Plastic Reduction goals – integrating actions directly into our business and operational plans.
We’ve never shied away from getting political and encouraging others to do so as well. We will continue to raise our voice for legislation and issues that need our support.
In 2025, we will seek our seventh B Corp recertification – a milestone that reaffirms the values on which we were founded. Seventh Generation was among the first B Corps in 2007, and the journey continues with rigorous, company-wide assessment, independent verification, and opportunities for continuous improvement. This process strengthens our culture, engages our people and aligns our work with B Lab’s newly launched global standards that emphasize justice, equity and climate action.
We continue to build the road map to 2030; because the current climate is anything but business as usual.