In the Good On You methodology, there is embedded conditionality that ensures certain brands are assessed only on the issues relevant to the products they offer and the practices they engage in.
That means an answer establishing a brand's practice in one issue can impact the score weighting of other sections of the methodology. Or it could render other questions or question groups irrelevant, in which case they are disabled in the assessment and their score weighting becomes zero.
This does not impact the scoring potential of any brand because there are routes to score points for positive sustainability practices that are suitable and achievable regardless of business type, product mix, and inputs in production.
There are many instances where questions are disabled as they are established as irrelevant for the brand. Those disabled questions are not scored, and typically the weighting of the issue remains the same and the brand is assessed on the questions that are relevant to it.
Key cases for conditionality in the beauty methodology
Some key cases for the beauty methodology are summarised below, where a brand’s product range and ingredient usage increase or remove the baseline weighting of an issue when calculating the pillar score.
Ingredient and commodity use
The weighting of several ingredient and commodity issues depends on a brand’s disclosures about its use of those ingredients or ingredient derivatives. This applies to the issues in the environment and labour pillars assessing the brand’s use of palm oil, soy, coconut, cocoa, shea, vanilla, sugarcane, and mica.
If a brand discloses that it does not use a relevant ingredient, the related commodity issue is disabled, and the score and weighting are zero (ie it has no impact on the pillar and overall score). If the brand either does not disclose whether it uses the ingredient, or its disclosure shows that products include or may include the ingredient, the relevant commodity issue applies.
Applies to: all beauty brands
Suncare products
The weighting of the suncare products issue depends on whether a brand sells suncare products. This issue applies whether suncare is a dominant category or a smaller part of the brand’s range.
If the brand does not sell suncare products, that issue is disabled, and the score and weighting are zero (ie it has no impact on the pillar and overall score).
Applies to: all beauty brands
Microplastics
The microplastics issue applies to all beauty brands. However, the weighting of some microplastics questions depends on whether a brand sells products that are more likely to contribute to microplastic pollution, such as products containing glitter or exfoliators/scrubs.
If a brand sells products containing glitter, the weighting of the glitter-related question depends on whether glitter is a dominant category in its product range. If products containing glitter are a dominant category, the question has a higher weighting; if products containing glitter are not a dominant category, it has a lower weighting; and if the brand does not sell products containing glitter, the glitter-specific question is disabled and its weighting is zero.
The same scoring model applies to exfoliators, scrubs, or other products with abrasive functions: weighting depends on whether those products are dominant, non-dominant or non-existent.
Applies to: all beauty brands
Animal-derived ingredients and product range
All beauty brands are assessed on core animal-related issues, including their use of animal-derived ingredients or materials in their product range, their approach to animal testing, and their animal citizenship.
The weighting of some additional animal-derived materials issues depends on whether a brand uses, may use, or is unsure whether it uses animal-derived ingredients in its products. If a brand uses animal-derived ingredients, or is not sure whether it uses them, the methodology assesses additional issues related to farmed animals, wild animals, and commitments to eliminate animal-derived ingredients.
If a brand is vegan, these specific animal-derived ingredient issues are disabled, and the score and weighting are zero (ie they have no impact on the pillar and overall score). However, the brand may still be assessed on the non-conditional animal issues, including range and materials, animal testing, and animal citizenship.
Brands that use coconut-derived ingredients are also assessed on the steps they take to avoid monkey labour in coconut harvesting. If a brand does not use coconut, this question is not relevant.
Applies to: all beauty brands