KMI Brands‘ mission is to create unique beauty and well-being brands with purpose, enhancing the lives of our global communities and protecting the planet every step of the way. We worked with KMI’s own brand Plantopia, a skincare and wellness brand providing holistic well-being rituals to support the management and impact of stress on mind, body, and skin.
Client Objectives
KMI wanted to conduct Life Cycle Analyses to identify the environmental impact of new products within its Plantopia brand. 
Plantopia has identified and committed to five critical focus areas that correspond to the people and planet wellness challenges which impact our world today. One of the five forces is Planet – to reduce and remediate. Plantopia wanted to investigate its baseline impact to ensure that positive changes can be made going forward.
Business Challenges
Part of the challenges faced by Plantopia was requesting thorough and accurate data from third-party suppliers for the first time. There is often a varied level of engagement and availability of data, and the analysis must be adapted accordingly.
Another challenge was that Plantopia’s ‘Face & Space’ mists had not been launched at the time of the analysis, which meant there was a level of forecasting required in calculations. Simultaneously calculating the entire 2021 operational carbon footprint for KMI Brands helped to overcome this.
Green Element Approach
Michael Barnes was the lead consultant on the KMI Brands project.
Green Element calculated cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Analyses (LCAs) for KMI Brands’ new Plantopia range of 4 ‘Face & Space’ mists. We collaborated with KMI Brands to map out the supply chain of the products and contact all the suppliers involved to collect the necessary data. This started with ingredients, raw materials, and packaging, through to manufacturing and eventually warehousing.
We presented the results as total figures and dissected the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from specific suppliers and transport legs for a comprehensive grasp of the product footprint.
Client Benefits
Performing this kind of project has several benefits for KMI Brands. At a top level, an LCA of a product quantifies the total GHG emissions released during production and processing, allowing KMI to give a ‘carbon label’ to the product.
Beyond the stand-alone figure, LCAs present a deeper understanding of where the carbon hotspots lie and where efforts should be directed in reducing emissions. For the Face and Space mists the main carbon hotspot was the product packaging, which feeds into KMI’s mission to use and develop less impactful, innovative packaging types & materials. As part of this project, scenario modelling was conducted to review how different packaging materials would affect GHG emissions.
On a more general note, this level of data collection from third-party suppliers can provide insights into where there are fragilities in the supply chain and opportunities to cut costs.
The LCA also benefited from a launch perspective. It enabled the teams to be completely transparent and give credibility to Plantopia’s five-force focus manifesto showing that it is committed to being People and Planet positive.
If you would like to learn more about Plantopia’s sustainability journey, listen to our recent Sustainability Solved podcast: How Plantopia are Creating Positive Change for People and Planet.
Plantopia has identified and committed to five critical focus areas that correspond to the people and planet wellness challenges which impact our world today. One of the five forces is Planet – to reduce and remediate. Plantopia wanted to investigate its baseline impact to ensure that positive changes can be made going forward. 
