Avon Green Building Promise

As part of the company's efforts to manage its environmental impacts, Avon strongly supports sustainable building practices. The company announced its Green Building Promise to formalize a long-held commitment to design and build all new major buildings in accordance with the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ certification standards. The Green Promise also applies to extensive renovations to existing facilities.

The LEED certification system promotes a comprehensive, holistic approach to sustainability, focusing on energy savings, water efficiency, carbon emissions reduction, and stewardship of natural resources. Every new Avon facility will meet "Green" LEED certification standards, and the company will target higher certification, such as "Gold," when possible. In countries where LEED certification does not exist, construction and renovation projects will meet equivalent standards. Through this Promise, Avon aims to mitigate and reduce its environmental impacts worldwide.

For a video on the Avon Green Building Promise, please click here.

In April 2010, Avon's new distribution center in Zanesville, Ohio (U.S.) achieved LEED Gold certification, which is the company's first facility to achieve LEED certification. Gold-level features of the facility include:

• Energy-efficient features, such as lighting, equipment and solar hot water, which reduce energy consumption by more than 35 percent, avoiding 6,900 metric tons of CO2 annually
• Water conservation measures, including re-use of grey water and efficient landscaping, which are expected to reduce water consumption by 60 percent
• Use of recycled building materials, as well as recycling materials and waste during construction
• Purchase of renewable energy credits to offset 50 percent of annual emissions from estimated power consumption [two-year contract]
• Installation of systems to achieve facility-wide recycling rate of 80-85 percent

In addition to the Zanesville facility, the company has achieved or is targeting LEED certification or equivalent local standards for the following facilities:

• Northampton, United Kingdom –administrative headquarters; new construction achieved BREEAM Very Good - New Build and awarded the U.K. Green Apple Award
• Sao Paulo, Brazil – Avon's largest distribution center worldwide; new construction received LEED Gold
• Guarne, Colombia – distribution center; new construction received LEED Gold, the first ever in the country
• Shanghai, China – research & development center; received LEED Platinum for interiors
• New York, NY – U.S. headquarters; retrofit of 777 Third Avenue; awarded LEED Gold for interiors in April 2012

Click here to read a recent press release about Avon's green buildings.

Click here to read about the new Shanghai R&D center.

Moving forward

Avon will continue to adhere to LEED building standards for all new facilities and to identify, evaluate and apply opportunities to incorporate environmental improvements into existing buildings where feasible.