Kevin Murphy Group's sustainability vision — a path to a better future

Kevin Murphy Group is a global haircare company known for creating high-performance haircare products that prioritize innovation, quality and environmental responsibility. From its entrepreneurial roots, the brand has remained steadfast in its commitment to sustainable practices — embedding environmental and social values into its identity from the very beginning. But as the business expanded rapidly across regions and the global landscape of responsible business evolved, Kevin Murphy Group recognized the need to do more.

By 2023, Kevin Murphy Group had already taken meaningful steps — sourcing natural ingredients and reducing its environmental footprint. Yet, the leadership acknowledged that their sustainability efforts could benefit from a structured, coherent framework to drive long-term impact and scale with the company's global growth. Increasing regulatory complexity and rising expectations from partners and customers made it clear: The time had come to formalize and elevate their approach to ESG.

Not addressing this question meant risking missed opportunities, reputational damage and potentially failing to keep pace with the rapidly evolving expectations around sustainability. That’s when Kevin Murphy Group decided to team up with EY's Climate Change and Sustainability Services team in its sustainability journey.

Together, the EY team and Kevin Murphy Group aimed to design a comprehensive group sustainability strategy that would align with global standards and reflect the company’s ambition to lead with purpose. They weren’t looking for a tick-box exercise — they wanted a roadmap that would unlock value, mitigate future risks and embed sustainability more deeply across the business.

Kevin Murphy Group started working together on this vision with the EY team from 2023. While the core collaboration has involved the Australian team and the European team based in Denmark, the engagement spanned the entire global business. This was a solid step toward ensuring that the strategy is not only aligned with local regulations but also consistent and actionable at a global level.

The EY organization had exceptional alignment with Kevin Murphy Group’s vision and sustainability goals. With a proven track record of transforming complex regulatory and compliance requirements into strategic commercial opportunities, the EY team brought a unique blend of innovation and experience. They facilitated seamless knowledge transfer and capacity building within Kevin Murphy Group, empowering internal teams to effectively implement and manage sustainability initiatives. Their broad network of subject matter experts — spanning environmental, social, compliance and strategic domains — provided Kevin Murphy Group with comprehensive support and insights.

This collaboration was set up on the right foundation — one that supports Kevin Murphy Group’s long-term goals and helps the company move forward with clarity, structure and confidence in its sustainability journey.

Kevin Murphy Group’s collaboration with the EY team marked the beginning of a more structured, proactive approach to sustainability — one designed to meet the company’s aspirations and align with global standards. The EY organization assembled a multidisciplinary team, bringing together expertise in climate, nature, human rights, reporting and strategy. This team worked closely with the Kevin Murphy Group’s global stakeholders, particularly from Australia and Europe, to understand the company’s operations, ambitions and the unique challenges it faced in the fast-evolving beauty industry.

Beyond strategy design, the EY team equipped Kevin Murphy Group with practical tools to operationalize sustainability throughout the organization. These included frameworks for carbon accounting, foundational policies on supplier conduct and human rights, and a structure for stakeholder engagement and future reporting, and their inaugural sustainability report. One key outcome was helping Kevin Murphy Group prepare for their first Modern Slavery Statement, marking a milestone in aligning with regulatory expectations and reinforcing their values.

What stood out in this engagement was the exceptional collaboration between the EY team’s technical knowledge and Kevin Murphy Group’s passion for sustainability. This synergy helped create a practical, actionable and future-proof strategy that could scale with Kevin Murphy Group’s growth while staying rooted in its identity.

Since implementing their Group Sustainability Strategy, Kevin Murphy Group has made tangible progress across key areas: climate action, human rights, biodiversity and circularity. With the continued support of the EY team, Kevin Murphy Group has begun transforming its ambitions into measurable outcomes, setting the stage for a future of responsible, purpose-driven growth.

Key progress areas:

• Climate action: Carbon emissions baseline established for Scope 1-3 emissions, forming the foundation of the Kevin Murphy Group’s climate transition plan and science-based targets (SBTs). These targets will guide Kevin Murphy Group toward net-zero emissions, and ensure a transparent, accountable approach to carbon reduction.
• Human rights: Kevin Murphy Group launched a company-wide human rights policy, supported by supply chain risk assessments and human rights due diligence training. They also published their first Modern Slavery Statement, aligning with Australia’s Modern Slavery Act.
• Biodiversity and circularity: Kevin Murphy Group is actively screening raw materials and product ingredients for their environmental impact on biodiversity. This process supports their broader vision of adopting nature-positive practices that contribute to global biodiversity preservation.
• Culture and accountability: Instead of a top-down approach, Kevin Murphy Group focused on building internal ownership by educating teams on the “why” of sustainability — not just the “what” — to foster deeper commitment and accountability across the organization.

Looking ahead, Kevin Murphy Group is preparing to pursue a B Corp certification under the newly revised version 2.0 standards. These updated standards align closely with rigorous frameworks like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), reinforcing Kevin Murphy Group’s commitment to sustainability and responsible business practices. The EY team is actively supporting Kevin Murphy Group through this process, which will help showcase their sustainability achievements and further enhance their brand reputation.

The engagement has shown that going beyond compliance is not only possible — it is essential for creating a meaningful, sustainable future. As Kevin Murphy Group continues this journey, the shared focus remains clear: to build resilience, drive impactful change and create a future that truly reflects the company’s values.