Iconic London

Summary

Iconic London, the fast-growing beauty brand, turned its sustainability ambitions into measurable business value by adopting KEY ESG’s sustainability management platform. Moving from disconnected processes and Excel spreadsheets to a single source of truth platform for carbon and ESG data, Iconic London not only saved valuable time and improved data accuracy, but also strengthened key customer relationships.

About Iconic London

Founded in 2015, Iconic London now has an international customer base and supply chain. Iconic London has built a brand around unique, trend led formulations and skin finishing products which give a glamourous glow that is loved by professional makeup artists, celebrities, and influencers.

Iconic London was faced with many different ESG reporting demands from regulators, customers and external stakeholders

As is often the case with consumer brands, Iconic London has a lot of different stakeholders and interested parties which results in a broad range of regulatory reporting requirements. This includes everything from the Plastics Packaging Tax in the UK, to managing the Sustainable Financial Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and ESG Data Convergence Initiative (EDCI) reporting requirements for their investors, Bluegem Capital Partners, and delivering full Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emission reporting for some of their largest customers. Additionally, Iconic London is a PETA certified vegan and cruelty free brand, so must work to maintain this accreditation alongside new product development.

Alice Byrom-Chadd, the Finance Business Partner and Ann Masson, CFO, were aware that the companies' ambitious growth plans, and future regulatory requirements, such as IFRS S1 and S2 would need to be supported with effective data management that could create transparency around sustainability. With this in mind, they were looking to formalise the business’ ESG reporting process and start work on an external corporate sustainability report. This move towards more robust reporting processes was also driven by one of their largest customers asking them to provide product-level carbon emissions data and the business commencing work on a commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

Alice Byrom-Chadd said: “Being asked for Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions and a SBTi commitment by one of our largest customers has acted as a catalyst to put effective and accurate reporting processes in place for all our ESG data.”

Establishing an effective data management process is especially necessary since Iconic London has complex international supply chains with long lead times. As well as being faced with the difficulties of inconsistent data availability. Some of their suppliers have robust reporting systems and excellent data to hand, whilst others do not, and guidance was needed in how to begin collecting and reporting such figures.

KEY ESG’s platform enables quick and efficient carbon and ESG data management

Iconic London adopted KEY ESG’s sustainability platform to streamline data collection and automate emissions calculations. The platform enabled:

• Direct entry for Scope 1 & 2 data, with straightforward explanations that senior management could easily understand and present.
• Automated Scope 3 calculations using external emission factors, simplifying one of the most complex areas of carbon accounting.
• Year-on-year comparisons and clear flow charts, making it simple to identify data gaps and improve accuracy each reporting cycle.
• Carbon lifecycle analysis at product level, allowing the team to understand emissions from individual components—critical to meeting customer requirements for detailed reporting.

The platform’s user-friendly interface allowed Iconic London to independently expand its use across departments, enabling structured, cross-team conversations and stakeholder engagement.

Outcome 1: Strengthening customer relationships and protecting revenue

Ann Masson, CFO, said: “Using KEY ESG has enabled us to establish a credible emissions baseline, make a commitment to the SBTi, and to deliver on the sustainability requirements of one of our largest customers. This has positioned sustainability as an important value driver of the business.”

Outcome 2: Improved internal stakeholder engagement and significant time savings

The platform facilitates structured, data-driven discussions between sustainability leads and senior management. Decision-makers can quickly evaluate options for Scope 3 methodologies, present clear recommendations to the operations director, and identify next steps to improve measurement and accuracy each year.

KEY ESG eliminated the manual synthesis of methodologies and the need to consolidate disparate spreadsheets. Ann Masson said:

“Having the KEY ESG platform to work with instead of various Excel sheets is saving us huge amounts of time. Not only that, but the level of support and knowledge of the team at KEY ESG has been a huge help in accelerating our ESG journey.”

Outcome 3: Progress on SBTi commitments

Iconic London has registered with the SBTi as a small organisation and is now using KEY ESG data to refine its approach to reducing Scope 3 emissions. Even as it continues to define its long-term targets, the platform provides the detailed data required to satisfy customer expectations and inform strategic decisions.

Iconic London turns sustainability reporting into a driver of business value

By protecting a multi-million-pound customer relationship and strengthening its ESG credentials, Iconic London has unlocked business value via its ESG work. The ability to demonstrate reliable, auditable carbon data has improved customer confidence and enhanced the brand’s sustainability credentials in the competitive beauty sector. With KEY ESG, Iconic London turned sustainability reporting from a regulatory chore into a strategic advantage – driving both environmental progress and measurable business value.