Philippines, 23 July 2020 – L’Oréal Philippines today announced its roadmap in contribution to the Group’s global sustainability targets. In collaboration with local stakeholders and partners, the Group’s focus areas for the Philippines are sustainable e-commerce, consumer empowerment and education through Green Beauty, and social empowerment through the nationwide expansion of its beauty education program, Beauty For A Better Life.
“L’Oréal has put sustainability as a fundamental priority. Our commitments towards 2030 mark the beginning of a more radical transformation and embody our view as to what a company’s vision, purpose and responsibilities should be, to meet the challenges facing the world,” said Supriya Singh, Country Managing Director of L’Oréal Philippines.
“In the Philippines we aim to make the most impact in the areas of environmental stewardship and social empowerment. Our sustainability commitment will embark our teams, our partners and our consumers – and through our collective impact, we aim to create a more sustainable world for beauty,” adds Carmel Valencia, Head of Corporate Communication of L’Oréal Philippines.
Transforming L’Oréal’s business to respect “planetary boundaries”
In the context of growing environmental and social challenges, L’Oréal is accelerating its transformation towards a model respecting planetary boundaries and reinforcing its commitments across the following specific areas: fighting climate change, sustainable water management, respecting biodiversity and the preservation of natural resources, all in accordance with what scientific experts demand and grounded on what the planet needs.
As concrete examples of what L’Oréal wants to achieve: by 2025, all of the Group’s manufacturing, administrative and research sites will reach carbon neutrality by improving energy efficiency and using 100% renewable energy and by 2030, 100% of the plastics used in L’Oréal’s products’ packaging will be either from recycled or bio-based sources.
Moreover, the Group will be dedicating €50 million to finance damaged natural marine and forest ecosystems restoration projects through a fund called the L’Oréal Fund for Nature Regeneration and another €50 million will be directed to financing projects linked to the circular economy
Empowering L’Oréal’s consumers to make sustainable consumption choices
L’Oréal has also affirmed its commitments to engaging its customers, suppliers and partners in the Group’s transformation process. To empower its consumers to make more sustainable choices, L’Oréal has launched its Product Environmental & Social Impact Labelling endorsed by independent scientific experts, which is a world-first that rates products from A (world class for sustainability) to E based on their environmental impact, for areas including carbon footprint and manufacturing processes.
The first brand to implement the new methodology as of 2020 is Garnier for its hair care products. This labelling will progressively be extended to other countries, L’Oréal’s brands and product categories.
A Greater Commitment to Addressing Social Challenges
Commitment to social inclusion, and the economic empowerment of women have become the bedrock of some of the most active advocacies for the L’Oréal Group – globally and in the Philippines. The expansion of their beauty education program, Beauty for a Better Life, is also part of their ongoing commitment to ensuring women in the most underprivileged circumstances are provided means to regain their confidence and self-respect, to enhance their skill-set and are empowered to reintegrate back into society and gain employment or be self-employed. “Our dedication to social empowerment will see the expansion of our livelihood and inclusion commitments and the economic empowerment of women – fundamental advocacies that remain at the heart of our nation’s biggest challenges,” Valencia added.
Moreover, the Group will be spearheading new programs and partnerships geared towards taking even greater responsibility to address some of today’s most pressing social challenges. L’Oréal Philippines will be cementing key programs with Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), which is one of the brand’s long-standing partners for 10 years and running.
On a global level, L’Oréal created a €50 million charitable endowment fund, which will support field organizations and local charities in their efforts to fight poverty, help women achieve social and professional integration, provide emergency assistance to refugee and disabled women, prevent violence against women, and support victims.
Garnier and the Power of “Green Beauty”
“Garnier aims to go further and commit to Green Beauty, an end-to-end approach to sustainability that is set to transform the brand, helping to reduce their environmental impact at every stage of its value chain. We are fuelled by the vision to constantly innovate and reinvent the consumer experience and to empower every consumer to make more informed, sustainable choices,” said Isabel Falco, Marketing Director of Garnier and L’Oréal Paris Philippines.
Garnier plans to launch in the Philippines its Green Parcel and Green Spaces initiatives, and will be championing a Green Education program together with its partners.
Garnier has been at the forefront of powering L’Oréal’s sustainability endeavours. Their products contain more than 90% natural origin ingredients, certified organic product ranges, and vegan formulas. Garnier has also ensured that packaging is made from recycled plastic and is more recyclable, with an end goal to use Zero Virgin Plastic by 2025. In the pipeline are also the inauguration of their Green Stores and Green Parcel initiatives, as well as their Green Education to continue providing an opportunity for consumers to make informed and sustainable choices.
“We will take on greater responsibility, engage our entire ecosystem and demonstrate that companies can be part of the solution to the challenges the world is facing. Our goal is that through this in-depth transformation, we hope to be a catalyst of change in the beauty sector and beyond, and to inspire our partners, our customers and all people to take action with us,” Ms. Singh shares.
About L’Oréal’s sustainability commitments: we are not starting from scratch
Very early on, L’Oréal became aware of the need to respond to environmental challenges. As an industrial company, it decided that tackling the environmental impact of its plants and distribution centers was the most obvious first step, and a necessary one, to begin its transformation process. This first phase is nearly completed.
- Since 2005, the Group has reduced the CO2 emissions of its plants and distribution centers by 78% in absolute terms, exceeding its initial target of 60% by 2020, while production volume increased by 37% over the same period.
- At the end of 2019, L’Oréal had 35 carbon neutral sites (meaning they use 100% renewable energy), including 14 factories.
In 2013, L’Oréal decided to address the core of its activity: the development of beauty products, its global sustainability programme Sharing Beauty With All, announcing tangible sustainability goals towards 2020. At its core laid an innovative tool known as SPOT (for Sustainable Product Optimization Tool), made to assess and improve the environmental and social performance of products across all brands. Sustainability is now fully integrated into the design process of the Group’s new products, from the earliest stages.
- 85% of products created or renovated in 2019 had an improved environmental and social profile.
- By end of 2019, L’Oréal has helped 90,635 people from disadvantaged communities find employment through the solidarity purchasing and inclusion programs.
- L’Oréal is the only company in the world to have achieved an “A” score in all three CDP rankings – climate protection, water management, forest preservation – for 4 years in a row.
About L’Oréal
L’Oréal has devoted itself to beauty for over 100 years. With its unique international portfolio of 36 diverse and complementary brands, the Group generated sales amounting to 29.87 billion euros in 2019 and employs 88,000 people worldwide. As the world’s leading beauty company, L’Oréal is present across all distribution networks: mass market, department stores, pharmacies and drugstores, hair salons, travel retail, branded retail and e-commerce.
Research and innovation, and a dedicated research team of 4,100 people, are at the core of L’Oréal’s strategy, working to meet beauty aspirations all over the world. L’Oréal sets out ambitious sustainable development goals across the Group for 2030 and aims to empower its ecosystem for a more inclusive and sustainable society.
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