Towards a more sustainable model

With L’Oréal for the Future, the Group is accelerating its sustainable transformation to adopt a more responsible and inclusive model. As the global beauty leader, L’Oréal aims to be exemplary in terms of social and environmental performance. Now more than ever before, the Group is actively working to rise to the major social and environmental challenges of the decade in order to do its part for a fair and sustainable transition.

Alexandra Palt

Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer and CEO of the Fondation L'Oréal

We intend to do our part to contribute to a fair and equitable transition for all. That means ensuring the Group’s business operates within planetary boundaries as well as engaging our stakeholders in the process and supporting them through it, to have a positive impact on society and build a more sustainable model. In so doing, we hope to be a catalyst for change in our industry and beyond.

L’Oréal for the Future

Launched in 2020, the L’Oréal for the Future programme embodies the Group’s corporate responsibility ambitions and its conviction that companies have a concrete role to play in rising to the challenges of our time.
The programme pursues a strategy built on three key pillars: transforming the Group’s business to reduce its impact and operate within planetary boundaries; engaging stakeholders; and doing our part to address today’s most urgent social and environmental issues. Actions include, for example, providing support for highly vulnerable women and investing in ecosystem regeneration and circular economy development.

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An ambitious programme to sustainably transform the Group’s business activities and ensure they are respectful of the planetary boundaries by 2030. This implies a deep-rooted organisational transformation.

A STRATEGY BUILT ON 3 PILLARS

  • Reducing our impact

  • Engaging our ecosystem

  • Contributing to solving the challenges of the world

A dedicated governance

4 SPECIALISED COMMITTEES
submit recommendations to the Board of Directors

  • Strategy
    & sustainability

  • Audit

  • HR & remuneration

  • Nominations & governance

L’ORÉAL FOR THE FUTURE COMMITTEE
composed of members of the Group Executive Committee

3 OPERATIONAL STEERING COMMITTEES

  • Scientific committee

  • Multi-division committee

  • Multi-zone committee

A network of Sustainability Leaders

  • Zones

  • Divisions

  • Countries

  • Brands

tailored tools
to measure progress

KPIs
for all key commitments

  • Climate

  • Water

  • Biodiversity

  • Resources

  • Social

Roadmaps for all business units

  • Zones

  • Divisions

  • Countries

  • Brands

Product
eco-design

  • R&I

  • Operations

  • Marketing

A SOURCE OF ENGAGEMENT AND PRIDE FOR ALL EMPLOYEES

A transformation at the core of all business segments

Ongoing training available in 15 languages; 45,000 employees trained in 2022

Social and environmental targets incorporated into short-term and long-term compensation policies

Highlights

For a fair and equitable transition

L’Oréal is accelerating its transformation to help create a more sustainable world and involving its vast ecosystem of partners to ensure the transition is fair for all, supporting communities it interacts with and particularly women, who are disproportionately affected by the current crises.

Sustainable sourcing: a social, environmental and inclusive driver

At L’Oréal, suppliers are fullyfledged partners with whom the Group combines forces to collectively reach sustainable development goals. In 2010, L’Oréal founded its global Solidarity Sourcing programme aimed at helping socially and financially vulnerable people to access steady employment through inclusion projects with suppliers and international organisations. In 2022, a further 10% of suppliers joined the programme, which benefited more than 85,000 people. Other initiatives are also underway, like the partnership with Axa launched in 2020. This pilot project to develop inclusive health and climate insurance – implemented with the Group’s suppliers, cooperatives and an insurance company that has partnered with Axa – provided coverage in 2022 for more than 22,000 women who harvest shea butter in Burkina Faso.

Guaranteeing a living wage

Given the current social and economic crisis, major companies have both the ability and the responsibility to help combat poverty. The value they generate puts them in a position to activate powerful drivers, like a living wage, calculated according to best practices by globally recognised NGO Fair Wage Network. A living wage must cover a person’s full range of basic needs, such as housing, food, health and education, as well as those of their dependents.

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L’Oréal monitors pay to adjust permanent employees’ salaries when needed and ensure they earn a living wage. By 2030, employees of the Group’s strategic suppliers will also be guaranteed at least a living wage. L’Oréal works closely with them to discuss and establish shared frames of reference. It also stands alongside other companies and public and private organisations to promote initiatives like Better Business through Better Wages, to raise wage standards. Furthermore, L’Oréal is a member of the Business for Inclusive Growth (B4IG) coalition, headed by the OECD, which aims to ensure the issue of a living wage remains front and centre.

The L’Oréal Fund for Women supported over 1.2 million women

In 2020, the Group created the L’Oréal Fund for Women, a solidarity fund providing 50 million euros over three years with a focus on supporting women at risk, preventing violence against women and supporting victims. The Group is particularly committed to supporting projects that aim to help women who are facing a whole array of vulnerabilities, such as those who are refugees or have disabilities. Since the Fund was founded, it has helped finance nearly 240 organisations worldwide, providing direct support for more than 1.2 million beneficiaries.

Also discover

Operations play a key role in L’Oréal’s sustainable performance

Impact investing to address major environmental challenges

In late 2020, L’Oréal launched the Circular Innovation Fund. Led by Demeter and Cycle Capital Management, it aims to fund innovative businesses with a focus on recycling, plastic waste management and bio-based materials. For example, in 2022, the fund invested in Lizee, a reverse logistics specialist in the repair and second-hand market. With a 50-million-euro contribution, L’Oréal is the lead investor in the fund, which aims to reach 150 million euros. As for the Fund for Nature Regeneration, it invested in the startup Rize, which aims to accelerate the transition to low carbon agriculture. This investment will help to make Rize a pioneer in regenerating agricultural land in France and Europe using a digital solution and a unique service for farmers.

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The L’Oréal Foundation

The L’Oréal Foundation has stood with women for 15 years

For 15 years, the L’Oréal Foundation has supported women around the world, helping them reach their full potential and have a positive impact on society through scientific research, inclusive beauty and the fight against climate change.

For Women in Science: celebrating and supporting women’s scientific excellence

In 2022, the L’OréalUNESCO For Women in Science Awards were particularly celebratory as this was the first ceremony held since the Covid19 pandemic. They recognised 15 international laureates – five women from each major world region for each year (2022, 2021 and 2020) – and honoured 30 International Rising Talents. Since they were founded in 1998, the Awards have recognised 122 women – five of whom are also Nobel Prize winners – for the excellence of their scientific work. Fiftytwo national and regional programmes present in over 110 countries supported more than 250 doctoral and postdoctoral candidates in 2022. In all, the programme has provided funding for over 4,100 women scientists since the outset – because the world needs science, and science needs women.

Beauty for a Better Life: bringing inclusive beauty to isolated and vulnerable women

With its Beauty for a Better Life programme, the L’Oréal Foundation uses beauty as a tool to promote social inclusion.

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Through its two arms – training in beauty professions, and beauty and wellbeing treatments – the programme provides support for women in vulnerable situations by helping them to build selfconfidence and empower them to find their place in society.

The training arm of the programme provides free professional training in the beauty professions (hairdressing, makeup, manicures, etc.) at dedicated training centres to help trainees get jobs. In 2022, 7,430 women facing social or financial hardship received training thanks to support from 60 charitable organisations in 27 countries. Over 16,600 people have benefited from these training programmes over the past three years.

The second focus of Beauty for a Better Life is providing free beauty therapy and hairdressing services for people experiencing physical, mental or social distress, to boost their wellbeing and selfesteem. In 2022, more than 15,500 people in vulnerable situations benefited from beauty therapy in France. Among them were over 500 women living in deprived neighbourhoods or remote rural areas, who enjoyed access to these services at the mobile beauty and wellbeing salon chartered by the L’Oréal Foundation in July 2022.

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