(i) Additional actions intended for Subsidiaries' sites
At its own sites, L’Oréal implements the LIFE (Life-changing Incident or Fatality Event) programme, which covers activities on all its sites that, if not controlled, could result in potentially serious injury and illness. The Group extends the ambition of moving towards "zero accidents" by ensuring the sustainability of actions and defining post-incident emergency preparedness requirements.
The overall goals of the L'Oréal for the Future programme include the following objectives for the Subsidiaries:
These objectives are accompanied by monthly reporting of detailed indicators used to monitor variations in results in each of these areas and to identify potential anomalies and incidents. This reporting is also accompanied by a bi-annual programme to coordinate environmental projects. These projects are evaluated and prioritised in order to aim to achieve the L’Oréal for the Future objectives. The objectives, which are defined annually and linked to the monthly reporting, make it possible to assess the performance of each site, country and zone. A summary of the results of the L’Oréal for the Future programme is provided in section 1.4.2.
The Group is engaged in a process of continuous improvement of its EHS performance through a programme to achieve ISO certification for its operated sites, in order to anchor the EHS policy for the long term: ISO 45001 for the management of employee health and safety and improvement in their working conditions; ISO 14001 for the management of environmental impacts and improvement in environmental performance; and ISO 50001 for energy management and energy performance improvement.
"Culture" audits are conducted by internal EHS specialists to assess the degree to which EHS culture has been rolled out to all Subsidiary employees. The results of these audits provide information on the level of knowledge of EHS management tools and the maturity of audited sites with regard to the safety and environment culture at all levels of the hierarchy.
Regular checks are carried out at sites operated by the Group to ensure that cooling gas, which is used for the production of cold (e.g., refrigeration units) and heat (e.g., heat pumps), have not leaked. A risk reduction strategy has been implemented following a comprehensive inventory of facilities that use cooling gas at sites. It is based on two pillars: detecting and managing leaks and replacing traditional cooling gases with alternative cooling gases with low global warming potential (or GWP).
(ii) Additional actions intended for suppliers
The Purchasing teams select suppliers according to competitiveness and in compliance with the responsible purchasing policy. Supplier assessments are managed by monitoring indicators included in the corporate social responsibility criteria, which is one of the five criteria for monitoring supplier performance.
As part of the overall goals of the L'Oréal for the Future programme, L'Oréal has set the following environmental objectives that concern suppliers or that could relate to their business:
Climate: by 2030, reduce its Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions from the Group's purchased goods and services, employee business travel, upstream transportation and distribution by 28% compared with 2019.
In order to engage suppliers in reducing the carbon emissions from their own activities, the Group asks them to develop their own climate transition plans, including objectives aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) or equivalent standards.
Sustainable sourcing of raw materials:
As part of its Forest Policy, L'Oréal is committed to having a sustainable supply chain for palm oil and palm oil derivatives. To ensure sustainable sourcing while respecting Human Rights and mitigating the impact on biodiversity, the Group is developing a roadmap based on six commitments:
Sourcing certified raw materials:
In 2024, 100% of the palm oil and 99.9% of palm oil derivatives purchased by the Group is Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified. This certification attests to compliance with environmental and social standards for sustainable palm oil production, including the protection of forests, workers’ rights, local communities and indigenous peoples.
Transparency in the palm oil value chain:
L'Oréal identifies the suppliers in its palm oil value chain through the Action For Sustainable Derivatives (ASD) coalition, which the Group co-founded in 2019. 98% of L'Oréal’s 2023 volumes of palm oil was traced back to the refinery and 97% traced back to the mill.
Analysis and management of associated risks:
This transparency enables L’Oréal to analyse the risks associated with its supply zones. The Group has set up satellite surveillance of supply areas around identified mills to detect potential cases of illegal deforestation. The overall risk identification system is rounded out by reports received from external stakeholders, media monitoring, and publications by the ASD grievance taskforce.
In the event of a suspected violation of its Forest Policy, L'Oréal addresses the issues with its suppliers, in particular by sending them a list of mills potentially linked to cases of deforestation or unresolved alerts. The Group asks its suppliers to engage these mills in the investigation and resolution of the cases concerned or, if this is impossible, to suspend their business relations with the mills.
More specifically with regard to Human Rights, L'Oréal worked with an NGO on strengthening its risk identification in this value chain. As a result of this work, since 2022 L'Oréal has supported the ASD Respect In Palm programme, which promotes gender equality and measures to combat gender-based violence.
