Responsible beauty
A French beauty company’s sustainability programme aims to inspire consumers to choose green beauty products.
WOULDN’T it be nice to look good on the outside while feeling good on the inside because you did something that’s good for the planet?
While we love our skincare and makeup, our conscience also urges us to choose products that are made using sustainably-sourced ingredients and cruelty-free processes, and that don’t contain ingredients harmful to the environment.
Well, there are certainly enough choices out there to satisfy today’s savvier, more demanding and conscience-driven consumers nowadays – but therein lies the problem, because with the deluge of brands, ingredients and gimmicks in the market, making a green choice is difficult.
To help us understand what it really means for beauty products to utilise sustainably sourced ingredients, Alexandra Palt, chief sustainability officer at L’Oreal, gives an insight into the French company’s sustainability programme called “Sharing Beauty With All”.
“One of the main commitments of ‘Sharing Beauty With All’ is to improve the environmental and social profile of 100% of our products by 2020,” says Palt in an e-mail interview.
“This means that each time we develop or renew a product, we consider not only the product’s performance and profitability but also its contribution to sustainable development,” she explains.
For instance, by 2020 L’Oreal aims to get all of their raw materials from sustainable sources.
In The L’Oreal Sustainability Commitment 2015 Progress Report, the beauty brand’s sustainability commitment shows progress in four key areas: innovating, producing, living, and developing sustainably.
Environmental footprints
In innovating sustainably, L’Oreal looks look at (a) reducing the environmental footprint of formulas, (b) respecting biodiversity, (c) optimising packaging, and (d) achieving zero deforestation.
(A) To achieve a water-footprint reduction of more than 80% compared with the average for shampoos, the brand launched two silicone-free anti-dandruff shampoo formulas in China.
(B) Quinoa husk was previously considered waste but L’Oreal researchers found that the saponins and polyphenols contained in the husk have exfoliating properties. In 2015 they created a partnership in Bolivia for a sustainable source of the husk that respects biodiversity.
(C) In Brazil in late 2015, L’Oreal’s haircare brand Matrix revamped its Biolage range by using bioplastic (ie, biodegradable plastic) containers made locally with a sugarcane derivative. This is the group’s first bioplastic bottle.
(D) To achieve zero deforestation, L’Oreal said in 2014 that by 2020 at the latest, none of its products will be linked in any way to deforestation, according to Palt.
The link to deforestation is forged partially by the need for palm oil. Palt explains that palm oil is a raw material used in the manufacture of many everyday products. In cosmetics, it has been used for many years for its emollient and foaming properties in hair and body care products.
Currently, L’Oreal sources more than 97% of the palm oil derivatives it needs from Indonesia and Malaysia, Palt says.
Supporting smallholders
“At L’Oreal the consumption of palm oil remains low. Our ‘palm footprint’ is 0.1% of global palm production. However, even though we are a minor player in the market in terms of volume, we want to be among the most responsible companies in the world and to lead by example on this issue,” Palt says.
In Malaysia, L’Oreal supports SPOTS (Sustainable Palm Oil and Traceability with Sabah small producers), a pioneer project in the market for palm oil derivatives.
Through the project, L’Oreal purchases RSPO-certified (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) product from 500 smallholders over five years. This gives the small growers fairer long-term access to the international market, and helps them improve their agricultural practices and living conditions while also preventing deforestation.
Palt points out that 40% of worldwide palm oil production relies on smallholders, who usually suffer low yields and have difficulty accessing sustainable practices knowledge and the global market.
“In Malaysia growing oil palm can enable a family to overcome poverty in one generation. We consider it our responsibility to develop sustainable palm oil sourcing projects that ensure forests are protected and local development supported.”
In 2015, Palt says L’Oreal launched its first pilot project in Malaysia aiming to support 500 smallholders by 2020 in the Beluran district in Sabah.
Ins and outs of certification
Palt says that since 2012, 100% of the palm oil that L’Oreal buys has RSPO certification.
“However, the challenge for us is the traceability of palm oil derivatives and how to improve the practices within this supply chain.
“That is why we have created and deployed, from 2014 and onwards, an innovative traceability initiative to trace derivatives back to their origin. This is a first step to ensure compliance with zero deforestation among the concerned suppliers,” Palt says.
This raises the question: How can the palm oil be 100% RSPO certified when traceability is an issue?
Palt explains: “The industrial processing of derivatives is much more complex than that of palm oil, as it involves a wide range of stakeholders leading to long and ramified supply chains.
“Between the palm plantations and the ingredients used in L’Oreal’s products, there are many transformations and intermediaries, from millers, crushers, grinders, refiners, and fractioners, to traders and oleo-chemicals manufacturers.”
L’Oreal’s ambitious initiative engages all the intermediaries in its supply chain to document where they get their palm oil from, thus ensuring sustainable sourcing.
The initiative augments RSPO certification, which is something environmentalists undoubtedly welcome, as the certification has been criticised. Greenpeace, for instance, claims that RSPO certification does not protect international brands from the risk that the palm oil they use is tainted with deforestation, and that RSPO standards are not prohibiting deforestation and peatland destruction.
RSPO certification, though, remains a minimum pre-requisite that all L’Oreal’s suppliers must fully respect, Palt says, going on to add: “It remains one of the most collaborative and multi-stakeholder platforms to drive progress in the whole sector.
“But we also acknowledge the limit of the current available certification in guaranteeing deforestation-free and responsible palm production. That is why we are going one step further to reach our zero deforestation ambition by 2020 the latest,” Palt says.
Production footprint
In the second key area of producing sustainably L’Oreal is targeting a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions at its plants and distribution centres worldwide.
“We produce 80% of our own products so reducing the footprint of our production is crucial, particularly regarding CO2 emissions. In 2015, we successfully reduced carbon emissions from our production activities by 56% in absolute terms compared to a 2005 baseline, while production increased by 26% over the same period.
“And nine L’Oreal’s industrial sites have reached carbon neutrality,” Palt says.
She says the company is also committed to reducing water consumption and waste generation from their plants and distribution centres by 60% by 2020.
L’Oreal is one of only two companies in the world that has been awarded a triple A mark – the highest level of performance – by the CDP for its actions in fighting climate change, its sustainable water management and its strategy on the sustainable sourcing of raw materials.
(Formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project, CDP is a not-for-profit organisation that runs a global disclosure system allowing organisations to measure and manage their environmental impacts.)
Palt is aware that, with L’Oreal being the leader in the beauty and cosmetics world, the company has a responsibility to raise awareness and support among consumers of a more sustainable way of consumption – this is one of Palt’s biggest challenges as chief sustainability officer, she says.
“Consumers are willing to change their habits for sustainability. But, at the same time, according to our researchers, there is still a gap between attitudes and behaviours.
“When a consumer buys a product, he or she follows other criteria in addition to social or environmental benefits. Engaging consumers in tackling sustainability issues is a challenge that can be addressed only if we manage to make sustainable products and consumption more attractive and desirable,” Palt says.