L’Oréal Advances Its Commitment to Sustainability

Worldwide Leader in Cosmetics Recognized for its Leadership in Sustainability by Innovest and Corporate Knights
Feb 3, 2010 11:30 AM ET

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) NEW YORK, NY - February 3, 2010 – L’Oréal, the worldwide leader in cosmetics, long recognized for its portfolio of prestigious global beauty brands, cutting edge research on hair and skin, and marketing prowess, was recognized last week by Corporate Knights for being among the 100 most sustainable corporations in the world. 

The sixth annual Global 100 list of the most sustainable corporations was announced in Davos, Switzerland and for the third year in a row, L’Oréal was recognized for its achievements and leadership by the group.  This year L’Oréal ranked 37 among all global corporations.   L’Oréal was also recently recognized by Climate Counts, in its third annual score card for its leadership in addressing climate change in the household products sector (ranked #1) and among 90 well-known consumer companies overall (ranked #13).    Since 2001, L’Oréal has been measuring its impact on global warming and, in reinforcing its commitment to climate change, joined the Global Compact in 2003. The company is also a member of the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), CDP’s Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration and the Pozań Communique. 

L’Oréal has published an annual Sustainable Development Report since 2005 and last year announced ambitious goals to reduce the company’s impact on natural capital by 50% by 2015.

  “Each year we set new, more challenging goals for the company to achieve. We believe, as a leader in our industry, we need to be an authentic model for sustainability and we intend to set the bar high and work hard to meet the challenge,” says Francis Quinn, Director of Sustainable Development.   Some notable achievements in the United States over the past year include:  
  • Reducing Environmental Impacts: Reducing Environmental Impacts: Reduces in CO2 emissions-32%, energy consumption -7%, water consumption
    -17% and waste -27% per finished product since 2005 in US plants. In 2009, L’Oréal’s plants in Clark, Franklin and Piscataway, NJ and North Little Rock, AK sent zero waste to landfill.  

  • Eco-Designed Product Stewardship: Developed and launched first biodegradable, “cradle to cradle” certified line of products with Kiehl’s Since 1851 AÇAÍ Damage-Repairing Skincare. In addition, Pureology, the professional color care brand, partnered with Global Cross International and launched a sustainability charter. 

  • Because the World Needs Beauty: More than 3,000 L’Oréal USA employees in 17 towns across the country mobilized and engaged in a day of volunteer service to help those in their local communities who are underserved.  

For more information, please visit:

http://www.loreal.com/_en/_ww/html/sustainable-development/welcome.aspx

 

About L’Oréal: L’Oréal is a worldwide leader in the cosmetics industry, developing innovative products to meet the diverse needs of consumers in 130 countries worldwide. With annual consolidated sales in 2008 of €17.542 billion, the company employs more than 67,500 people in 62 countries and manufactures 4.6 billion products in 42 manufacutring plants around the world. The prestigious portfolio of leading personal care products brands are developed by scientists in the company’s 16 research & development centers around the world and includes: L'Oréal Paris, Garnier, Maybelline New York, SoftSheen·Carson, Lancôme, Giorgio Armani, Shu Uemura, Yves Saint Laurent Beauté, Viktor & Rolf, Diesel, Cacharel, Kiehl’s Since 1851, Ralph Lauren, Biotherm, L'Oréal Professionnel, Kérastase, Redken 5th Avenue NYC, Matrix, Logics, Mizani, PureOlogy, Vichy, La Roche-Posay, Sanoflore, Dermablend, SkinCeuticals and The Body Shop.   About The Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World: The Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World is an annual project initiated by Corporate Knights, the magazine for clean capitalism. The Global 100 is a 'best of the best' ranking of the top ten per cent global sustainability leaders, as determined by the Global Sustainability Research Alliance, combined with an objective quantitative assessment based on a set of ten Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), with data sourced from ASSET4 (a Thomson Reuters business) and The BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL® service. Companies are analyzed by region and MSCI Global Industry Classification Standard sectors according to the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI). Launched in 2005, the annual Global 100 is announced each year during the World Economic Forum in Davos.   About Climate Counts:
Climate Counts is a non-profit organization bringing consumers and companies together in the fight against global climate change. Launched with financial support from organics pioneer Stonyfield Farm, the Climate Counts Company Scorecard was developed with oversight from a panel of business and climate experts from leading non-governmental organizations and academic institutions. Criteria were chosen for their effectiveness at accomplishing a single goal – solving the global climate crisis. Since 2007, Climate Counts researchers have used these criteria to now rate the climate actions of nearly 150 companies (representing approximately 3,000 brands) in 16 industry sectors. Companies are given the opportunity to confirm or provide public data sources. Information on all scored companies is available at www.climatecounts.org.   Press Contact: Pamela Gill Alabaster L’Oréal USA
212-984-4905 palabaster@us.loreal.com

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