With the willingness of respecting the biodiversity, L’Oréal has developed a sustainable sourcing policy for renewable raw materials.  More than 50% of raw materials they use by are renewable. This represents around 1,400 ingredients from nearly 300 plant species sourced in over 80 countries.

Minimizing the impact of the industry. 

Depending on the geographic origin as well as on the mode of extraction or production of ingredients, some of these plant species may involve ecological (protective measures, impact of their suppliers’ activities on natural environments) or social (working conditions, fair wages, cultural issues) stakes.

They have developed, along with their suppliers, a continuous improvement mindset in order to take the actual impact of ingredients on the territories of origin into account. This has led them to make a full investigation of supply chains for the most sensitive ingredients such as shea butter, palm oil and its derivatives, as well as argan oil.

How to guarantee a sustainable sourcing ?

L’Oréal has developed a sustainable sourcing policy for renewable raw materials based on four principles:

• Ensuring the traceability of raw materials, which means knowing the plant’s source and the country in which it is grown;
• Ensuring that all stakeholders comply with social and environmental regulations;
• Checking that the supply of these raw materials respects biodiversity and addresses sustainability issues in relevant areas, which includes producing a positive social impact on the lives of local people;
• Having the entire approach verified by an independent third party.

Achievement.

In 2015, L’Oréal finalized the implementation of traceability campaigns for all suppliers, even though the significant number of steps involved in processing some materials can make supply chains highly complex and require a whole series of intermediaries.

100% of plant-sourced ingredients are currently tracked from their country of origin, or even the site of biomass production.

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