2021 UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT

4. L’Oréal’s social, environmental and societal responsibility

  CURRENT RELATIONSHIPS SOME INITIATIVES IN 2021
International organisations, coalitions, NGOs and associations

The Human Rights Department is engaged in a dialogue and partnerships with outside stakeholders, including NGOs, institutions, and associations specialised in this area.

Thus, L’Oréal maintains a partnership with:

  • the Danish Institute for Human Rights, the independent national Human Rights institution of Denmark;
  • Fair Wage Network, an NGO based in Geneva which provides the Group with a database on living wages in 200 countries and assists it in defining its strategy for deployment in operations and with strategic suppliers;
  • The SciencesPo Law School clinic; and
  • the United Nations Global Compact.

In addition, L’Oréal joined:

  • the Shift Business and Human Rights Learning Programme at Harvard;
  • the Human Rights Coalition of the Consumer Goods Forum; and
  • Open for Business, a coalition of companies committed to LGBTQIA+ inclusion. 

In 2021, L’Oréal:

  • joined Unstereotype Alliance, an initiative led by companies convened by UN Women to eradicate harmful stereotypes in advertising;
  • joined the Better Business Through Better Wages call to action launched by IDH - The Sustainable Trade Initiative to promote a living wage; and
  • supported the Business for Inclusive Growth (B4IG) coalition’s campaign to incorporate the living wage into the debate on sustainable development.
Non-financial rating agencies and investors Every year, L’Oréal makes every effort to improve the information made available to its stakeholders and regularly discusses CSR topics with non-financial rating agencies and investors. L’Oréal is in regular contact with numerous non-financial rating agencies, including CDP, Vigeo-Eiris, ISS-OEKOM, MSCI, FTSE, Sustainalytics, etc. These interactions enable discussions on the Group’s non-financial performance and the identification of potential areas for improvement.
The scientific community including researchers and academics

Research and Innovation is an integral part of L’Oréal’s identity and maintains close links with a large number of public or private research centres all over the world, in the form of partnerships or collaborations, in areas as varied as green chemistry, synthetic biology, genomics, skin stem cells, microfluidics, bioprinting, and microbiomes.

The Group’s researchers also participate in the implementation of sustainable agricultural practices, optimising tools and measurement methods with agronomic research institutes to monitor the environmental benefits of more resilient practiceson‑site. These agile tools are designed to be effective, regardless of the level of development of the country in which they are used. This is the case of Biofunctool(1) which aggregates land indicators to monitor soil health and assess practices, including in the plantations.

Through the L’Oréal Foundation’s For Women in Science programme, the Foundation recognises women scientists and awards scholarships to young female researchers.

L’Oréal’s teams continue their collaboration with the Stockholm Resilience Centre(2) to define its sustainable development goals by integrating the concept of planetary boundaries which, if crossed, will compromise the survival of humans on Earth.

The environmental research teams continue to work with the University of Nantes to develop innovative methods for being able to easily assess the biodegradability of mixtures of chemical substances.

Moreover, these teams are collaborating with the Fraunhofer Institute in the development of one method to evaluate the bioaccumulation of substances in aquatic environments.

The Group’s researchers participate in various programmes to identify and test substances likely to be subject to endocrine disruption, both in France (FEATS ANR), Europe (ERGO – EndocRine Guideline Optimization) and the United States (HESI – Health and Environmental Sciences Institute).
The public authorities

At the local, national, or international level, L’Oréal maintains close relationships with the public authorities, in particular via professional associations and its own associations.

L’Oréal is a member of many associations all over the world, including: the FEBEA (French federation for beauty companies), Cosmetics Europe, AIM (Association des Industries de Marque), WFA (World Federation of Advertisers), PCPC (US cosmetics industry association), CAFFCI (China Association of Fragrance Flavour and Cosmetic Industries), ISTMA (Indian Soap and Toiletries Mfrs Association), CTPA (Cosmetic, Toiletry & Perfumery Association), etc.

In 2021, L’Oréal also partnered with a number of major institutional events, such as the Paris Peace Forum, the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit and the IUCN World Conservation Congress, which facilitated discussions with governments about the role companies can play on major environmental and societal issues.
Students and young graduates

L’Oréal is recognised as one of the most attractive companies for students. The Group has unique know-how in working on university campus, making it possible to play a central role in meeting the expectations and needs of students around the world.
  • Brandstorm, an international student competition, brings together more than 61,000 students from 65 different countries.
  • In 2021, the Group also launched “L’Oréal for Youth”, a programme aimed at supporting youth employment and improving employment prospects for young people. Through this comprehensive and long-term programme, the Group is committed to increasing the number of job opportunities aimed at those under the age of 30, offering training package sand rolling out coaching and mentoring initiatives. As part of this programme, L’Oréal also grants scholarships to support students coming from disadvantaged areas.
  • The Group financially supports several academic chairs: the Multi-Capital Global Performance chair and the “Chief Value Officer” Executive MBA with Audencia, the Consumer-driven Innovation and Entrepreneurship chair with HEC, the Leadership and Diversity and the Circular Economy chairs with ESSEC, the Creativity in Marketing professorship with ESCP, the Marketing, Innovation & Creativity Chair with INSEAD and the Marketing chair with Saïd Business School at Oxford University.
  • L’Oréal is also a long-standing partner of CEMS, an alliance of more than 30 business schools worldwide, including Bocconi University, LSE, Stockholm School of Economics, ESADE, Tsinghua University School of Economics, etc.

(1) A low tech and low cost toolbox created by the research institute for development (Institute de Recherche pour le Développement, IRD) and the French agricultural research and international cooperation organisation (Centre International de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, CIRAD).

(2) The result of cooperation between Stockholm University and the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.