C/ Using the Group’s purchasing power to serve social inclusion
The objectives of the Sharing Beauty With All programme and now the L’Oréal for the Future programme express L’Oréal’s conviction that the reduction of the environmental footprint of its products has to be accompanied by an improvement in their social and societal benefit.
Due to its many industrial and administrative sites all over the world, L’Oréal is strongly involved in the life of the local communities. While being a company committed to demonstrating strong corporate citizenship, L’Oréal makes a contribution to many local projects. As a general rule, the Group’s establishments and subsidiaries build good relations with the communities in the areas in which they operate, and make every effort to share their growth with them.
Within the Sharing Beauty With All programme, this goal became a reality in 2020, with more than 100,000 people from underprivileged or poor communities accessing work. L’Oréal for the Future aims to double the number of beneficiaries, with an additional 100,000 beneficiaries by 2030.
Created in 2010, Solidarity Sourcing is L’Oréal’s global inclusive purchasing programme. In 2021, 89,093 economically or socially vulnerable people benefited from decent, lasting employment under this programme (see section 4.3.3.6. “Measures taken in favour of communities” of this document). This represents an additional 7,955 people compared to 2020, an increase of nearly 10%.
In 2021, 89,093 people accessed work through the Solidarity Sourcing programme, 7,955 more people than in 2020.
This programme aims to use the Group’s purchasing power to serve social inclusion. It consists of teaming up with suppliers to give people who are generally excluded from the labour market access to work and a sustainable income.
The Group is therefore continuing to open up its procurement process to companies who employ people from economically vulnerable communities, including small companies and those who have more difficulty in having access to multinational companies. Fair practices in the business and equal opportunities have gradually become major pillars of the Group’s Solidarity Sourcing programme, sustainable purchasing strategy, and growth model.
Solidarity Sourcing and female entrepreneurship
In 2021, L’Oréal continued to accelerate its Solidarity Sourcing strategy to support female entrepreneurs in 16 countries: 2,427 full-time jobs supported by suppliers owned, controlled and led by women, nearly four times more than in 2020. This commitment is one component of a comprehensive Supplier Diversity programme that totals 2,834 beneficiaries at suppliers “owned, controlled and led by a majority of” women, minorities, people from the LGBTQIA+ community or veterans.
Convinced of the need to act collectively to transform the corporate business model and increase the impact, the Group joined the Business For Inclusive Growth (B4IG) coalition from the beginning. This initiative, which was officially launched at the G7 summit in Biarritz in August 2019 and is housed within the OECD, covers 40 international companies that decided to join forces around the central issue of fighting inequalities.
In this framework, L’Oréal:
- also made a commitment as the leader of the working group on inclusive purchasing and the issue of living wages in supply chains;
- provided the complete method and 10-year experience of its inclusive purchasing Solidarity Sourcing programme to the coalition; and
- is also a driver in several business projects with a positive social impact within the B4IG incubator.
In the particular case of raw material purchases, a prerequisite for Solidarity Sourcing projects is that they combine responsible agricultural practices, environmental protection and biodiversity, and that they generate a positive societal impact, notably through the implementation of fair trade principles.
Examples include the following sourcing:
- The sourcing of shea butter:
- since 2014, 100% of our shea butter volumes have been sourced from Burkina Faso; the Group’s purchasing contracts ensure prefinancing of crops, respect for a fair price, access to training and the establishment of community projects for women working together within groupings of women producers;
- in Burkina Faso, less than 3% of families have access to electricity and 87% of households use wood for cooking. Energy expenses represent nearly one third of household budgets and 105,000 hectares of forest disappear every year. Since its introduction in 2016, the sustainable and fair sourcing system has striven to combat energy poverty and deforestation by facilitating the distribution of so-called improved stoves to women. The project is multiplying its impacts:
- household wood consumption has been reduced by half and significant savings are being achieved,
- thousands of hours of unpaid work are avoided (collecting wood, cooking),
- working conditions have improved (60% less smoke in rooms), and
- CO2 emissions have reduced.