In 2021, on the basis of this work and with the goal of greater transparency, for the fourth consecutive year, L’Oréal published the list of the 928 mills indirectly connected to its supply chain and representing over 90% of its palm derivative volumes, as well as the list of its direct suppliers of derivatives.
In 2016, L’Oréal rounded out its evaluation and selection tools for palm oil and palm kernel derivative suppliers with a specific tool, the Sustainable Palm Index, to assess the level of commitment, progress and achievements of its direct suppliers in favour of sustainable palm oil. This tool is used annually to evaluate suppliers’ progress towards the Zero Deforestation objective and their level of compliance with the Group’s requirements. It was first made public in 2016 to enable it to be used by all players in the supply chain.
In 2018, to take its commitment further, L’Oréal initiated the development of a new tool in collaboration with ZSL (Zoological Society of London) and Transitions, to evaluate refineries and crushers (which extract the oil from the kernels), on the basis of their reporting, policies and procedures. The indicators used for this evaluation were aligned with the requirements of the Group’s standards in respect of deforestation. This tool has been available and public since 2019.
At mill level, since 2016, the L’Oréal Group has relied on Global Forest Watch’s risk assessment tool to ensure that no derivative traced to mills is linked to deforestation.
In 2018, the procedure for dealing with cases of non‑conformity with our zero deforestation commitment by direct or indirect suppliers was also made public.
Since November 2019, in order to contribute to the sector transformation, L’Oréal has been a founding member of Action for Sustainable Derivatives (ASD), an initiative coordinated by BSR and Transitions within which L’Oréal has actively contributed, in particular by sharing all its methodologies and tools developed since 2014.
In 2015, in the Beluran district of Malaysia, L’Oréal launched a pilot project called “SPOTS” (Sustainable Palm Oil & Trace ability with Sabah small producers) aimed at supporting 500 independent producers of palm oil by 2020. The first phase of this innovative project, conducted in partnership with direct supplier Clariant, its intermediate supplier Global Amines, its up stream producer Wilmar and Malaysian social enterprise Wild Asia, was designed to:
Accordingly, as the end buyer, L’Oréal has committed to buying RSPO-certified products from small producers under a five-year contract, there by initiating a long-term commercial relationship with each stakeholder in the value chain, including small independent producers. This marks a break with the standard practice on the conventional palm oil market.
At the end of the first five years of the project, 942 independent producers had joined the SPOTS project, 774 of whom obtained RSPO certification, representing nearly 28,000 hectares of sustainably managed plantations. More than 200 training sessions were organised by Wild Asia for small palm producers, who were able to learn more about the RSPO certification system, best practice to limit production costs in sustainable agriculture, waste management and soil health.
Building on the significant results of this first phase, L’Oréal worked with its suppliers and Wild Asia to scale up the project, in order to extend its positive impact to the entire state of Sabah by 2025.
The aim of this regional cooperation is twofold: to extend RSPO certification to 3,500 independent producers, i.e. 100,000 hectares of plantations, while encouraging the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices for palm oil production.
Thus, by building on the experience of the “Bio-farms” developed by Wild Asia on around one hundred thousand hectares of palm plantations, the project aims to encourage small producers to volunteer to adopt low-carbon practices that are good for both the soil and biodiversity, and that enable them to improve their yields and their income. Establishing these bio-farms inspired by regenerative agricultural practices on nearly 10,000 hectares by 2025 will help L’Oréal to achieve its objective of maintaining a stable footprint on the ecosystems required to produce its ingredients. It will also help transition towards more sustainable and innovative agriculture that breaks with conventional practices in the production of palm oil.
In 2021, L’Oréal consumed 354 tonnes of soybean extract and 2,502 tonnes of soybean extract derivatives. In 2021, 100% of the soybean extract used by L’Oréal and coming from Latin America is from a land project certified RTRS, Bio and Fair For Life, aimed at supporting 36 small soybean producers in Brazil and Paraguay, or from certified sources (IP – Identity Preserved Proterra). Most derivatives come from areas classed without risk of deforestation.
Regarding materials used by L’Oréal for its packaging, the paper used for notices and the cardboard used for boxes is certified as coming from sustainably managed forests (FSC or PEFC certified) (see section on “Materials vigilance and preservation of resources” below).
