The following method is used to collect data for the defined scope:
The health and safety data are collected using the dedicated site reporting Intranet system, available in all countries in which there is a L’Oréal subsidiary. The required data are reported every month by the local managers.
When the data are compiled, each site or zone must validate the accuracy of all the data provided.
A process of continuous improvement of these systems has been put in place. The systems are reviewed each year, taking into account the Statutory Auditors’ recommendations and monitoring objectives for subsequent years: updating the indicators to be monitored, improving their definition, and enhancing the communication, monitoring and control process.
In rare cases, certain data already published for the preceding year may be modified when inaccuracies or errors are discovered after the end of the financial year. These data are monitored and included in the annual consistency review. They are included in the reported figures each year.
The environmental indicators cover all sites: factories, distribution centres, administrative sites and research centres.
Environmental reporting covers 100% of the plants, distribution centres, administrative sites and research centres with more than 50 people for these last two types of site.
The environmental indicators of the factories, distribution centres, administrative sites or research centres sold or closed during the financial year are reported in full up to the date they exit the scope. The factories, distribution centres, administrative sites or research centres that join the Group have a maximum period of two years to integrate the environmental and safety reporting systems.
The indicators do not take into account the impacts of exceptional incidents or events caused externally (construction, extension work, etc.) not linked to the site’s activity in terms of water and energy consumption and waste production. Similarly, in the special case where a subcontractor is located geographically on the sites, its impacts are not taken into account.
In order to cover all of the Group’s impacts, environmental reporting was extended to the Group’s administrative sites and research centres in 2016. In 2021, 87 administrative sites and research centres participated in the reporting. Some sites that share their premises with other companies are unable to obtain certain information: 100% of these sites provided information on energy consumption and CO2 emissions, 99% of the sites reported their water consumption and 92% of the sites reported their quantity of waste.
The sites of Vichy and La Roche Posay are part of a unique legal entity (CAP) but are accounted for as two Group factories.
Four Group factories contain a logistics centre in their building: these four logistics centres are not included in the count of the total number of Group logistics centres.
The indicators chosen are those used in the management of the Company’s sites. They reflect the results of the Group’s Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) policy.
Activity: the activity of L’Oréal sites is measured on the basis of finished goods for industrial sites and hours worked for administrative sites and research centres.
The production units included are the equivalent units produced on-site or affected by occasional subcontracting.
Hours worked are the hours performed on-site, thus excluding remote working hours.
Greenhouse gases: The Group’s CO2 emissions are calculated in accordance with the concepts defined by the GHG protocol, and monitored according to the Market-Based CO2 indicator.
With the desire for comparability, the data on CO2 emissions for the 2005 baseline provided have been updated in light of these rules (recalculated on the basis of a constant scope). The calculation of the 2005 baseline is based on the 2003 emission factors of local electricity suppliers – when they are available. When the emission factors are not available, IEA (International Energy Agency) and eGRID(1) emission factors, available in 2006, corresponding to IEA factors for 2003 and EPA(2) (eGRID) factors for 2000, are used. For the estimates for the following years, the emission factor used follows the GHG Protocol rules: in general, the factor provided by the supplier, which is the most accurate; if it is not known, the regional emission factor is used or failing this, the IEA emissions factor (the 2018 IEA edition with the 2016 emission factor for emissions since 2019).
Remarks concerning the level of uncertainty depending on the Scopes in question:
Scopes 1 and 2: The level of uncertainty at the Group level is approximately 1% for plants and distribution centres, and 5% for administrative sites and research centres.
Scope 3: The highest level of uncertainty in a GHG assessment concerns the Scope 3 estimate given the number and nature of the data necessary for calculating it (emission factors for the energy used to heat the water necessary for the usage phase of our rinse-off products all over the world, the quantity of water necessary for rinsing, CO2 emissions of our raw materials and packaging suppliers, distances travelled for transportation, etc.).
Because measurement of the global CO2 impact of the Group’s business activities is essential information in light of the commitments made to fight climate change, efforts are made year after year to increase the reliability of these data. The level of uncertainty of the Group’s Scope 3 emissions is estimated to be between 20% and 30%.
This suggests that, unlike Scopes 1 and 2, the changes in Scope 3 emissions from one year to the next may relate more to the quality of the data collected and the methods of calculation used than to a real measurement of change in performance. This margin of uncertainty with regard to Scope 3 is a reality for all companies, and does not make it possible to consider this data as an adequate benchmark or method of performance assessment.
(1) Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database.
(2) Environmental Protection Agency.
