2023 universal registration document

4. Corporate Social Responsibility

Rice bran oil: improving resilience to climate change in Thailand

L’Oréal uses rice bran oil for its anti-dandruff and antioxidant properties (haircare and skincare products). In 2016, L’Oréal launched a project for the responsible sourcing of rice bran from small rice producers in the Isaan region in north eastern Thailand. L’Oréal works with the PUR Projet NGO and its supplier to support the OASIS cooperative in reducing the amount of methane produced by rice farming in the region and to improve its resilience to the effects of climate change.

Demonstration plots were created to help demonstrate the impact of agroforestry techniques on farmers’ plots. Learning courses on agroforestry and the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) have been provided to encourage farmers to diversify their income, improve biodiversity and limit the methane emissions generated by rice fields. A programme to stabilise water access has been conducted through a bank loan scheme, enabling farmers to invest in irrigation equipment and improve control of their water consumption.

Thanks to the determination of volunteer farmers, the project has successfully demonstrated to the region’s agricultural community the benefits of agroforestry and the way in which biodiversity and its protection can improve farmers’ livelihoods. L’Oréal strongly encourages as many farmers as possible to adopt SRI practices. In 2023, 75% of the 766 local producers who benefited from the project were women.

Respecting biodiversity and measuring its footprint

Biodiversity loss undermines food security, health, quality of life and many services provided to our economies (pollination, air and water purification, soil fertility). It also effects the Group’s resilience to climate change. The conversion of natural ecosystems for agricultural and urban development purposes is recognised by science as the primary factor in biodiversity loss, followed by pollution, climate change and the introduction of invasive speciesGlobal Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES 2019..

The Group has a long-standing commitment to the preservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. L’Oréal for the Future reaffirms this commitment by placing biodiversity right at the heart of its goals.

Taking an innovative approach and with the support of external experts, L’Oréal has scientifically defined land use and its translation into MSA.ha as a key measure for expressing the biodiversity impact linked to sourcing its biobased ingredients in the territories.

In 2023, it was estimated that palm based ingredients represent over 60% of the impact linked to land use for all biobased ingredients used by the Group.

For the record, 100% of our palm-based ingredients are RSPO certified, with transparency that can be traced back to the mills for 96% of our volumes in 2023. Over the last nine years, the Group has developed five projects on the ground in partnership with external experts to implement sustainable agricultural practices aimed at improving the biodiversity footprint in palm plantations. In 2023, 31.5% of volumes of palm-based ingredients were linked to projects on the ground, compared to 24.8% in 2022.

In the years to come, L’Oréal will continue to gradually extend reporting to include its full range of biobased ingredients and give greater consideration to the impact of its specific actions on supply chains, based on the latest scientific guidelines.

L’Oréal is committed to ensuring that, between now and 2030, the land use required to produce its ingredients of plant origin remains unchanged from 2019 levels. The following drivers have been identified as key to achieving this goal:

  • adoption of regenerative agricultural practices by suppliers in order to improve yields, preserve biodiversity and help farmers transition towards more sustainable agriculture;
  • implementation of an ambitious plan to develop alternatives to raw materials with the highest impact, particularly through biotechnology and circular processes, as part of the Green Sciences programme; and
  • support for rehabilitation projects for ecosystems adjacent to our strategic supply chains.

At the same time, L’Oréal continues to work on different methodologies for assessing the impact of its activities on developing biodiversity in France and worldwide. As such, the Group takes part in the work of the Science Based Targets for Nature network’s Corporate Engagement Programme, CDC Biodiversité’s B4B+ clubBusiness for Positive Biodiversity. and the One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B) collective.

Thanks to the quality of its traceability data, L’Oréal was able to analyse the importance of biodiversity relative to its supply areas, using the STAR metric based on IUCN data (see details in the methodological notes in section 4.5). This analysis shows that:

  • approximately 70% of the land use related to the sourcing of the Group’s biobased ingredients occurs in countries where the risk of significant impact on biodiversity is very low or low; and
  • 30% of biobased ingredients come from regions where the risk of significant impact on biodiversity is medium, such as Indonesia and Malaysia for palm oil or the Philippines for coconut.

These results will enable us to refine the supply strategy for each plant and each country and work on innovative alternatives.