This long-standing commitment means that the Group has not conducted animal testing in laboratories for any of its products since 1989, or 14 years before regulations required this. In addition, L’Oréal no longer tests its ingredients on animals. L’Oréal no longer tolerates any exceptions to this rule and this applies worldwide. The Group does not delegate such a task to any third party either. Some health authorities may nevertheless decide to carry out animal testing themselves for certain cosmetic products, as is still the case in China. For more than 10 years, L’Oréal has been firmly committed to getting Chinese stakeholders to recognise alternative methods and changing cosmetic regulations to eliminate animal testing once and for all. In 2014, progress was made to put an end to animal testing of some products manufactured in China. Since 2021, non functional products imported into China no longer need to be tested on animals if they are accompanied by a safety assessment and a good manufacturing practice certificate issued by their country of origin.
Ultimately, L’Oréal’s products continually improve with technological innovations while consistently guaranteeing the highest level of safety for both consumers and professionals.
The Group wants to empower all its consumers to make sustainable consumption choices.
The SPOT environmental assessment tool, rolled out to all of the Group’s brands(1)Excluding recent acquisitions., established the environmental profile of all new products as of 2017.
As part of its L’Oréal for the Future programme, the Group has created an environmental impact labelling system for its products with environmental ratings ranging from A to E to help consumers make informed consumption choices.
This comparison tool for products within the same category is based on the SPOT methodology to measure impacts, which was developed with 11 independent international experts based on the directives of the European Product Environmental Footprint (PEF), to scientifically measure a product’s environmental impact. It takes into consideration 14 planetary impact factors such as greenhouse gas emissions, water stress, ocean acidification or impact on biodiversity.
These impacts are measured at each stage of a product’s life cycle and calculated by considering raw material cultivation and extraction and product processing and transport, as well as the consumer usage phase and packaging recyclability.
This information is accessible to consumers on the product pages of our brands’ websites. The first phase of the roll-out began in France with the Garnier haircare category in July 2020. This labelling is now available for 12 Group brands, 12 categories of skincare or haircare products, in 32 countries in Europe, North America and China.
At the same time, L’Oréal is committed to a sectoral approach, coming together with its competitors to form the EcoBeautyScore Consortium, which aims to develop a common environmental labelling system for the entire cosmetics industry. This system is backed by a scientific methodology for measuring environmental impacts in line with the recommendations of the European Commission, similar to the one used by the Group for its environmental labelling initiative. Alongside the other members, L’Oréal is committed to sharing its experience in this field within the Consortium in compliance with anti trust legislation.
In view of L’Oréal’s active contribution to the development of the EcoBeautyScore, in 2022 the Group slowed down the deployment of its own system for displaying the environmental impact of its products. However, in 2024 the roll out to new markets will continue.
Conscious of the influence of its brands, L’Oréal encourages them to inform and mobilise their stakeholders around major environmental and societal challenges. In 2023, 23 brands took action for a cause, in partnership with associations involved in the field, and conducted awareness raising campaigns with the wider public.
In the context of the L’Oréal for the Future programme, the Group has made a commitment that over four million people will benefit from its brands’ social engagement programmes by 2030. In 2023, the 23 brands that are actively committed to a social engagement programme enabled more than 4 million(2)Consolidated data based on a statement submitted directly by partner NGOs people to benefit from support, in partnership with NGOs.
