Earlier this week L’Oréal announced that by 2030, they intend for 95% of the ingredients they use in their makeup, skincare, and other products to be derived from renewable plant sources, abundant minerals, or circular processes.
The company went on to say that they would be adopting a “green sciences” approach for all of L’Oréal’s 36 brands. In addition, they will work to ensure that every single formula within these brands respects the diversity of coastal and freshwater aquatic ecosystems.
L’Oréal intends to implement this change by relying on recent advances in green sciences that facilitate the sustainable cultivation of ingredients and by enabling them to extract natural materials without causing significant environmental damage. More specifically, the advances in green sciences that L’Oréal is referring to include advances in agronomics and developments in biotechnology, formulation science, modelling tools, eco-extraction, physical chemistry, and green chemistry. This series of technological processes are ones that the brand has already begun investing in. In addition to transforming their portfolio of raw materials and the way they grow and extract them, L’Oréal also plans to integrate new principles of circularity into their production process.
The company claims that in 2020, 80% of the raw materials they used were biodegradable, 59% were renewable, 34% were natural or of natural origin, and 29% were developed in accordance with the principles of green chemistry.
L’Oréal’s deputy chief executive officer, Nicolas Hieronimus said in a press release that green sciences represent a new chapter for the company, especially for L’Oréal’s research and innovation department. Hieronimus went on to say that their in-house research team has been a key driving force behind the company for a long time, and now, they will help L’Oréal reach the ambitious target of offering effective, safe, and environmentally-friendly cosmetics to their customers around the world by 2030.
In order to bring their green sciences approach to sustainability to life, L’Oréal has also announced that they will be developing a wide range of strategic partnerships with businesses and institutions across the globe, including universities, raw materials suppliers, and startups.
