Investing in circular innovation

The Circular Innovation Fund, a new environmental impact investing fund, to scale breakthrough circular innovative solutions

At L'Oréal, to stave off the worst impacts of global warming, we want to act in two complementary and strategic ways: on one hand, reduce the impact of our business – by sourcing our ingredients in a sustainable way, using more materials from recycled origin, etc. On the other hand, contribute to addressing some of the most pressing environmental challenges, such as waste management, plastic pollution and also biodiversity loss. We believe that impact investing is a powerful level of action, complementing our corporate responsibility initiatives and or philanthropic programs.

As an impact investing fund the Circular Innovation Fund utilizes a robust, reliable, and innovative impact measurement methodology which integrates due diligence and continued monitoring on critical non-financial KPIs including greenhouse gas emissions reductions, resource use and diversity over the investment horizons of portfolio companies.

“L'Oréal is the initiator of the Circular Economy Fund and its first investor with 50 million euros. I am convinced that finance can play a decisive role in mitigating the impacts of climate change and can be a vehicle for progress. We believe impact investment is one of the ways we can contribute to spur innovation in the circular economy space as part of the L'Oréal For the Future program. Impact investing is a perfect illustration of sustainable finance, that is to say, the ability to combine financial value creation with environmental and social value creation, said Christophe Babule, Executive Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer of L’Oréal.

“As organizations and individuals are feeling the pressure of climate change, sustainable investing strategies will continue to soar. This strategic collaboration between impact investors and established institutions comes at a pivotal point as we need to re-think how we consume goods globally. The Circular Innovation Fund has the potential to drastically re-design how we extract, manufacture, consume and dispose of goods and materials. Together, we can deliver value to the market with returns and, most importantly, deliver purpose and new innovation-driven technologies developed by talented entrepreneurs that have the potential to mitigate the environmental crisis humanity faces.” Andrée-Lise Méthot, Founder & Managing Partner of Cycle Capital and Stéphane Villecroze, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Demeter.

Read the circular economy report 2022