A Sustainable Purchasing Policy

A sustainable purchasing policy 

At L’Oréal, we attach a high importance to the social and environmental impacts of our activities. Over the years, we have formalized our commitments in a global program with our partners: L’Oréal Buy & Care.

Establishing responsible and ethical purchasing standards

To sustain the Group’s growth, our purchasing teams select, support and evaluate suppliers as part of our responsible purchasing policy: L’Oréal Buy & Care. This program has made ethical values a part of the everyday work of our buyers, establishing a common standard for the whole organization.

The monitoring of our suppliers’ performance, in terms of responsibility, is carried out using precise indicators of ethical, social and environmental criteria.

Since 2002, audits of social and Safety, Hygiene and Environmental standards have been conducted throughout the supply chain, covering every single supplier around the world. Carried out by independent companies, these audits provide a rigorous monitoring of suppliers’ commitments in the field and among their employees.

Our responsible and inclusive purchasing policy is based on three principles:

Protect

We seek to ensure that the fundamental rights of every man and woman in the supply chain around the world are respected. This includes abiding by the ethical principles supported by L’Oréal and, in particular, respecting human rights in terms of the health, safety and protection of workers.

Our Mutual Ethical Commitment Letter (PDF) is availble here.

Empower

We are working internally and externally on a process that is already underway for both evaluation and continuous improvement in CSR terms. We make training tools available to our suppliers to help them optimize their environmental and social policy.

Impact positively

We use the strength of the Group to make a positive social and societal impact. Thanks to our committed approach, we can share the value-added and growth with the whole of our ecosystem.

Taking an inclusive approach based on solidarity sourcing

The Solidarity Sourcing program was established by L’Oréal on a worldwide basis in 2010. It focuses on social inclusion and is deployed for every type of purchase (raw materials, packaging, sub-contracting, promotional items and indirect distribution) in every country where our Group operates. It steers a portion of our purchases towards suppliers who provide opportunities for disadvantaged people – who are usually excluded from the jobs market -- to find work and living wage.

In 2018, 234 projects were supported by the program, benefiting 56,842 people – notably women, people with disabilities, and disadvantaged communities.

Meanwhile, we also encourage our suppliers to deploy similar programs within their own ecosystems – and 13% of our suppliers did so in 2018. Our aim is to increase this figure to 20% by the end of 2020.

Working with our suppliers to support the environment

Throughout the value chain, our suppliers are aligned with our policy of preserving the environment, natural resources and biodiversity. We prefer to source locally with a production organized by geographic zone. Today, more than 80% of our purchases for production purposes are made among suppliers located within the respective geographic zone.

In 2007, L’Oréal joined the Supply Chain Program of the CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) to encourage our suppliers to measure and manage their CO2 emissions. L’Oréal’s involvement with the program is fundamental for taking effective action across the Group’s operational value chain and for encouraging the sharing of best practices.

Sustainable sourcing of raw materials

As part of the sustainable development program Sharing Beauty With All, the Group has adopted a sustainable supply policy for renewable ingredients.

The policy is based on principles such as:

• Guaranteeing the traceability of all raw materials of renewable origin
• Monitoring the environmental and social issues involved in each supply sector
• Ensuring that the International Labor Organization’s principles for good working conditions and human rights are respected throughout the production chain
• Equality in the workplace and promoting opportunities for women
• Respect for crops and plant harvesting, which should make positive contributions to the economic development of producers and should be carried out with respect for traditional know-how based on biodiversity
• The preservation of biodiversity and forests
• The application of sustainable, low-carbon agricultural practices

To ensure that these principles are being respected and to abide by our policy of continuous improvement, we carry out audits of our suppliers throughout the period of our partnerships. These audits are performed as frequently as possible (on average, four audits are carried out every day worldwide!) and, to guarantee their quality and efficiency, they are conducted by an independent third party.