L’Oréal Charts “Carbon Balanced” Growth Path

Global cosmetics giant L’Oréal has announced a target to reduce its carbon footprint while continuing to increase production.

The company plans to become “carbon balanced” by 2020 by offsetting greenhouse gas emissions from its operations.

Since 2005 the company has reduced its absolute emissions by 50% while increasing its production by 22%. The company plans to further reduce its absolute emissions.

L’Oréal has also undertaken projects in Africa to offsets a portion of its emissions. It has facilitated women in Burkina Faso who work on raw materials processing for the company to switch to improved cook stoves that reduce emissions, and are also safer for human health. The company has also implemented measures to improve efficiency in its supply chain, introducing efficient agricultural practices in Indonesia that allowed farmers to grow two crops at once and increase their revenue — a practice which has helped avoid expansion of agricultural land and ensured a reduction in deforestation.

L’Oréal plans to continue its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and now eyes a 60% reduction by 2020 by extending low-carbon operations through increased cooperation with raw material suppliers. To ensure transparency, L’Oréal has also set up a committee of experts that will look into the scientific methods adopted by the company to measure emissions and offsets.