how L’Oréal develops eco-responsible beauty

Madame Figaro.- If we had to summarize the green sciences in a few words ?

Ana Kljuic. – It is all the scientific fields that will enable us to achieve our sustainable commitments. We want to transform our activity to be respectful of planetary limits, namely what our Earth can support. In concrete terms, this translates into sourcing sustainable raw materials, transforming them using biotechnology or green chemistry, and using eco-design to formulate our products. It is a profound revolution, and it is nature augmented by science and technology.

Beauty is becoming more and more eco-responsible. What does a band like L’Orealwith its dozens of brands and millions of products?

Our challenge is to aim for lasting beauty for all ranges, without compromising on performance, safety and pleasure of use. We have been thinking about it for fifteen years. Because we are an industrial group, we started by reducing the carbon impact and water consumption in our factories and in our distribution centers. In 2013, we launched our first sustainable engagement program. And developed a tool to measure the social and environmental impact of all our products. 95% of them have thus improved their environmental score. But that was not enough in the face of the climate emergency. In 2020, we launched a second, more ambitious program called L’Oréal for the Future. With several objectives set by 2030. We are leading a transformation of our activity by taking into account the impact of our products, but also the entire upstream chain: cost of raw materials, transformation of ingredients, use by the consumer and recycling . For example, 95% of the ingredients in our formulas will be biosourced, derived from abundant minerals or circular processes. We limit ingredients and processes derived from synthetic chemistry.

To avoid tapping into nature, we use biotechnology

Ana Kljuic, director of the Green Sciences program at L’Oréal International

Concrete examples?

We work upstream to develop sustainable crops in order to preserve soils and biodiversity, while respecting local communities. For example, with centella asiatica from Madagascar, a very useful plant in cosmetics because it contains several anti-aging active ingredients. Originally, it is a wild plant, but we have developed a partnership with a community of growers to support their economic development, and conducted research to be able to cultivate it while limiting the impact on the natural ecosystem. At the same time, to avoid drawing from nature, we use biotechnology. This is the case for Plancton de Vie, Biotherm’s flagship ingredient, which is produced in the laboratory. And for Pro-Xylane, our star anti-ageing agent, which accelerates cell regeneration and strengthens skin elasticity, produced according to the principle of green chemistry. It is made from a natural sugar extracted from beech wood using only water as a solvent.

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