L’Oréal goes au naturel with 100% renewables

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The Australian arm of the world’s leading cosmetics company, L’Oréal, has signed a five-year deal with Engie Australia & New Zealand (Engie ANZ) to be powered by 100% renewable electricity. With both companies headquartered in France, this deal signals the 2nd-year-running of French teamwork on a global scale following the victory of the French football team in the 2018 Fifa World Cup. A streak like this hasn’t been seen since the Napoleonic Wars.  

Facetiousness aside, for L’Oréal the deal fulfils part of the commitment it made in its global Sharing Beauty with All sustainability program. The program seeks to reduce the company’s environmental footprint through measures like transitioning to renewables. 

Engie ANZ CEO Augustin Honorat said the L’Oréal partnership was another example of Engie “helping our customers in their transition to zero-carbon.” 

“More businesses are seeking affordable green energy,” continued Honorat, “and we are proud to be working with L’Oréal to help them achieve their goals through an innovative, long-term power supply agreement.” 

“Addressing climate change is an urgent priority and as a large Australian business, we know we play a role in making positive changes to reduce our environmental footprint,” said Effie Gorringe, Director of Operations L’Oréal ANZ. “The move to renewable energy for all of our Australian sites was a 2020 target for us and we’re pleased to achieve this through our partnership with Engie before we head into the new decade.” 

L’Oréal’s sustainability program has, by its own admission and in the admission of others, been effectively implemented over the last decade. As at 2018, the L’Oréal Group reports that it has reduced the emissions of its plants and distribution centres by 77% worldwide. Indeed, this year L’Oréal’s corporate sustainability was highlighted by environmental impact non-profit CDP after achieving an unprecedented third A-rating on its List for climate change, water security and forests. 

However, none of this alleviates the environment of the global cosmetics industry’s enormous quantities of unrecyclable plastics. Perhaps some of the savings provided by L’Oréal’s renewable energy sustainability practices can be devoted to practices in sustainable packaging? Or, just an idea, maybe women don’t need to be advertised 45 separate items while men can reach for the first item they see with the words “All-In-One”. 

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