These values are the bedrock of the company. As evidence of this, despite the current economic turbulence, L’Oréal is staying on course and further strengthening its sustainability strategy. This year we were very pleased to announce three significant long term environmental targets for 2005-2015 for our factories and warehouses, to:

• Cut in half our greenhouse gas emissions.


• Cut in half our water use per unit of finished product.


• Cut in half our waste generated per unit of finished product.

These ambitious targets follow already strong performance in these areas: between 2003 and 2008, we reduced energy consumption by 17%, direct carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 23%, water consumption by 25% and waste generation by 26% per finished product. Furthermore, in 2008 we exceeded our annual targets on water and CO2 emissions reduction. We achieved our aim of sourcing all pulp used in our cardboard packaging from sustainably managed forests, and hope to ‘green’ our packaging further as a result of our new two-day environmental training course for packaging designers.

Sustainable innovation
We opened two new R&D laboratories, one dedicated to research into eco-toxicity, the second into natural and organic cosmetics. We launched our first range of organic products, and incorporated fair trade ingredients into our mainstream brands. Kiehl's launched its first entirely biodegradable cosmetic product with “Cradle to Cradle” certification. We have continued to work with suppliers to assess ingredients according to our Sustainability Assessment Framework.

2008 saw new applications for Episkin and SkinEthic, the alternatives we have developed to replace animal testing. We used Episkin reconstructed epidermis models and SkinEthic reconstructed corneas to assess the effectiveness and safety of raw materials. We also developed a collagen matrix which will become the most complete model of reconstructed human skin available. ECVAM (European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods) scientifically validated a second model for skin irritation, to complement the Episkin model approved in 2007. Finally, our new integrated strategy for safety assessment based on a combination of alternatives to animal testing has now been implemented.  

In human resources, we took a further step
To ensure that we have a clear and unified policy on hiring, induction, training, remuneration and career development across the world we launched the “L’Oréal & Me” programme, once again demonstrating our ambition to be a great place to work. We acted on what we learnt from listening to the 28,000 employees who participated in our PULSE opinion survey in 2007 by setting up 150 taskforces to identify and implement 350 suggested improvements in 2008.

Our work on diversity goes from strength to strength: nearly 5,000 managers have now attended the diversity training course set up in 2006, and half of our 23 international brands are headed by women. And by reducing the accident rate in our factories and warehouses by 18%, we came closer to our long term aim of zero accidents.

Our progress on ethics
This includes the introduction of the Ethical Risk Evaluation and Analysis Tool, enabling our country teams to evaluate their possible ethical risks and formulate a corrective action plan if necessary. We set up the L’Oréal Ethics Open Talk website so that employees can contact the Group Director of Ethics directly. And for the first time, this year we publish the results of our annual survey on the implementation of our ethics programme.

A responsible supply chain approach
Our efforts to ensure that our suppliers abide by strict social standards strengthened further this year, with 688 independent audits on labour standards at our suppliers', subcontractors' and traders’ production sites. We worked with CSR Europe to launch the Responsible Supply Chain Portal, a web-based learning tool to disseminate best practice amongst suppliers and buyers. We also involved 30% of our supply base (by revenue) in the Carbon Disclosure Project's 'Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration' survey to encourage supplier disclosure on carbon emissions.

Corporate Foundation initiatives
Finally, the L’Oréal Corporate Foundation developed its initiatives in its three priority areas—education, science and solidarity—in particular by organising the tenth anniversary of the “For Women in Science” programme in partnership with UNESCO, which has already granted 52 laureate awards and 619 fellowships to women from 85 countries and 5 continents. Overall, we invested more than €18 million in philanthropy around the world in 2008.