To Empower Consumers In Their Purchasing Decisions L’Oréal Canada Launches Product Impact Labeling System

New survey reveals:

• 80% of Canadian consumers want to make more sustainable and environmentally-friendly choices.
• 69% of Canadian consumers expect companies to provide information about the environmental impact of a product.
•  More than 80% of Canadians are concerned about the preservation of nature, air pollution, water quality and human destruction of environments¹.

Montreal, March 30, 2023 – L’Oréal Canada today announced the launch of L’Oréal’s Product Impact Labeling system in Canada. The initiative provides consumers with science-based, transparent information about a product’s environmental and social impact, compared to other L’Oréal products in the same category. This transparency gives consumers the power to make sustainable choices, which 80% of Canadians have expressed a desire to do.

The survey conducted by Leger also revealed that 69% of Canadian consumers expect companies to provide information about the environmental impact of a product. L’Oréal’s Product Impact Labeling System provides a product’s “Environmental Score”, ranked on a scale of A to E, which is the cumulative score of 14 planetary impact factors² measured at every stage of a product’s life cycle from ingredient production, packaging and manufacturing of the product, to consumer use (for example the average quantity of hot water used during showering), biodegradability and end-of-life packaging disposal.

The labelling wll also display key information regarding a product’s social impact, including compliance with the fundamental principles of the United Nations on labour standards and the number of suppliers committed to social inclusion and having contributed to the product.

L’Oréal Canada brands Garnier, La Roche-Posay and Biotherm are the first to launch the Product Impact Labelling System, which will be available on their websites starting in April 2023, and gradually displayed on products through a QR code. The Product Impact Labeling System will roll-out progressively across L’Oréal Canada’s brands.  

“As the beauty leader in Canada, we believe that it is our responsibility to provide Canadian consumers with the tools needed to help them make informed purchase decisions,” said An Verhulst-Santos, President and CEO of L’Oréal Canada. “The roll-out of L’Oréal’s Product Impact Labeling system in Canada comes at a time when Canadian consumers overwhelmingly want to make responsible consumption decisions and we are happy to be able to help them do so.”

Grounded in global standards for environmental science and life-cycle analysis, the methodology behind the Product Impact Labeling system was co-developed with 11 international and independent experts and scientists between 2014 and 2016. The independent auditor Bureau Veritas has verified the application of L’Oréal’s methodology and the accuracy of our data, issuing a favourable assessment in March 2022 (Bureau Veritas certificate). L’Oréal’s methodology aligns with the European Commission’s Product Environmental Performance recommendations.

“With leadership comes responsibility. This is why, as part of our L’Oréal for the Future sustainability program, our goal is for 100% of our products to be ecodesigned by 2030,” said Maya Colombani, Chief Sustainability Officer for L’Oréal Canada. “The Product Impact Labeling system allows us to set action plans to achieve this using, for example, green science and packaging optimization”.

L’Oréal will continue to improve its best practices on transparency and sustainable consumption as part of its sustainability commitments for 2030, L’Oréal for the Future, and the 2021 “EU Green Consumption Pledge.” The company has committed to sharing the learnings of the impact labeling initiative with the 64 members of the EcoBeautyScore Consortium, aiming to develop an industry-wide environmental impact assessment and scoring system for cosmetics products. L’Oréal has committed to transitioning from its own product impact labeling to the EcoBeautyScore once it becomes available. 

Source: Online survey of over 1500 Canadians completed between February 10 and March 5 2023, using Leger’s online panel.

The Product Impact Labelling score can be found the product detail page, under the tab Environmental Impact:

•  https://www.garnier.ca/en-ca/about-garnier/environmental-and-social-impact
•  https://www.laroche-posay.ca/en_CA/impact-environnemental-et-social.html
•  https://www.biotherm.ca/en/transparency.html

About L’Oréal Canada 

L'Oréal Canada is a subsidiary of the L'Oréal Group, the world's leading beauty company, managing 40 iconic beauty brands. Celebrating 65 years in Canada, L'Oréal Canada operates a head office, a plant and a distribution centre in Montreal, and employs more than 1,450 people from 70 nationalities. Products are available across all distribution channels including hair salons, department stores, mass market, pharmacies, medi-spas, e-commerce and more. L'Oréal Canada's commitment to growth is generated through sustainable innovation and driven by the company's L'Oréal for the Future ambition which demonstrates sustainable development across the Group's value chain. The subsidiary also actively supports the L'Oréal Foundation's programs such as L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science and Beauty for a Better Life. 

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1 85%: preservation of nature, 83%: air pollution, 85%: water quality, 85%: human destruction of environments

²Carbon, water scarcity, fresh water ecotoxicity, fresh water eutrophication, marine eutrophication, water acidification, fossil and mineral resources depletion, land transformation, terrestrial eutrophication, particulate matter, toxicity via environment, ionizing radiation, ozone depletion and photochemical formation. The 14 planetary impact factors are weighted according to the Planetary Boundaries concept established by the Stockholm Resilience Center.