L’Oréal edges closer to becoming carbon neutral in the US

Cosmetics company L'Oréal has an ambitious target to achieve carbon neutrality within its US operations by next year.

As part of this aim, it has spent 18 months searching for local and innovative solutions to power its factories in as clean a way as possible.

This search has led to the announcement this week that the company has signed a new deal to purchase approximately 40 percent of the landfil gas from a site in Kentucky. This will match the natural gas the company uses across all 21 of its US manufacturing and distribution facilities.

Jay Harf, who leads on sustainability for L'Oréal, commented that the deal could be the first of many within the US: "This accomplishment would not have been possible without our team's determination to tackle the carbon emissions from our own heating systems, a difficult challenge shared across industries”.

"We are proud to have found a local solution and approach with the potential to be replicated at landfills across the country."

L'Oréal has signed a 15-year purchase agreement with the Kentucky site, called Big Run Landfill, which will build a new facility to accommodate the company's specific renewable requirements.

The deal is expected to eliminate the carbon equivalent of 1.8 million gallons of gasoline consumed by L'Oréal each year.

Frédéric Rozé, President and CEO of L'Oréal USA, said achieving carbon neutrality across all 21 of its operations “furthers our commitment to being a sustainability leader in the United States".

"We have seen that a dedication to sustainability fosters innovation, inspires creativity and builds a strong team spirit. This new milestone can be credited to our passionate teams and their vision in finding a new renewable energy approach that benefits one of our local communities while being a long-term, financially viable solution", he added.

The company has been an early adopter of environmental initiatives and was recently named the most sustainable US company in 2017 by Newsweek.

Along with is carbon neutral commitment, L'Oréal also has a ‘zero-deforestation’ target, which aims to remove all unsustainable foresting methods from its products by 2020. It has also managed to reduce its carbon emissions by 84 percent since 2005.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the deal in place. L'Oreal is purchasing renewable gas which will match its natural gas use across all 21 sites, not sourcing electricity to one site in Kentucky.

Photo Credit: Raphael Lovaski