Jean-Paul Agon, chairman and CEO of L’Oreal, announced the company’s new commitment to transform its sustainability footprint by 2020 – “Sharing Beauty with All.”

L’Oreal also plans to achieve growth by being more sustainable. Its goal is to win over 1 billion new consumers.

Part of the Group’s growth strategy is its commitment to produce more but with less impact – but, also to engage consumers to make sustainable choices by offering them products that are both sustainable and desirable. In order to achieve this, L’Oreal commits to improving every part of its value chain, from research to operations, while sharing its growth with the communities it touches.

Jean-Paul Agon, said, “We believe consumers are at the heart of our sustainability drive and we want to reach the next billion consumers while making a positive impact on the world. By accelerating sustainable innovation within our business, and harnessing the power of our brands to inform consumers, we will raise awareness about sustainability and encourage consumers to make more sustainable choices.”

L’Oreal’s goals include:

• Making sure all its products have an environmental or social benefit – and this includes making sure all new packaging has an improved environmental profile;
• Reducing the company’s environmental footprint by 60%;
• Empowering L’Oreal executives to to make sustainable consumption choices;
• Developing sustainably – which means that 100% of its suppliers will be participating in its sustainability program by 2020.

Another one of L’Oreal’s goals is to enable more than 100,000 people from underprivileged communities to access work, by 2020. This number is equivalent to the size of L’Oreal’s global workforce.

L’Oreal will report regularly on its progress against each goal with the help of a panel of independent assessors, chaired by Jose Maria Figueres, an authority in the world of sustainability.

The panel of experts includes:

• Sze Ping, an environmentalist from China, and former Greenpeace activist, who is now executive director of Greenovation Hub;
• Mehjabeen Abidi-Habib, a researcher of human ecology from Pakistan, who is a specializes in natural resources management;
• HRH Celenhle Dlamini, of South Africa, and one of the Directors of Ubuntu Institute working on the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals;
• Zem Joaquin, an eco-luxury specialist from the U.S. and founder of eco-fabulous, a website that aims to make sustainability desirable;
• Analisa Balares, who is from the U.S., and founded Womensphere;
• Christian de Boisredon, who is from France and promotes the concept of “impact journalism” through Sparknews, in order to give visibility to positive initiatives throughout the world.