French-headquartered beauty products company L’Oreal has reached carbon neutrality for scopes 1 and 2 emissions across its facilities in the US.

L’Oreal made the announcement during the Climate Week NYC that its 25 facilities including manufacturing, distribution, administrative and research, and innovation sites across 12 states in the US are now carbon neutral.

The milestone has been achieved four years ahead of schedule and is in line with the group’s strategy to achieve carbon-neutrality across its global facilities by 2025 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

Stéphane Rinderknech, President & CEO, L’Oréal USA, said: “…more than 2 out of every 3 products we sell in the United States are manufactured here. Our customers can be proud their products are made in facilities that use 100% renewable energy. While we are proud of these achievements, we know this is not enough to meet the moment we are in today and must push ourselves ever farther to meet the climate crisis head-on.” 

The milestone has been achieved owing to a series of green projects deployed since 2005, including:

1) Energy Optimization: The company implemented a number of energy efficiency projects to reduce energy consumption at its sites, including installing LED lighting and high-efficiency air compressors and vacuum pumps. Some of the projects were implemented as part of the US Department of Energy’s Better Buildings, Better Plants program, which enabled L’Oreal to utilize performance measurement tools, energy analytics, and experts to identify new opportunities for energy savings.

2) Direct Renewable Energy Projects: As a result, 70% of the company’s facilities have on-site clean energy projects. The firm built a 1.4MW solar facility at its Florence Haircare manufacturing facility by installing 4,140 solar panels. The project is the largest commercial solar array in Kentucky and the largest worldwide by tonnage produced.

3) Locally Sourced Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs): RECs secured by the firm have been generated by wind, hydro, and solar power projects in the states of California, Florida, and New York. However, the RECs are attributable to local or semi-local renewable energy projects close to L’Oreal’s sites to encourage renewable energy expansion in local communities.

4) Renewable Natural Gas (RNG): L’Oreal is procuring renewable natural gas to meet its onsite gas and water heating needs from projects across Texas and New York. These projects capture and convert methane produced from the natural decomposition of organic materials into renewable natural gas.

L’Oréal uses onsite gas for space and water heating. To address the company’s gas usage, L’Oréal USA sites procure RNG from landfill gas projects in Texas and New York that capture and convert methane produced from the natural decomposition of organic materials. These projects turn an otherwise wasted resource into pipeline-quality RNG that displaces the use of fossil-based natural gas.

L’Oréal has been recognized as the only company in the world to have obtained, for the fifth year in a row, a Triple ‘A’ rating from the CDP on all three major issues: protecting the climate, managing water sustainably and the fight against deforestation.

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