L’ORÉAL YICHANG PLANT IN CHINA TO REACH CARBON FOOTPRINT NEUTRALITY IN 2015

 L’Oréal’s investment plan for the extension and connection to hydropower of its Yichang plant was signed today in the presence of French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang in Toulouse, France. 

This project is part of the strategic agreement between the Yichang government and L’Oréal regarding the use of clean and renewable energy such as hydropower and solar panels. For several years, the Yichang plant has innovated to improve its energy efficiency and to subsequently reduce its carbon footprint. By the end of 2015, Yichang will become L’Oréal’s first Asia-Pacific plant to reach carbon footprint neutrality. The plant is one of L’Oréal’s best performers with regards to sustainability, having reduced CO2 emissions by 45% between 2005 and 2014. It obtained the LEED Gold environmental certification in 2014.

“Our world-class Yichang plant is L’Oréal’s largest make-up production center in Asia-Pacific,” said Alexis Perakis-Valat, Executive Vice-President, Asia Pacific Zone and CEO of L’Oréal China. “For Yichang to become carbon neutral demonstrates our continued confidence in the long-term prospects for China and the Asian market, as well as our strong commitment to sustainable development.”

L’Oréal operates 43 plants globally, with three plants located in China (Yichang, Suzhou and Guangzhou). With an investment totaling more than 200 million RMB (24 million euros), the 70,000 m2 Yichang plant is L’Oréal’s largest make-up production center in Asia-Pacific, with a production capacity exceeding 210 million products annually. 

About Sharing Beauty With All

L’Oréal’s “Sharing Beauty With All” sustainability program announced by Jean-Paul Agon in October 2013 sets out four strategic commitments: 
– innovation, so that 100% of L’Oréal products have an environmental or social improvement;
– production, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms, water consumption and waste per finished product by 60%;
– consumption, raise consumers’ awareness of the environmental and social impacts of their consumption;
– developing sustainably to share growth to benefit collaborators, suppliers and communities around us.


About L’Oréal

L’Oréal has devoted itself to beauty for over 105 years. With its unique portfolio of 32 international, diverse and complementary brands, the Group generated sales amounting to 22.5 billion euros in 2014 and employs 78,600 people worldwide. As the world’s leading beauty company, L’Oréal is present across all distribution networks: mass market, department stores, pharmacies and drugstores, hair styling salons, travel retail and branded retail.
Research and innovation, and a dedicated research team of 3,700 people, are at the core of L’Oréal’s strategy, working to meet beauty aspirations all over the world and attract one billion new consumers in the years to come. L’Oréal’s new sustainability commitment for 2020 “Sharing beauty with all” sets out ambitious sustainable development objectives across the Group’s value chain. www.loreal.com