YSL Beauté and NGO Re:wild combat climate change targeting at-risk ingredient sources

21 Apr 2022 --- L’Oréal’s luxury brand Yves Saint Laurent Beauté (YSL Beauté) has collaborated with NGO Re:wild to initiate Rewild Our Earth, to safeguard key climate-risk areas where its cosmetic ingredients are cultivated.

“Sustainability has been at the core of our strategy for a very long time,” a spokesperson at L’Oréal tells PersonalCareInsights.

The announcement comes prior to Earth Day, (April 22) – to look after biodiversity in four areas in different countries and “protect and restore 100,000 hectares by 2030.” Key countries include Morocco, Haiti, Madagascar and Indonesia. 

The area is said to cover approximately ten times the size of Paris. The chosen locations are affected by climate change and where YSL Beauté sources its ingredients for some of the leading beauty solutions in the industry. 

This year’s program will focus on “rewilding,” an approach to conservation by aiding natural healing processes, for instance, repairing damaged ecosystems and restoring degraded landscapes. 

Critical ingredients at risk
YSL Beauté has chosen to focus on The Ourika Valley, Morocco, as it sources ingredients such as pomegranate, marshmallow, iris, jasmine, walnut and saffron.YSL Beauté will target key areas in Morocco, Haiti, Madagascar and Indonesia.

“The launch of the Re:Wild program marks a new era for our sustainability program to go even deeper. We have been inspired by our long-term commitment of the brand in the Ourika-valley in Morocco,” adds the spokesperson. 

“YSL Beauty is committed to enacting positive change in the world, focusing on both people and the planet.”

Haiti is prioritized for vetiver sourcing, which is used in L’Homme & La Nuit de L’Homme and in Opium. 

Essential ingredients like vanilla and geranium are sourced in Madagascar, which appears in the brand’s Beauty’s Black Opium, Libre, Le Vestiaire des Parfums and Y.

Lastly, Indonesia provides patchouli plants processed into fragrances such as Mon Paris, Black Opium and Le Vestiaire de Parfums.

What is YSL Beauté and Re:wild facing?
Areas in Ourika Valley are noted to be at risk due to rising temperatures, deforestation and repeated natural disasters. 

In 2013, YSL Beauté began The Ourika Community Gardens, a socially responsible program. The company shares that the site is home to more than 200 plant species today. Additionally, in 2017, the brand planted over 125,000 trees in an area suffering from arid land. 

On the other hand, Haiti faces an “ecological crisis” exacerbated by floods and landslides. “The primary forest cover has shrunk from 60% in the 1920s to less than 1% today,” shares the brand. 

Due to a lack of trees, the sloping terrain threatens the population living downstream with landslides and floods. The floods, landslides, deforestation and poverty – “fueled by climate change” create a catastrophic loop. 

YSL Beauté aims to manage the critical remaining forests of Bois Pangnol. 

Furthermore, in Madagascar, a vital forest corridor (Anjozorobe Angavo) remains between “two regions containing key biodiversity areas: Analamanga and Alaotra Mangoro.” Rewilding is one approach to conservation by aiding natural healing processes.  

“YSL Beauté supports the restoration of this corridor through collaboration between both authorities and communities, including a robust site monitoring program to ensure ecosystem health. The target of this program is to restore 400,000 trees by 2023.” 

Lastly, the brand targets areas around the Indonesian island of Sulawesi to combat “invasive species on the endemic species of the lakes (restoring more than 16,000 hectares of Lake Matano).” 

YSL Beauté also aims to work with local communities to protect and restore 30,000 hectares of forests, it states.

Sustainability platform
“The brand has recently published its first sustainability report and renewed its sustainability platform, known as Change the Rules, Change the Future,” says the spokesperson. Rewild Our Earth falls under one of its key pillars. The other two are, Reduce Our Impact and Abuse Is Not Love. 

“This is a global initiative. For sure initiatives like Abuse is not Love will be rolled out to more countries over the years,” continues the spokesperson.

Reduce Our Impact aims to prioritize bio-based ingredients at 70% by 2023 and use 100% eco-designed and recyclable packaging with virgin plastics phased out by 2030. 

This year, it aims to transition its French factories to being 100% carbon-neutral. Additionally, the brand is training and bringing awareness about transparency across its beauty teams. 

Edited by Venya Patel