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L'Oréal Nature Regeneration Fund announces three new investments
Through its Nature Regeneration Fund, the global beauty giant L'Oréal is supporting three new projects: France's NetZero, Brazil's ReforesTerra and India's Mangroves.Now. The L'Oréal fund launched in 2020 and endowed with 50 million euros is part of L'Oréal For The Future, the group's environmental commitment programme for 2030.
"At L'Oréal, our environmental duty goes far beyond our business. It is our responsibility to address today’s most pressing challenges, like the erosion of biodiversity and its social and ecological impact. The Nature Regeneration Fund supports economically viable projects that have a positive impact on the regeneration of forests, the oceans and mangroves, and projects aimed at sustainable land use, as these ecosystems are important carbon sinks for mitigating the effects of climate change," explains Rachel Barré, L'Oréal's director of Environmental Leadership.
The French climate tech company NetZero, which operates in tropical areas such as Cameroon and soon in Brazil, specialises in capturing atmospheric carbon by transforming agricultural or food residues into biochar, a stable and non-polluting carbon that can be used to regenerate degraded soils.
The Brazilian company ReforesTerra aims to restore 2,000 hectares of land degraded by cattle farming in the Amazon. The project will engage with local farmers to directly plant new trees and create a favourable environment for natural forest regeneration.
Finally, the Indian project Mangroves.Now will contribute to the development of community-based mangrove restoration projects in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. The aim is to restore around 20,000 hectares of previously degraded land and ensure equitable benefit-sharing with local communities.
To date, the Nature Regeneration Fund, which is managed by Mirova Natural Capital, a specialist in natural capital investment, is supporting five projects in which it has invested €22 million.
"Our goal is to finance around 15 projects internationally. As the duration of the fund is 15 years, these are very patient investments, which are in line with our desire to support these companies over the long term," explains Rachel Barré.
In addition to the Nature Regeneration Fund, the L'Oréal group also has the Circular Innovation Fund, an environmental impact investment fund, which aims to develop circular innovation solutions, also endowed with 50 million euros.
In 2020, L'Oréal also launched the L'Oréal for Women Fund, an endowment fund, not an investment fund, with a budget of 50 million euros over three years, which aims to support women in difficult situations around the world. Today, this fund supports 240 organisations and has indirectly helped over 1.2 million women.
In 2022, L'Oréal achieved a 24.1% increase in net profit to EUR 5.7 billion and an 18.5% increase in sales to EUR 38.3 billion.
In early April, the group signed an agreement with Brazilian cosmetics group Natura & Co to acquire Aesop, the Australian luxury cosmetics brand, valued at $2.525 billion (€2.27 billion).
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