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9 Top Takeaways from ELC’s Fiscal 2023 Social Impact & Sustainability Report

Company Feature

As a leader in prestige beauty, we at The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) are committed to social impact and sustainability, both within our company and in our global communities. Our Fiscal 2023 Social Impact & Sustainability (SI&S) Report contains information about our efforts in our various focus areas and includes the latest updates relating to goals in climate and energy, water, waste, sourcing, packaging, ingredient transparency, social investments, employee engagement, gender equity and racial equity.

For a deep dive on how we’ve advanced in our key priority areas, please see our Fiscal 2023 SI&S Report published on November 1, 2023. Prefer a quick rundown of our top takeaways from the last year? Read on.

ELC BCC

1. We honoured 30 years of The Breast Cancer Campaign.

Fiscal 2023 marked the 30th anniversary of ELC’s Breast Cancer Campaign (The Campaign). Together, The Campaign, and the Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation (ELCCF) have funded more than $131 million for lifesaving global research, education and medical services. To honour this milestone, ELCCF committed to donating $15 million over five years to fund a new Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) research initiative to accelerate The Campaign’s goal of reducing breast cancer disparities and improving outcomes. This comprehensive study of the intersection of social determinants of health, comorbidities and the biology of breast cancer in Black women has the potential to significantly impact breast cancer disparities globally.

2. We contributed to global efforts to drive climate action.

For the 4th year in a row, we sourced 100% renewable electricity globally for our direct operations (i.e. those under ELC operational control) and achieved carbon neutrality across our Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. (Scope 1 and Scope 2 refer to emissions from ELC’s operations, including building operations, electric vehicles and manufacturing.) We are also focused on reducing our Scope 3 emissions, which encompass ELC’s value chain — think raw materials, packaging, fulfilment and third-party manufacturing.

3. We met our global gender pay equity targets for select employee populations.

Women’s advancement is a key priority for ELC, which was built on the accomplishments of our pioneering female founder. In fiscal 2023, we attained global gender pay equity targets across the groups included in our global gender pay equity study (R&D, Supply Chain including Manufacturing and Distribution and Corporate Functions, and Brands and Regions globally).

ELC

4. We continued to support women in STEM.

ELC is deeply committed to supporting women’s career development, with women comprising nearly 60% of Vice President positions globally. As a company rooted in the science and manufacturing of boundary-pushing beauty products, we are focused on advancing women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths). Today, more than 60% of our STEM employees are women, and all of our global Research & Development centres are led by women.

5. We advanced toward our packaging sustainability goals.

We strive to use our spirit of creativity and innovation to design product packaging that’s beautiful, luxurious and aligned with our sustainability goals. As of fiscal 2023, and excluding recent acquisitions, 71% of our packaging by weight is now recyclable, refillable, reusable, recycled or recoverable.

ELC Facilities

6. We have designed our newer facilities with a focus on employee experience and sustainability.

ELC’s newest facilities offer a glimpse into how we are aiming to modernise our manufacturing capabilities around the world. The forthcoming Sakura Manufacturing Campus in Japan is designed to offer employees a technology-rich, self-directed team atmosphere, with an on-site nursery to support working parents. Meanwhile, our new China Innovation Labs in Shanghai wraps end-to-end innovation into one location and has become our first LEED and WELL Platinum-certified building. Our Galgenen Distribution Centre in Switzerland is outfitted with rooftop solar power and is our first location to implement district heating, a substitute for fuel oil or natural gas that helps reduce our GHG emissions. In fact, this year, our on-site solar arrays generated more than 4,729 megawatt hours of solar energy globally. 

7. We met and exceeded our supplier diversity goals.

We aim to cultivate a culture of inclusivity not just within our company, but in our global network of suppliers. In fiscal 2023, we spent $162 million with women-owned businesses, surpassing our goal of spending $150 million annually with women-owned businesses by the end of fiscal 2025. At the same time, we exceeded our commitment to more than double our previous annual spend with Black-owned businesses by the end of fiscal 2023.

ELC

8. We grew our culture of employee volunteerism.

We empower employees to give back to the causes that matter to them through our signature ELC Good Works programme. In fiscal 2023, we launched ELC Good Works in 12 new markets in Asia/Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa, bringing the platform to 31 markets globally. We also held our first ELC Good Works Purpose Week, a five-day series of education, engagement and volunteerism that engaged more than 1,500 employees at 70+ events around the world. During that week, ELC relaunched the Leonard A. Lauder Impact Awards for employee volunteerism.

9. We expanded employee learning, development, and mentorship programmes. 

To help ELC employees with their careers, we expanded our internal talent marketplace to new markets and offered more than 30,000 interactive online experiences to participants. We also expanded our mentorship and leadership programmes including our Emerging Leaders Programme, an initiative designed to inspire, equip and empower newer people leaders with the inclusive strengths-based mindsets, skills and capabilities needed for leadership advancement and our CEO Global Reverse Mentors Programme, which pairs young talent in the company with senior leaders to share valuable insights, perspectives and trends.

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