Albéa, Chanel, Clarins, Cosfibel powered by GPA Global, Dior, The Estée Lauder Companies, Groupe Pochet, L'Occitane en Provence, L'Oréal Groupe, Merck, Neyret, Nuxe, Sensient, Shiseido and Sisley have launched the Trasce consortium (for Traceability Alliance for Sustainable Cosmetic)a alliance to improve supply chain traceability. 

Faced with the multiplication of necessary but individual initiatives in this field, Trasce was born out of the need for a change of scale in the cosmetics industry's traceability procedures. 

Three new companies have joined the 15-year-old consortium: Groupe Rocher, Laboratoires Expanscience and Naos, reflecting Trasce's concrete and tangible commitment to deepening knowledge of the filières of the cosmetics sector. 

The long-term objective is to consolidate a collective approach to CSR risks and defin common progress plans to promote a more sustainable and resilient model.

Trasce aims to put the strength of the collective to work for the sector as a whole, thanks to the mapping by consortium members of their supply chains on a common digital platform, TransparencyOne, an ISN company.

For Marion Decroix, Sustainability and Quality Director at Groupe Rocher : "We're delighted to be joining the Trasce consortium, whose approach is perfectly in line with the dynamic that Groupe Rocher has been pursuing for many years on its plant filières, in particular. More than ever, we are convinced that it is through the strength of the collective that we will be able to deepen our knowledge of our supply chains, while touching on other types of raw materials as well as the filières relating to our packaging. With a view to improving practices throughout our value chain to make them ever more sustainable and responsible, Trasce will enable us to accelerate on all these issues and encourage even closer collaboration with all our partners."

According to Stéphane Faustin-Leybach, Naos Purchasing Director: "A committed and engaging company, NaoS has always had a vocation to love, understand and care for living things. Very early on, we established our approach to transparency as one of our fundamental pillars, which took concrete form with the launch of our Ask.NAOS tool, the digital platform that deciphers in detail the composition of our brands' products. Our joining the Trasce consortium only serves to confirm our determination to make the cosmetics sector ever more sustainable."

"At Laboratoires Expanscience, we know that more than half of our environmental impact is upstream of the manufacturing process. As a company with a mission since 2021 and a certified B-Corp, we want to play a role in the transition of the sector and society, and are convinced that well-being is a collective issue. Joining the Trasce consortium enables us to continue our long-standing work on the traceability of our filières, while collaborating with players in the sector to bring about strong and lasting change in the supply chains, cultivation methods and production of the materials we use in our products."says Laurent Schatz, Purchasing Director at Laboratoires Expanscience.

_{Photo: dungthuyvunguyen / Pixabay}

Spanish international composing house Eurofragance has published its 2023 sustainability report following its recent EcoVadis platinum rating. It shows significant progress, particularly in reducing direct emissions and water consumption.

Eurofragance's sustainable development actions focus on four main areas: safety throughout the value chain, commitment to the community, resource management and ethical business practices with our partners.

With the aim of reducing its environmental footprint while improving its positive social impact, last year the multinational took on new sustainability challenges, while increasing its sales by 20 %. "We have been able to increase our profitability by combining an ambitious market strategy with complex environmental and social responsibility objectives."says CEO Laurent Mercier.

Respect for people...

In its report, Eurofragance highlights several initiatives aimed at supporting its employees. For example, its "Workplace Flexibility and Well-being Program", which called on the services of an external psychologist, or its "Continuous Learning Plan" aimed at developing cross-functional skills in departments and subsidiaries, have been rolled out across all regions.

Gender parity in the workforce: Eurofragance emphasizes that its workforce is balanced (52 % women, 48 % men) and highlights an overall policy of fair wages. Women are well represented in management and executive positions.

The company has focused much of its efforts on "health and safety at work" (for its own employees) and on "customer health and safety", from suppliers to consumers. Its accident rate remains lower than the industry average.

... and resources

Eurofragance has created several indicators to measure its ESG achievements. These focus mainly on reducing resource use and waste production, while increasing recycling and reuse rates.

Hand in hand with our partners

Between 2021 and 2023, the company reduced its water consumption by 16 % and last year its direct emissions by 31 %. At the same time, it has reduced its use of plastic by reusing wooden pallets for 78 % of its European shipments and replacing single-use pipettes with glass cannulas in its laboratories.

Other resource-oriented measures include recycling outsourced mouillettes (strips of spray paper used to test fragrances) and turning them into notebooks, as well as electrifying the company's car fleet and increasing the efficiency of its solar panels.

"We are working closely with our partners to, together, ensure that we can address the UN's SDGs that apply to our industry. This covers actions relating to the environment, business ethics and good governance."says Diana March, Chief Sustainability & Technical Compliance Officer at Eurofragance, whose responsibilities include publishing the company's annual sustainability report. 

In particular, the report shows that 44 % of the Spanish perfume house's main suppliers are members of Sedex, an organization focused on managing sustainable practices along supply chains; 91 % have a code of ethics and 66 % of supplier partners have signed Eurofragance's code of ethics, representing 88 % of the company's purchasing value.

"For us in the fragrance industry, sourcing is the area that has the greatest impact on sustainable development. We are committed to continuing to work with our suppliers and partners to promote a more sustainable planet."Diana March continues.

_{Photo from the Eurofragance presentation video.}