Christophe Babule, Executive Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer, L'Oréal - Executive Interview

Okay, good morning, Ellen. First, I have to say that at L'Oreal, sustainability is really non-negotiable; it's part of our strategy, and we really believe that there is an urgency to act on top of that. And second, it's a personal belief as well, and I strongly believe that finance teams can play a critical role in achieving our sustainable goals. You know, sustainability is also fully embedded in our transformation plans. And third, on top of being a true corporate responsibility, I also believe that sustainability is also a major value creation driver. And you know, as a CFO of this company, I focus on the value creation, and there are several sources of value creation: our brands, of course, or research or data, but sustainability is definitely one key source of value creation.

Well, you know, we have a program at L'Oreal called L'Oreal for the Future, with very ambitious commitments in terms of sustainability for 2030. And finance has to be a true catalyst and, it's possible, why not also an accelerator to build this business model which is, of course, profitable and sustainable at the same time. So for that, we have created a new position, the position of the Chief Sustainable Finance Officer, that is helping me to accelerate our roadmap. So it's about, of course, planning our resources both on human and financial. It's also investing. You know, we have through our venture capital fund, investing in some companies that are helping our transformation and towards more sustainability. But also we put 100 million euros in impact investing. It's about helping also the decision making, so integrate the cost of our environment into the decision making. And I should mention also financing, because we are developing new financial tools with external financial partners to help also our suppliers and to accelerate their own transition.

That's a very good point because it's all about acting rightly and acting quickly. So what stresses me on this field is, of course, making sure that we can design a very precise roadmap and make sure that all players are really following this plan. Meaning also a very focused strategic financial planning and making sure that by 2022, 2023, every single year we can reach our targets. And it's also about adapting our processes and making sure that they are well understood and well shared across the organization. And you know, at the end, it's making sure that every manager at L'Oreal integrates the environmental issues as a new currency in their business decisions. And I will mention also innovation, because both in finance and accounting, there are new concepts that have been developed like multi-capital accounting. And of course, we have teams also working on those kinds of innovations in terms of financial concepts.

You know, that's a very good question because actually the challenge is so huge that we cannot achieve everything by ourselves. So for example, we work with academics and join forces on some topics. We have been creating a group with, uh, Coopers and also the Nona as a bigger corporate to work on multi-capital accounting. We have, of course, the non-government organizations that are helping us also in designing our programs. And I strongly believe that not only our suppliers but why not other big corporates, even if they are competitors, we have to join forces to make it happen. That's very important. There is a huge challenge, and you know, it's urgent to act. We have 10 years to make the carbon emissions on the right track. So there is no plan B, and I think it's time now to shake hands and work together.