The Estée Lauder Companies

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses an overview of the issues raised in stakeholder engagement activities, as well as its engagement process.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company discloses its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability impacts in relation to its sustainability strategy, and links executive salary to the company’s ESG performance.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company commits to achieving zero conversion throughout its sourcing strategy. The company discloses the proportion of high-risk commodities which are conversion-free.

GHG emissions
The company has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions, and reduces its scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. The company’s scope 1 and 2 emissions targets are aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory. While the scope 3 emission targets are not eligible as an intensity target, it is also aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Solid and air pollution
The company discloses the proportion of hazardous waste treated to reduce pollution compared to total waste, the hazardous waste diverted from disposal and the waste directed to disposal. The company discloses quantitative data with regards to plastic use reduction and use of sustainable packaging. The company reports targets to reduce virgin plastic use and increase proportion of recyclable plastics, and reports against the target. The company reports the proportion of virgin petroleum content in plastic packaging, packaging that is recyclable, refillable, reusable, recycled, or recoverable.

Water
The company has a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawal in its own operations and reports progress against the target. The company reports the proportion of water withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas, and provides evidence of engaging with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. The company discloses its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality.

No leading practices were identified in the social inclusion and community impact area.

Act ethically
The company maintains a publicly available policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, reinforced by routine and targeted audits conducted by its internal audit function. These audits assess the effectiveness of ethics and anti-bribery programs across business units and sales affiliates. Additionally, it enforces a supplier code of conduct, threatening contract termination for breaches related to bribery and corruption. For stakeholders, the company offers multiple channels, including phone and email, to report grievances anonymously, ensuring accessibility and confidentiality. It also publicly outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement, explicitly stating a policy against making political contributions.

Provide and promote decent work
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. respects the health and safety of workers through a publicly available policy and monitors the adherence of both direct and indirect suppliers with a focus on eliminating workplace hazards. Suppliers are required to provide a safe working environment and acknowledge the company’s Supplier Code of Conduct, which is supported by about 99% of direct suppliers. The company uses EcoVadis to assess suppliers on sustainability practices, expecting an ‘advanced’ or ‘satisfactory’ score. Additionally, it has been a signatory to the Women’s Empowerment Principles since 7 June 2021 and discloses that 43.75% of its board members are female.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available human rights policy, endorsed by its highest governance body, detailing its commitment to respecting human rights throughout its global operations and supply chain.

Lobbying
The company discloses a selection of the trade associations it is in and its sustainability position. However, no evidence was found that the company discloses a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with its sustainability target, nor how it addresses potential misalignment between the lobbying activities of these associations and the company’s sustainability targets.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
While the company has set some targets, it does not disclose group-wide, time-bound targets on all key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain, nor does it report against all of its targets. The company does not disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise regarding nature-related topics.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company discloses some evidence of addressing conversion. However, this does not guarantee DCF-aligned practices. The company reports its two high-risk commodities which include palm oil, timber. Further, it reports the target for 100% RSPO physical supply chain and FSC-certified timber by 2025. However, the RSPO certification without a certification model is not sufficient to guarantee zero conversion. The company is not committed to restoring ecosystems. The company does not disclose details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

GHG emissions
The company has an opportunity to reduce its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions and set time-bound targets to reduce its absolute scope 3 emissions. The company has an opportunity to report against its targets.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company has not holistically assessed its impacts or how it depends on nature, including biodiversity. It has an opportunity to start such an assessment across its value chains, focused on quantification of its impacts or dependencies.

Invasive species
The company has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive alien species in its own operations.

Key areas and species
The company does not disclose key species or areas important for biodiversity affected by its operations or suppliers. It has an opportunity to increase its transparency.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
No evidence was found regarding the company’s efforts to work towards a circular economy or which organisms it exploits. The company has an opportunity to develop a strategy and publicly report on specific, time-bound targets.

Solid and air pollution
The company is not reducing the production of hazardous substances. The company does not commit to avoid developing or marketing new chemicals or products with SVHC (substance of very high concern) properties. The company is not reducing the production of hazardous waste.
The company does not report on the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal. It also does not report metrics on air pollutants, nor set time-bound targets to reduce them.

Water
No quantitative evidence was found of reductions in water withdrawal across the company’s own operations. The company does not report a decrease in water pollution. The company does not regularly report on water pollution metrics, nor targets to reduce water pollution. The company has an opportunity to publicly commit to the right to water and to provide its processes for implementing preventive and corrective action plans for identified specific risks to the right to water and sanitation in its own operations.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company does not show if it is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights or land rights of local communities.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
The company has an opportunity to commit to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders. Moreover, it should track its actual or potential negative impacts on the health of local communities.

Act ethically
There is no evidence that the company describes its processes to identify bribery and corruption risks, nor does it require third-party lobbyists to comply with its lobbying and political engagement policies. While it discloses certain lobbying expenditures, it is unclear if total expenditures are disclosed. The company has an opportunity to enhance transparency by fully detailing its lobbying expenditures and formalising its approach to managing third-party lobbyists’ compliance.

Provide and promote decent work
The company reports detailed health and safety incidents but does not cover all injury types or work hours. It does not disclose whether its competitive compensation ensures a decent living standard or articulate a clear living wage strategy. While targeting gender parity in leadership by 2025, it lacks broad public commitments to gender equality. The company has an opportunity to expand its health and safety reporting, define and support living wage commitments, and strengthen its public commitment to gender equality and empowerment.

Respect human rights
The company’s policy prohibits discrimination and expects its business partners to adhere to child labour and forced labour laws. However, it lacks a formal commitment to freedom of association, collective bargaining, and other ILO fundamental human rights. Its human rights assessment provides a framework for improvement but lacks a detailed description of the processes used to identify risks. The company has an opportunity to enhance the transparency of its human rights risk assessments and develop a comprehensive system to address identified human rights issues.