ELC Releases Fiscal 2025 Social Impact and Sustainability Report

Press Release, Oct 28, 2025

Today, The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) released its Fiscal Year 2025 Social Impact and Sustainability (SI&S Report). The report outlines the company’s continued work toward achieving its social impact and sustainability commitments. It highlights ELC’s efforts in areas including climate, packaging, sourcing, ingredient transparency, employee experience, well-being and safety, and impactful social investments.

“Over the past year, our talented teams across brands, regions, and functions delivered exceptional, innovative products while embedding our social impact and sustainability goals into every aspect of our business,” said Nancy Mahon, Chief Sustainability Officer, The Estée Lauder Companies. “As we look toward the future, I am inspired by the opportunities ahead to deepen our impact, contribute meaningfully to the communities we serve, and continue to drive long-term, sustainable growth.”

"This year, we unveiled Beauty Reimagined, our strategic vision and action plan to become the best, most consumer-centric prestige beauty company,” said Stéphane de la Faverie, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Estée Lauder Companies. “Our environmental and social impact efforts contribute directly to the vision of Beauty Reimagined. As we transform our company to better capture growth and drive profitability, we remain steadfast in our commitment to advancing environmental stewardship and social impact.”

Within the report, ELC introduced 2030 goals in its ongoing commitment to transparency, sustainability, and social impact. This includes continuing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across scope 1 and 2, and scope 3, responsible innovation on our products and ingredients, and employee safety and engagement. It also sets new targets in water, waste, and social investments that turn company values into action.

Key highlights from the FY25 SI&S Report include:

Sustainability

• Improved responsible sourcing in paper packaging: We made significant progress in improving our responsible sourcing with over 98% of our forest-based fibre cartons now being certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).¹
• Advanced progress on our ‘5Rs’ packaging goals: Continued to increase packaging that is recyclable, refillable, reusable, recycled, or recoverable, despite challenges posed by varying recycling infrastructure and evolving regulations across markets.²
• Exceeded our 2025 palm oil goal: Ensured that 97% of palm-based ingredients are certified sustainable through Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) physical supply chains, with a commitment to maintain at least 95% annually.³
• Reduced water withdrawal 41% at manufacturing sites: Surpassed our 2025 goal⁴ and set a 2030 target, with a larger scope, to reinforce our commitment to water stewardship as we continue to drive this work.
• Achieved our annual commitment to maintain zero industrial waste-to-landfill⁵: Sustained this global commitment and set an additional 2030 target to reduce our waste intensity by 10% from our direct manufacturing and distribution sites.
• Sustained 100% renewable electricity in operations: Met this commitment for the sixth consecutive year since FY2020.⁶
• Fostered collaborations with scientific and academic institutions: Announced several partnerships across industry and academia aimed at driving the development of high-performance products and bio-engineered ingredients that can help reduce environmental impact.
• Expanded sustainability practices across ELC operations: Added 60 additional locations to ELC's Responsible Store Design Programme, significantly increased our LEED and WELL Certified sites, and accelerated efforts to transition 100% of our global corporate fleet to electric by 2030.

Social Impact

• Committed $25M through our social impact investments to women and girls by 2030: Expanding on our long-term focus across health, education, leadership, and entrepreneurship.⁷
• Continued a 30+ year legacy of impact through The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign: Supporting more than 60 organisations and over 440 annual research grants, contributing a total of $156 million to help create a breast cancer-free world.
• Exceeded our 2025 employee giving goal: Our employees went above and beyond for their communities by volunteering their time and donating over $27 million to causes they care about most through ELC’s global social impact and sustainability engagement programmes.⁸
• 100% of our brands champion a cause⁹: From DECIEM’s focus on mental health to M·A·C VIVA GLAM’s expanded work in environmental equality, every ELC brand supports a social or environmental cause.
• Expanded investments to provide external opportunities for entrepreneurial women: Building on our founder’s legacy, ELC expanded programmes such as BEAUTY&YOU India and the Estée Lauder Emerging Leaders Beautiful Forces that invest in the next generation of changemakers.

Visit ELCompanies.com to read more of the Fiscal Year 2025 Social Impact & Sustainability Report

Footnotes

1. Forest-based fibre cartons are defined as folding cartons or sleeves made from solid bleached sulphate paperboard, folding box board, or an equivalent board made with post-consumer waste
2. Product packaging is defined as any item to be used for the containment, protection, handling, and presentation of products and delivery to ELC’s distribution centres that is included on the bill of materials
3. Excludes palm-based ingredients not directly procured by ELC, such as those procured by third-party manufacturers (TPMs) and directly procured and received by DECIEM. Palm oil sourcing is reported by calendar year.
4. Reduction is from a fiscal 2019 baseline of 1.5 million cubic meters water withdrawal at ELC-operated manufacturing sites. Excludes any manufacturing sites not fully operated by ELC within the target timeline
5. Excluded DECIEM.
6. Electricity consumption for all global activities within ELC's operational control. Renewable electricity sourced reflects on-site solar electricity generated and consumed at ELC locations, renewable off-site generation (utility contracts), Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) purchases, and a Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA).
7. This commitment is measured cumulatively from the end of fiscal year 2025 through 2030. ELC contributions are inclusive of ELCCF, brand, region, corporate giving.
8. This commitment is measured cumulatively from the end of fiscal year 2025 through 2030. Metrics reflect information self-reported to ELC’s employee social impact and sustainability engagement programme, the ELC Good Works platform, used to report employee volunteerism, employee monetary donations, and ELC charitable matching gifts. The platform was available in 31 markets at the end of fiscal 2025. Eligible employees are those who meet certain criteria, which varies by market, and have access to the platform. Metric includes total cumulative ELC employee donations and amount matched, inclusive of volunteer rewards, by ELC since the launch of the ELC Good Works platform in November 2015.
9. For purposes of this metric the number of brands is 23.

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding ELC’s social impact and sustainability goals, targets, initiatives, commitments, and activities, as well as our future operations and long-term strategy. Although we believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions within the bounds of our knowledge of our business and operations, we cannot assure that actual results or outcomes will not differ materially from any future results or outcomes expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts and involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other important factors such as those described above and in our recent SEC filings including in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025 and in our subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. We assume no responsibility to update the information contained in this report or to continue to report any information. The references in this press release to ELC’s social impact and sustainability goals, targets, initiatives, commitments, and activities involve certain risks and uncertainties, such as changes in our business (e.g., acquisitions, divestitures, or new manufacturing or distribution locations), financial performance, the standards by which achievement is measured, the assumptions underlying a particular goal or matter, and our ability to accurately report particular information. See “Cautionary Note” in Fiscal Year 2025 Social Impact & Sustainability Report.