Responsible Sourcing
Responsible Sourcing
We source high-quality ingredients and materials from around the world to manufacture our products, working diligently to source responsibly and with attention to potential impacts on people and environment.
We collaborate with a wide and diverse network of suppliers. In doing so, we aim to continuously improve and strengthen our sourcing practices while remaining sensitive to the local communities in which we operate. Our policies and programmes embody our deeply held values and long heritage of responsibility.
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Sandalwood 1
More than 15 years ago, Aveda introduced the use of Australian Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) essential oil as a sustainable ingredient in its products. At the time, the brand developed a strategic relationship with the Kutkabubba Aboriginal Community of Western Australia to ensure the sustainable and equitable wild harvest of Australian Sandalwood trees for essential oil production.
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Sandalwood 1
In recent years, the community formed Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils (DSO), a 50% aboriginal-owned sandalwood oil-processing venture with a 100% aboriginal controlled nonprofit foundation. Its mission is to improve and broaden the indigenous community’s benefit share in the natural resource supply chain and to build a nature-based cultural economy, by working with the local government to grant a licence to sustainably harvest indigenous flora from their desert homelands under fair and equitable terms. Aveda has remained one of the biggest supporters of Dutjahn and introduced Dutjahn as a partner and supplier to many of the industry’s biggest fragrance houses.
Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils x ELC: Creating a Beautiful Future Together
In fiscal 2019, Dutjahn was one of 22 indigenous communities from around the world to receive the UN Development Program’s Equator Prize, which recognises local and indigenous organisations that showcase innovative, nature-based solutions for tackling climate change, environment and poverty challenges. The Estée Lauder Companies is proud to partner with Dutjahn; we remain bound by our shared values of respect, learning through listening, commitment to the well-being of all those involved and to the land that sustains life.
Read more about the company's partnership with Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils.
Mica
Mica is an ingredient used across many industries, including beauty and personal care. The mica supply chain is complex, and we work closely with our suppliers and local sourcing communities to address challenges that may exist.
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Mica
A portion of the mica used in the cosmetics industry comes from the Indian states of Jharkhand and Bihar. These two areas make up India’s 'mica belt', where the mica mining industry remains a key contributor to the regional economy.
In 2005, The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) partnered with local non-governmental organisation (NGO) Bachpan Bachao Andolan, now known as the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF), to begin to address some of the issues surrounding child labour in the mica mining industry. KSCF works with local communities in the region to develop proactive and sustainable solutions to eradicating child labour in the Indian mica mining industry, including the development of Bal Mitra Grams (BMGs) or Child Friendly Villages.
The Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation x The Estée Lauder Companies: Partnering to Address Child Labour in Mica Mining
An effective model that has been adopted by other organisations, a Child Friendly Village seeks to ensure that none of its children work in the mica mines by promoting education and enrolling children in school. They also assist in the formation of child councils, which empower youth to be self-advocates and find ways to work with local governments to address critical child rights and issues like gender parity and access to food and water. Through June 2020, ELC has supported the establishment of more than 150 Child Friendly Villages.
Our partnership with KSCF demonstrates how a collaborative model—one that utilises the expertise of organisations on the ground working directly with local communities and listening to their needs—can lead to lasting solutions to issues that exist in the global supply chains. This model has been recognised as a best practice by the National Commission for Protection of Child Protection Rights (NCPCR) and the University of Delhi School of Social Work.
Vanilla
Vanilla is one of the most ubiquitous ingredients in the world, yet 80% of the world’s vanilla comes from a single place: the island of Madagascar, where small farms are responsible for most of the production. Our Responsible Sourcing team and Aveda began a pilot programme using blockchain technology to trace our Madagascan vanilla supply chain from harvest to production.
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Vanilla
Advancing Supply Chain Transparency with Blockchain-Enabled, Traceable Vanilla
The livelihood of smallholder vanilla farmers in Madagascar depends on successful harvests, but crop production is a delicate task. Vanilla plants must be tended to for three to four years before bearing pods, and the country is vulnerable to extreme weather conditions such as drought and flooding.
In fiscal year 2020, our Responsible Sourcing team and Aveda began a pilot programme using blockchain technology to trace the Madagascan vanilla supply chain from harvest through production. We partnered with BSR, (En)Visible and IFF/LMR, one of our strategic suppliers, to bring the project to life.
Farmers were provided a digital ID card that conveys their unique traceability code via a QR reader. Using mobile phones and QR code IDs, data is now captured directly from a farmer upon purchase of the vanilla. The product and producer information is recorded on a blockchain, forming an immutable chain of custody. From the time the vanilla leaves the producer's hands, it is tracked through the supply chain via the blockchain to validate quality and authenticity.
Our objectives with this project are to increase transparency and traceability within one of our more complicated and sensitive supply chains. We also seek to promote fair and inclusive business practices to support those who help us bring the beauty of vanilla to our customers around the world.
Read more about the company's Blockchain-Enabled, Traceable Vanilla
Palm Oil
Palm oil remains one of the most widely used ingredients across multiple industries, including food and beverage, fuel and beauty and personal care. The creation of palm oil plantations has led to massive deforestation around the world, in particular in Indonesia and Malaysia. Many companies such as ours are members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and have made commitments to source their palm oil supply sustainably to prevent deforestation and to protect human rights.
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Palm Oil
Project Lampung: Supporting smallholder farmers to increase availability of sustainably produced palm oil
In fiscal 2019, The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC ) announced a three-year partnership with chemical giant BASF, RSPO and the NGO Solidaridad to work with smallholder Indonesian palm oil farmers (farmers who own or cultivate farms that are less than 2.0 hectares of land). Approximately 40% of the world’s palm production comes from smallholder farmers who rely on it for their livelihoods and who are key stakeholders in the value chain. The project launched in Lampung, Indonesia, and targets 1,000 independent Indonesia smallholder farmers.
The project supports farmers to improve their livelihoods and their sustainable production of palm oil and palm kernel oil by offering continuous education and technical assistance on how to implement and maintain sustainable palm oil practices. The project’s goal is that a minimum of one-third of the supported smallholder farmers become certified according to the Smallholder Standard of RSPO at the end of three years.
ELC is proud to be collaborating with its partners and the Indonesian government to foster this sustainable palm oil production supply chain in Lampung, one that is free from deforestation and still competitive in the global market, while at the same time increasing the social and economic benefits for farmers.
Read more about the company's palm oil viewpoint
Read more about the company's sustainably produced palm oil.
