Report highlights advancements made over the past fiscal year toward the company’s social impact and sustainability strategy, programs, and goals

NEW YORK, NY – WEBWIRE – Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Today, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (ELC) released its Fiscal Year 2022 Social Impact and Sustainability Report (SI&S Report), which outlines progress made toward the company’s social impact and sustainability goals. 

“At The Estée Lauder Companies, we’re striving to embed social impact and sustainability into our business for decades to come,” said Fabrizio Freda, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Estée Lauder Companies. “We’re pursuing thoughtful strategies to meet our social impact and sustainability goals and commitments, which complement our efforts to make our company more equitable and resilient for the future.”

“For more than 75 years, The Estée Lauder Companies has been dedicated to positively impacting our global and local communities”, said William P. Lauder, Executive Chairman, The Estée Lauder Companies. “We are proud to showcase the strides we’ve made over the last fiscal year, which reaffirm our commitment to driving long-term impact across social impact and sustainability for our stakeholders around the world.“

ELC’s social impact and sustainability efforts are focused on areas where it believes it can deliver meaningful results for the business and a diverse set of stakeholders. These areas of focus include climate, packaging, sourcing, green chemistry and ingredient transparency, women’s advancement, racial equity, and social impact. 

Key highlights include:

• Announced new commitment to transition ELC’s global corporate vehicle fleet to electric by the end of calendar year 2030
• Announced new commitment to reduce water withdrawal from ELC’s direct manufacturing sites by 20% from a fiscal 2019 baseline by the end of calendar year 2025¹
• Achieved ELC’s goal to source 90% palm-based ingredients² certified sustainable from Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) physical supply chains ahead of schedule and set an elevated ambition to source 95% RSPO certified sustainable palm-based ingredients² from physical supply chains by end of calendar year 2025
• Achieved ELC’s social impact goal to have each brand³ provide support to at least one social or environmental cause ahead of schedule
• Distributed $10.6 million through 18,500 grants to employees through the ELC Cares Employee Relief Fund since its inception in April 2020
• Distributed $12 million from ELC, its family of brands, The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation (ELCCF), and the Lauder family to support nonprofits advancing racial and social justice, exceeding the target of $10 million
• Increased spend to $43 million from ELC to Black-owned suppliers—more than double the company’s previous spend of $20 million
• Launched three initiatives through the company’s signature women’s leadership program, Open Doors, which creates intentional spaces throughout the organization to cultivate essential skills for career advancement
• Launched WRITING CHANGE initiative, a three-year, $3 million commitment to increasing literacy among girls, women, and underserved communities, in partnership with National Youth Poet Laureate and Estée Lauder Global Changemaker, Amanda Gorman
• Funded more than $118 million for lifesaving global research, education, and medical services through ELC’s Breast Cancer Campaign and ELCCF
• Committed $1 million from ELCCF to nonprofit organizations providing vital humanitarian relief and social services to women, children, and families in and around Ukraine
• Committed $15 million over five years through ELCCF as the inaugural corporate donor to Co-Impact’s Gender Fund, supporting efforts to advance women’s leadership globally
• Became the first beauty company to join the Supplier Leadership on Climate Transition, a consortium created to accelerate action toward Net Zero GHG emissions
• Published ELC’s peer-reviewed manuscript, “Applying Green Chemistry to Raw Material Selection and Product Formulation at The Estée Lauder Companies,” in Green Chemistry, the Royal Society of Chemistry’s journal

“We’ve hit important milestones over the past fiscal year, including in our climate, packaging, ingredient transparency, racial equity, and gender equality efforts, but we know there is more work ahead of us,” said Nancy Mahon, Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability, The Estée Lauder Companies. “We’ll continue to raise our ambitions to help address global challenges facing our employees, consumers, suppliers, peers, and continue to push the limits of what we can achieve in the years ahead.”

Download and read Fiscal 2022 Social Impact & Sustainability Report on ELCompanies.com

¹Reduction is from a fiscal 2019 baseline of 1.5 million cubic meters water withdrawal at ELC operated manufacturing sites. Excludes brands acquired by ELC during or after fiscal 2020 and any manufacturing sites that are not fully operational within the target timeline. 

²Excludes palm-based ingredients not directly procured by ELC, such as those procured by Third-Party Manufacturers (TPMs) and certain acquired brands not yet fully integrated into the relevant ELC systems.

³For purposes of this metric the number of brands is 23, and for purposes of this goal, social causes supported by DECIEM are attributed to the DECIEM brands (The Ordinary and NIOD).

About The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. is one of the world’s leading manufacturers, marketers, and sellers of quality skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products. The company’s products are sold in approximately 150 countries and territories under brand names including: Estée Lauder, Aramis, Clinique, Lab Series, Origins, M·A·C, La Mer, Bobbi Brown, Aveda, Jo Malone London, Bumble and bumble, Darphin Paris, TOM FORD BEAUTY, Smashbox, AERIN Beauty, Le Labo, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, GLAMGLOW, KILIAN PARIS, Too Faced, Dr.Jart+, and the DECIEM family of brands, including The Ordinary and NIOD.

CAUTIONARY NOTE

This press release and the related Social Impact and Sustainability Report (the “report”) contains information about our social impact and sustainability goals, targets, initiatives, commitments, and activities. These efforts involve certain risks and uncertainties, such as changes in our business (e.g., acquisitions, divestitures, or new manufacturing or distribution locations), the standards by which achievement is measured, the assumptions underlying a particular goal, and our ability to accurately report particular information. Certain highlights in this press release are subject to qualifications which are noted in the report. This press release and the report include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding our 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 in the report 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, 2022 and in our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. We assume no responsibility to update the information contained in this press release or the report or to continue to disclose any information.