YSL Beauty is marking a moment in its history that will see the cosmetics brand become a leader in sustainability.
In conjunction with Earth Day last week, the L’Oréal-owned beauty name has announced its plans to rewild four key biodiversity hotspots.
Through its Rewild Our Earth programme, YSL Beauty aims to protect and restore 100,000 hectares of land that is being impacted by climate change by 2030.
The areas – which equate to almost ten times the size of Paris – are key to the brand’s ingredients sourcing and include regions in Morocco, Haiti, Madagascar and Indonesia.
Across Morocco’s Ourika Community Gardens, where YSL cultivates its pomegranate, marshmallow, iris, jasmine and walnut, the brand is helping reverse the effects of desertification by rewilding 1,000 hectares of land.
In Haiti, which is linked to YSL’s vetiver sourcing, it is helping to reestablish primary forests.
400,000 trees will be planted in Madagascar, where its vanilla and geranium is sourced.
Meanwhile, YSL is launching its mission to protect more than 350 species of biodiversity across Indonesia.
Speaking about the new plans, YSL Beauty’s International Sustainability & Scientific Director, said: “With this ambitious new programme, YSL Beauty is affirming the importance of championing work on land system change – one of the nine ‘planetary boundaries’ that have been identified as the Earth’s limits – which, if crossed, will seriously compromise our planet’s suitability as a habitat for human development.
“Our goal is to help to protect and restore some of these essential places to rewild our earth.”
YSL’s major plans have been advised with Re:Wild, a company championing restoring and protecting biodiversity worldwide.
“Through this long-term collaboration with YSL Beauty, we will advance our efforts to protect and restore the Earth’s most irreplaceable areas,” added Penny Langhammer, Executive VP at Re:Wild.
“As a global society, our livelihood and the health of our planet depends on the wild; we are all connected to the natural world.”
“In order to fight climate change, we don’t need to reinvent the planet, we just need to rewild it and create opportunities for our ecosystems to recover.”
Wider commitment
In addition to its plans to protect biodiversity, YSL has said that it will make it a priority to reduce its environmental impact; from sourcing and formulation to packaging and manufacturing.
Bio-based ingredients will be prioritised going forward, as well as investment in recyclable, rechargeable materials that are lighter and use less plastic.
All virgin plastic is expected to be phased out by 2030 also.
This year, YSL will also work towards making all of its French factories 100% carbon neutral.